i know they are not making money on HW but come on Iwata, saying the deluxe is selling better than basic and using that to say cost is not a problme when the system is missing projections by 2 mil plus? Really how much worst would it sell WITHOUT basic. Some denial

This is probably the best and most blunt summary of the Wii U situation ever. Just sums it up perfectly, lol.

The problem with the thought that the basic model sold less then the deluxe so price isn't a problem is that they sent out the basic model so gimped it can't even hold more then one full retail download. Yes, we know the Wii U can have external storage attached but Nintendo seems to forget a fundamental tenant of console gamers... majority of us are kind of lazy.

I mean if we weren't a bit lazy, more people would have switched to PC gaming and Steam by now instead of hooking their consoles to the internet to play our online gaming. We play consoles for convenience of not having to adapt our hardware to match or keep up with the latest or most recent graphics card. Not to mention, the basic doesn't even come with a game so buying it and then a game pretty much equals the deluxe without more memory and for early adopters that price discount they offered.

Dropping both models (or discontinuing the Basic and dropping the Deluxe) by $50 or $60 in time for the recent fall games would benefit in getting people to try to get the system AND a game. Heck, they could remove Nintendoland and just have the 32 GB hard drive version by itself at $299 and they would still probably see a small surge in sales. You are selling at a loss but the fact is with the poorly thought decisions made for the Wii U and its release you did yourself no favors and are going to be eating this loss until you build up the costumer base.

You are going to get sales this fall with the new games, but you could get more by biting the bullet and bringing the only practical version of system's base price closer to $300 or less.

I think the Wii U is dealing with 5 or 6 issues in order of significance

1. No new Wiimote type idea to bring back casuals. Many of the Wii Sports crowd has moved on to tablets/phones. No casuals = no explosive sales. Casuals are fickle, the tablet screen concept just doesn't appeal to them, and isn't getting people talking around their water cooler at work.

2. Not enough strong Nintendo IP upfront. The Wii U has games that's really not the issue so much, they are probably a game or two short of what you'd want right now though. They should have greenlit a Star Fox game and another new IP for the post launch window to fill in the blanks.

3. Price. Price is too expensive, especially for kids and a lot of Nintendo's fanbase doesn't like to spend a lot on hardware as they're used to not paying much for Nintendo consoles traditionally. Other gamers see PS3/360 with better libraries and more third party content, similar visual output and a lower cost and that kills the Wii U in its tracks. It's also killing the Wii U with parents I think, why pay $350 for a Wii U, when $250 gets you a 360 + some cheapo $20 LEGO Harry Potter/Star Wars game that'll keep the kids happy.

4. Mario burn out. They've released too many Mario games in a short time frame and didn't change up the NSMB formula enough, as such Mario on Wii U has a "been there, done that" feel to it even though it's pretty darn good game.

5. Poor third party support. Predictable I guess, but the Wii U probably could've used BioShock Infinite, MGS Rising, Resident Evil 6, and Grand Theft Auto V for starters. Ubi Soft delaying Rayman also hurt.

6. Crap marketing. Self explanatory.

It's not that exactly, the Basic set is just a bad value. I think a 32GB w/o Nintendo Land would be perfect for 299$. The Basic should cost less than what it is now.

No price cut whatsoever doesn't exactly put Nintendo in a great position this holiday even with Mario 3D World + DKC.

PS3- $199.99 (12GB); $249.99 (500GB?)
360 - $179.99? (4GB) gotta be a price drop coming

Wii U - $349.99 (32GB)

PS4 - $399.99 (500GB)
XB1 - $499.99 (500GB)

It's stuck between a rock and a hard place.

lol Soundwave you crack me up
Mario burned out? lol NSMBU is the only game thats keeping WiiU afloat. it has sold close to 2m copies on a 3m userbase

and WiiU has had the best 3rd party support ever for a Nintendo console at launch

your other points are also completely arguable

NSMB isn't getting the job done in selling systems, I think in part because people don't view the game as "special". It's just "another Mario game", because Nintendo has been pumping out too many Mario games the last couple of years.

It's not an "event" game like Super Mario 64 was or even Smash Bros. Melee for the GCN launch. Every point is arguable including your entire post, lol, so I'm not sure what that proves.

If ur using the cheapest sku for all the consoles, why not so the same for Wii U? Basic-$299, ur point still stands just seems weird.

It looks like the Basic is being phased out entirely. So if the deluxe becomes the only SKU, I just don't see how they can't drop the price. It would be suicide.