Bottom line, OP: The point you're making is moot for two reasons; no one has claimed that games won't help move some hardware and, most importantly, you're making the assumption that this boost will somehow permanently elevate Wii U sales and that, in the end, software alone will help the Wii U sell well. It just won't (most likely, time will prove one of us wrong, holidays 2013 is time by the way, 2-3 years from now, we'll be seeing what the Wii U has truly achieved, or not).

Early on in the console lifecycle, games provide good boosts but they are often short lived. This is likely no different. Sustained higher sales is what Nintendo needs, I can't see how these recently released games will be up to the task, to be honest.

I don't think a lot of people have said that games won't help sales at all, I'm one of those who maintain that the Wii U's greatest challenge is not the software. I'm not saying that games don't have an impact, of course they do, what I'm saying is that ultimately it won't matter which games come out or what the price of the hardware is since the product itself is undesireable at the core and in the design and its aimed right at nothing, falling between the casual and core market somewhere.

Short term boosts from games are nice to look at, sustained higher levels of sales is far more difficult to achieve and I can't see the Wii U pulling that off no matter what they do, the product itself is simply faulty. Besides, when you increase weekly numbers by over 100% and still manage to sell only about half as much as the best selling home console that is going on 7 years on the market and dropping hugely yoy, there is something wrong with your recipe somewhere and these numbers are in no way great or even impressive. Its still about on par with the worst weeks the PS3 and 360 have ever had.

Bottom line, OP: The point you're making is moot for two reasons; no one has claimed that games won't help move some hardware and, most importantly, you're making the assumption that this boost will somehow permanently elevate Wii U sales and that, in the end, software alone will help the Wii U sell well. It just won't (most likely, time will prove one of us wrong, holidays 2013 is time by the way, 2-3 years from now, we'll be seeing what the Wii U has truly achieved, or not).

It will all depend on if the Wii U can get a killer app like Wii Sports. Mario U obviously was a dud, because "casuals" are more demanding and expected new content and effort with the game.

I think a Wii Sports sequel might lift sales in the long term if it's done well. Ditching the U-pad and updating the motion controls would help as well.

It's not just about the games, it's about the right games.

That's true! But the great strength of the Wii was the combination of the controller and those killer apps, I can't see the Gamepad having the same impact. If done correctly it can certainly push sales but no where near as well as the Wii-mote/Wii Sports combo which must be considered perhaps the biggest phenomenon in gaming since the Arcades exploded on the scene.