I agree with the consensus here. It'd have kept sales from being so abysmal but it still wouldn't be a strong seller.

I have maintained since E3 2012 that WiiU was a bad idea in principal. Too underpowered for core, too core for casuals (Wii crowd) which basically leaves WiiU with GC/N64 like sales. Although ATM it's not even achieving that, I think 30m (without something great which we haven't seen) is about the most we can expect from it, even if they had all those games and a cheaper deluxe model from launch.

it would have sold like a mil more which is really insignificant at this point

Those rumours have been debunked. Nintendo are sticking with 2 SKUs.

Nintendo's problems with the Wii U not selling has been down to software, and that's being addressed. We're going to see NSL U, Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101, Wii Fit U, Game & Wario, Wind Waker HD, 3D Mario and Mario Kart 8 all released before the end of the year with Bayonetta 2, X, Retro's new game, SMT x Fire Emblem, Wii U Play and probably Wii Sports U during Q1 and Q2 next year.

I don't think the two SKU thing was a big deal. Whenever you launch first you're gonna start somewhat slow. There is going to be cheaper, well-supported competition out there that is simply impossible to compete with in price and content. This is especially true of the very strong PS360. I do think that the 8 gig was a waste of space, but I don't think getting rid of it would have improved sales much. Having games like Rayman and Pikmin and 101 out definitely would have helped moderately during the down season, making the sales trend look more like the 360's first year and not worse. It wouldn't be Wii-like though. To take off Wii U needs flashy, exciting, exclusive titles, and nothing revealed so far fit that bill.

Who knows....Both Lego City and Monster Hunter both gave the U a decent sales bump for a few weeks at least, so anything was possible

I don't think the WiiU would be doing much better and am still of the view that nothing much will be driving the sales of next gen consoles no matter the games or the source.

There is a reason why all the current generation consoles are trying to become PC's and adopt entertainment services. It is because no one does much gaming on them anymore. Statistics have shown that they do as much media streaming as they do gaming.

PC's are considered general use machines. Consoles had a specific purpose. The reason consoles are trying to become PC's is because no one will fork over big bucks for a specific purpose anymore. They have smartphones, tablets, and laptops that all steal some of that PC specific need.

At this stage, they are an answer looking for a problem.

They'd have to completely change the form factor of the device, though, and not for the better (has any console ever increased in size in its life cycle)?

I think we all know if there had been just one type of Wii U system built with a 32 GB harddrive as standard and a few of their better properties to supply their launch window outside of just dropping a NSMB game a few months after a portable version hit, then the Wii U would be in better shape.

Heck, if they would have advertised the other games on the system besides NSMB U or Nintendo LAnd better at launch the system would be doing better, instead of falling into the prophecy that Nintendo's haters have desired in it flopping.

If they need to increase the size, so be it. A modern console needs a standard removable hard drive. If Nintendo wants that online store of theirs to make some money, they need to fix this. Only 8-32 GB for storage is not enough for digital downloads.