Now i'm sure someone has made a thread very similar to this at some point this is just my take on the subject.

I've been wondering for a while why the Wii U isn't selling, it's a great system with a lot of cool features that everyone would like but nobody seems to want to buy one. Some say it's because it's "not much more powerful than the HD wins"  but the casual market doesn't give a crap about power. Some say it's because it has no games and I would agree to that IF it didn't have Mario. Mario is (for a casual gamer) THE reason to buy a Nintendo console with of course some shovel ware. So what is the Problem? Is it marketing then? Yes, to a certain degree. It's probably the second biggest reason because most consumers don't know it exists.

So if it isn't power, games, and marketing then what is it?

The Wii!!!

Now I work in the Gaming department of my local Best Buy so my job is to get people to buy games systems regardless of my preferences. So when i'm showing people the Wii U the first words out of their mouths is "oh I didn't know about this, when did it come out?' or something to that effect. So after explaining what it is and reassuring that it in fact is NOT a regular Wii with at tablet controller I tell them all the features and games available. Honestly after I explain what it is everyone seems interested but they NEVER buy it. I've been left wondering WHY nobody pulls the trigger and gets it untill today. 

Today I had a familly playing the Wii U demo and they seemed like they were having alot of fun with it so I approached them to answer any questions they had. So once I felt like they were interested buying it today I asked them " are you thinking about picking one up today?" Her response was no so I asked why. Then she said it.

"Why would I buy a Wii U when I have a Wii at home that no one plays?"

I tried to counter by saying "well the kids seem like they like the Wii U alot so maybe it will get used more." But she quickly responded that the same thing happened when they went and bought the wii.

In closing the reason the Wii U is failing is not because of power, games, or marketing... it because no one plays the Wii and that leads them to not see value in the Wii U.

Now i'm not saying i'm 100% right but from my experience this is the Wii U's biggest obstical.

So if Nintendo discontinued the Wii, would Wii U be saved?

Guess why no one is playing it.

no nintendo shot themselves in the foot by not making any good titles for the main userbase of the Wii leading up to the launch of the Wii U therefore people don't want to buy the Wii U in fear that they wouldn't use it.

Could it be a case where Nintendo's abandonment of the Wii actually hurts the Wii U? That people have "moved on"? That makes me wonder how many Wii owners have bought a PS3 or 360.

The other part, which I think is factual enough to go beyond speculation, is that a higher number of Wii owners weren't gamers to begin with and only bought one because it went viral. They played it at someone's house, bought it, then got bored with it--not because the Wii itself is boring, I'm not saying that, but because they really weren't as interested in playing videogames as they thought, or because it was only fun for them in a group setting. I'm sure most of us know people who fit that description. I know a man who bought one because he thought it would help him to lose weight but, unfortunately, he got bored of exercising with it almost immediately.

HAHA no, im not saying i'm the best salesman but i'm better than mst people I work with.  The thing is what game(s) with lasting value should a family with an 11 year old girl and an 8 year old boy have bought in the last year? The games they said they had for the Wii were Mario Bros. wii, Mario Galaxy, Wii Sports, Just dance 3, and some Disney Princess game. 

You can think like a "hardcore" gamer when you deal with people who bought a system because it had a disney princess game their daughter wanted.

i think its the price. in today's economy, the most expensive console will tend to sell the least. u can argue with cellphones but people who buy those think they look cool with it. i had a dell dj once and this foo with an ipod thinks he's better than me cuz he got an ipod lol.

yeah thast kind of what i'm getting at. Because Nintendo pretty much abandoned the wii most people especially casual players don't see a reason why they should buy a console they'll play for a few months then never play it again. 

And I can see this happening with people who buy an xbox just for Kinect. all they buy with it is just Zumba or Just Dance, they aren't the kind of people that will upgrade to a nextbox.

Yeah but price is only a problem because people don't see why they should drop $300+ on a console they don't see themselves playing for more than a few months. People buy the Assassin's Creed 3 PS3 ($299.99) without a second thought because  they know they will still play it, plus the PS3 isn't a casual magnet so people who buy it tend to support it. Hell people still buy the 250gb Xbox for $299.99 because they see themselves playing it for longer than 1 year. Kinect buy on the ther hand not so much lol.

I agree. Nintendo let people down by not supporting Wii throughout its life and people got burned and don't want to risk buying Wii U. I know that's how I feel. I have 10 Nintendo consoles and 50-100 games and the money to buy a Wii U plus games, AND Wii U is guaranteed to recieve games I want to play (NSMB U, MK, SSB) yet I haven't bought it purely on being burned by later Wii and especially my day 1 3DS purchase.

It takes time to build a good reputation with customers back up again.