I'll admit that I might be out-of-touch when it comes to this sort of speculation; for that matter, I'm not sure what the broader opinion on this topic is. But it seems pretty prevalent, and I wanted to address it. Basically, what it comes down to is that I have a problem with the idea that the name of the Wii U leads to it being confused as a Wii accessory, and this somehow negatively affects sales.

Let's assume that a significant portion of consumers think it's a Wii accessory, rather than an upgrade to the Wii. Let's further assume that these are people who own a Wii; otherwise, the point is moot, since to a non-Wii owner the distinction is largely meaningless. Finally, let's assume that these Wii owners have both a passing knowledge with Wii accessories and a working brain. Such a Wii owner would probably expect the accessory in question to be $80, $100 at the outside. 

Now, let's divide this demographic into two groups: those who think it is a peripheral and will attempt to purchase it, and those who think it is a peripheral and don't want it.

For the first case, the confusion is fleeting. The go looking for a Wii U and find out it's a console, which takes the confusion out of the equation.

The second...this is a group that thinks that the Wii U is an add-on to a system they already own, and is almost 1/4 the price it actually is...and they don't want to buy it. How does telling them it's a much more expsneive stand-alone system make them more willing to buy it?

I'm not really interested in a broader discussion about the state of the Wii U; it's been done to death, and I'm not feeling up to a. But it's possible I simply lack perspective here, which is why I simply present the position and ask whether or not it holds water.

Sadly, it's the truth: People do think it's a Wii add on. We play games regularly in a group of 5-10 people and none of my friends (who regularly play games!!) knew this was a new console. One of my friends is a huge tech nerd who always knows what's going on with tablets, smartphones, etc. and it took him more than an hour to realize this was a new console. He could *see* the console under my TV, yet he thought it was a Wii and continued to ramble on how it would be possible to use 4 gamepads at once "if this had more than 90mb of RAM". I was hellishly confused.

Long story short: They think it's a peripheral and they don't intend to buy it because in their mind it'll only support a handful of games or "isn't needed to play". It's actually true. It was also true with the 3DS.

The employee might not know what it is, but all it takes is for them to see the price tag, or actually look a the box, to realize it's not an $80 peripheral.

That's a good point, but I find myself asking if, in general, someone who didn't want to buy it for that reason would buy it if they knew the truth.  Afterall, this is a person who won't support it, with the presumption of a low price, unless it supports a significant portion of games. If it did support a significant portion of games, but cost 4x as much as they thought it would, would they still think it worthwhile?

I'm not saying someone wouldn't but I don't see the general consumer making that leap.

No one bought a PS Move yet plenty of people are interested in a $500 PS4. Does that answer your question?

Its Nintendo's own fault really.

The system looks a lot like the Wii redesign they had shipped previously, along with their main advertisements for the Wii U, it is pretty easy for a non gamer to make the mistake that it is just a new add on/accessory to go with the long line of them that Nintendo has released for the Wii.

In trying to release a system that sprung out of the Wii's previous record setting popularity, they screwed themselves due to the brand's popularity dropping before the Wii U's release and not being different enough to seem like a new system. The lack of original games is the major death blow however.

It would, except that it really isn't the same thing. Whether it is a Wii peripheral or a stand-alone console, the Wii U would still have the same appeal; a new controller. The Move, on the other hand, is a controller, but the appeal of the PS4 is the internals.

That may be the case. However, I'm presenting the argument that any confusion it causes doesn't really have any bearing on whether someone would consider buying it.

I think it has more to do with people just fail to realize it exists, I havent seen a single ad on tv since december and many people I know have no clue what im talking about when I bring it up

It's a problem because the Wii died. 4 years ago it was hip and popular but today it's seen as a dead console for babies. By simply having Wii in Wii U's name a lot of the "HD bros" are turned off. On top of that most people thinking it's an add on also think "my kid/I moved on from the Wii along time ago. I'm going to waste more money on it." These people will not even get as far as seeing a price since they aren't interested in Wii. That doesn't mean they wouldn't be interested in a new $300 console.

Nintendo should casually just start calling it the "Nintendo U."

Problem is they haven't released the next Smash and Mario Kart for it yet.

Actually it is part of the problem: During the lifespan of the Wii, consumers were attacked with lots of "Wii Something" stuff, like Wii Fit, Wii Music, Wii Sports, Wii Motion Plus, Wii Play, Wii Party, some of them with their mandatory accessory... then you release "Wii U", that looks like a standard Wii with a new controller. The consumer wonders why they don't sell the controller standalone (I've seen some actual cases of people thinking this), and, therefore, think the controller is stupidly expensive considering how cheap the Wii is right now.

The Wii U lacks its own identity as a product, despite being a great product. Then you add the fact that there are not many games for it right now, and the fact that Nintendo is failing at marketing it right now, and at the same time failing to promote the fact the console can do so many things the first Wii can't... It's the perfect formula for bad sales.

But luckily, this can be fixed, and I'm sure Nintendo is already working on all of this.