This is a catch 22:

Wii sports club big addition is online, but mostly Miiverse. Nintendo is pushing it as download to get people online and on Miiverse.

Miiverse wil be used to make your tennis groups, who can be integrate in bigger clubs. Think of things like, you see a person is playing online, you pop in and message. Hey, can i join? I brought whoever. We can make two againts two.

You might even just spectate on ongoing matches of your group members and cheer them on like shown in the trailer with messages. Which is great addition of the sport brand. It could be genius to integrate miiverse like that, if played right with the announced download model.

However miiverse is designed to function with the gamepad. You can't pull these apart in either way.

No gamepad, no miiverse. But no Miiverse, no expanded Wii sports online also.

Miiverse doodles are fun, but it's not worth risking your console business over such a feature. People who want to play Wii Sports want to play the game, not to make doodles in between games. It's not like you can't communicate or send a "I'd like to play!" message without needing a touch screen.

If sales are not up to expectations through this holiday it's fair to say Nintendo gave the tablet idea a fair shot -- it's just not a feature people are willing to buy a console for.

There are ways to update Miiverse so people with Wiimote's can interface with it easier as well via a firmware update.

Like the 2DS it would be time to change gears. You can still have an SKU with the tablet, nothing wrong with that.

Wii U (32GB + Wii Sports Club + Wiimote) - $199.99
Wii U (32GB + NSMBU/NSMLU + tablet) - $279.99
Nintendo Land Plus (add a few new minigames) + Wii U tablet - $99.99 (standalone)

Alongside Mario Kart 8 next April would be smart IMO. Some people just want Mario Kart, they don't care about Miiverse, at $199.99 they might bite on impulse.

How exactly are they risking their console business? The only risk I see is losing this generation of console, but if the wiiU fails, I highly doubt their just going to ditch their console business as a whole.

You can't just write off an entire console generation, if Wii U flops, I think Nintendo will probably shy away from the console business going forward or what will follow will be a very different type of future.

Even if they do decide to make another dedicated console if Wii U never takes, it's not worth doing all this for a controller that people don't seem to be responding to.

The point of hardware first and foremost is to simply get into people's homes so you can sell software on it. Period. It's not to make a point about how a controller is neat or something. 2 holiday seasons is enough, if it's still not selling up to expectation, it's time to offer a cheaper option without the tablet.

You win some, you lose some, the Wiimote was a brilliant idea that sold consoles, the tablet has been problematic. I give it one more holiday season, but if sales are still below par, at some point you have to open the discussion to at least 1 SKU that ships without the thing. If people don't want it, why keep banging your head against the wall.

Miiverse isn't just a feature, like 3D is. It's their entire new online structure for console and handhelds.

Typing or sending message without a touch keyboard is just to clumbersome for the mainstream. These are people who have been using touch controls for a couple years now. If the gamepad becomes optional, they are basicly dropping their new online structure and interface. And that's one of the biggest potentials the Wii U has. It could really set it apart from the other consoles.

It's not impossible that Nintendo brings out a WiiU without a gamepad - low weekly sales of 30k next year might actually push this :(.

That's certainly not a bad idea in itself. It is however a very divergent idea which would greatly affect their online plans and WiiU vision.

The Wii U unfortunately is being hurt by cheaper/better value PS3/360 bundles too.

The Best Buy in my area has the Zelda bundle at $299.99, but it doesn't stack up so great next to the GTAV 500GB PS3 for $269.99 (sold out). They also had the red God Of War 500GB bundle on sale for $269.99 as well which comes with like 5 GoW games sitting right next to the Wii U area.

It's really tough for Nintendo to compete with that, a lot of budget conscious parents and former Wii-only owners are opting to upgrade to PS3/360 instead.

Zelda fans really need to come through for Nintendo now and buy this Zelda bundle.

I'm buying in 2 weeks on a WW bundle. So i did my part as a big Zelda fan.

The situation with the last gen can't be helped. The other other consoles are going to be hit by by it also - once they launch.

At least Nintendo is going to full gear at the moment. They have good deals on software for a lot of audiences. If they can come with a big Wii Fit U and Wii sport Club ad push, things should be fine. I hope Wii U can averige 50-60 per week at minimum after the holidays.

Im sorry but the GamePad doesnt cost more than 60-70$ to manufacture.

It must do because the WiiU was selling at a loss even without this price cut. The hardware is on par/little better with PS360 so can't be costing more than $150.

I think Iwata mentioned it adds like $100 to the cost of the system.