Nintendo doesn't decide what becomes a major evergreen franchise. That is completely up to consumers. I'm willing to bet no one in Nintendo had any idea how huge Mario, Zelda and Metroid would become back in 1985.

And you can't say that haven't tried with other franchises. They've tried to make Nintendogs, Brain Age, Wii Sports, Wii Fit into big franchises, but the jury is still out on the lasting power of that lot. They've revived Kid Icarus. That might as well count as a brand new IP, since it collected dust for two decades and came back as an entirely different game from its predecessors.

Fixed that for you, It will never be able to compete with PS3 and Xbox 360 from a price perspective and it will never compete with PS4 and Next Xbox from a perfomance perspective. It's right in de middle where hardly anyone is interested.

I just have to say that I thought some level headed people would bring up some good counter points to mine, but instead all of these non-sensicle claims have made me feel even more assured that the Wii U is the next gamecube.  In fact I am going to adjust my prediction to 15-35 million.

It's kinda still there.  It is more user friendly now, but not nearly as powerful...

Some gamers don't need their console manufacturer to come to their house and put a gold star on their refrigerator for them.  I really don't get what "hardcore" gamers find so "hardcore" about Trophies and Achievements.  They don't add anything to the gameplay.  Do you really need your console to tell you that you got 10 points for finishing chapter one of the game you are playing?  Is there any legitimate reason to play an entire game of Madden while only selecting FB Dive on offense (a made up achievement, but symbolic of the ridiculous things you get awarded for doing in sports titles)?  Is the gaming experience diminished on Wii U by not having an achievement/trophy system?  Absolutely not!  If you accomplish something in a Wii U game that you are particularly proud of, all you have to do is take a screenshot of the game with your Gamepad and send it to Miiverse.  I think that's a far more immersive and satisfying gaming experience than needing Sony or Microsoft to tell you, "Hey, you scored 50 points, 20 rebounds, 20 blocks, and 20 assists with Lebron James in a single basketball game?  Kudos.  Here is your generic pat on the back for all to see."  Or, "Hey, you completed the Level One tutorial of the game that you have to complete anyway to actually begin the game?   Well done.  This must be announced to the entire gaming community, so we hereby award you 10 points, because you sir, are hardcore."  I personally have an XBox 360, I have plenty of achievements in my gamerscore, and I do not miss that aspect of gaming when playing my Wii U when the things that can be done with Miiverse at your disposal are completely unique and render achievements and trophies unnecessary.

Posts like this clearly show who hasn't tried a Wii U yet.

"It's expensive"

If $300-350 is expensive, then that's bad news for the PS4/Durango. I know their prices will be justified by the more state-of-the-art tech under the hood, but try that argument with any average person on the street. You can't get into teraflops and tessalation and GBs per second with the vast majority of gamers; most people don't understand, don't care or both.

The problem is that the Wii U is directly competing with PS3 and 360. Why buy a Wii U when you can get the other two significantly cheaper with many more games that are also cheaper? It doesn't make sense. The only selling point is the Tablet Controller and that doesn't seem to attract people all that much. About PS4 and Xbox 3, that's another story. They will be more expensive, but also offer a lot more features. They are not competing with their own predecessors.

"it's range is limited"

Of course it's range is limited; it's synced to a console plugged in the wall. What, did you expect to take it on a road trip or something? I can tell you from firsthand experience that it's range is longer than you're giving it credit for. I've taken the Gamepad into a bedroom or to the crapper to play a game many times now without a hitch, and those are at least 15-20 feet away from the console itself and with a wall in between. Can you do that with any other home console? If you need anything longer than that, then isn't that what the 3DS and Vita are for?

If they just used WLAN, you could use it anywhere you have a signal of your local network. I just don't get why they tie it to the console. Sure, it might not be a problem for some users, but a bigger issues for some others. I live in on the 4th floor, for example. No way in hell I could ever use that thing in the garden when it's summer. I can, however, use my mobile phone to expand my WLAN (not exactly, using 4G via Internet) and use Remote Play with the Vita. I would just expect a console that is build around that feature to compete with a feature that isn't even a selling point from another console. 

"it is outdated"

Not only is this not true, but even if it was, it hardly matters to the vast majority of consumers as long as the games are there. Refer to my first paragraph. The DS was "outdated" next to the PSP, the 3DS is "outdated" next to the Vita, and the Wii is definitely "outdated" next to PS3 and 360. 360 and PS3 are "outdated" next to Wii U. Why are all the "outdated" consoles the ones that kicked the most ass?

It might not matter to some people, but it does matter to me as well as many others. If I buy a new console, I have a bit of expectation from it. And that'smore than the old PS3/360 graphics. Graphics don't guarantee success, but neither does some funny Gamepad. It's about games. And Wii U will not get most 3rd party titles as it will just not be possible to port over. Not just because of power, but also because they are the only ones with a PPC console. In the end, it is always better to be able to actually compete tech-wise. Sure, the strongest consoles don't win, but the Wii U is just another case. In every other gen, the slowest consoles still were on the same level as the other consoles of the same gen. That is not the case with Wii U. 

"Everybody nowadays got a smartphone or a tablet, when those people are introduced to the Wii Us single touch, resistive display they will just laugh their asses off and get an iPad Mini or something for the same money."

Yeah, screw those cursed tactile buttons on the controller! Who the heck wants REAL buttons? Wouldn't it be so awesome you had to use virtual controls for every game just like an iPad? I sure do love my Mega Man and Street Fighter controls on my touchscreen-only iPad. Covering half the screen with your fat hands or trying to stare at a TV while groping flat-surfaced controller is the REAL way to game!

Most casuals don't care for real buttons all that much. Besides, there already technologies that can transform touchscreens, building real buttons. It is expected to be released on acutal devices in about two years. But casuals are more than happy with Angry Birds or racing games they control by tilting the device. They simply do not want Street Fighter. The core, however, has so many more reasons to buy another console than Wii U. And on top of that, there is just so much more buss for Apple than for Wii U. So it will continue to struggle, like it or not.

"The resoultion is straight from the mid 90s and the image quality also lacks in so many ways."

Again, you clearly haven't played a Wii U game or you just have your mind up to hate the console. The image  quality on the small screen is as sharp as the 32" HDTV that I mostly play the Wii U on. Go back and actually play a game from the 90s and then play a Wii U game off TV. Either that, or go find proof for your baseless argument.

I only played it at the local store, as I sure don'T buy a console I don't even want. It was hooked up to a beautiful TV, playing NSMBU. The image on the TV was crystal clear with rich colours and really good contrast. But then I looked down on the gamepad and saw a terrible picture. Colours were washed out, it lacked brightness and I could easily count the pixels, although t was half a meter away. In direct comparison with a good TV, it really doesn't look too good. But maybe that's just me. The OLED-Screen of the Vita is surely better in so many ways if you ask me. 

I told myself I'm through being the white knight for games and consoles that trolls attack with no good reasoning behind it, but I couldn't help myself today. It seems like everyone making these kind of ad hominem attacks on the Wii U are people that haven't really played it, otherwise they couldn't make such arguments. There are plenty of things to dislike about the Wii U; the software drought, the lack of solid release dates for upcoming titles, the ridiculous loat times in the OS, two-Gamepad play being impossible right now, the inconvenience of having to acquire more memory for full retail downloads. But play the freaking thing before you try to spout nonsense about problems that don't exist.

I played it and I don't like it, simple as that. It could change with some new games, but some new Mario won't do the trick. Give me something completely new I can't get anywhere else. Until then, I'll stick to other platforms. Sure, I could just say nothing if I have nothing good to say, but as far as I know, a forum is for discussion and sharing your mind. It would be kinda boring if everybody just agreed with everything.