Im sorry but I have to disagree. You cannot compare Nintendo's next gen to old gen. Compared to the Wii the Wii U Is next gen and much more advanced than the Wii.

Plus the similar console design was just plain idiotic really and didn't help. It's not dumb, it's awareness. The marketing for the Wii U was pathetic really..

Because "wii" is a play on the word "we" which symbolizes Nintendo.

"U" is a play on the word "you" which in essence is the gamers.
The "wii" was nintendo thinking about themselves and their own content saying fuck you to 3rd parties and gamers that want them.

after the out cry "wii u" is the combination of everything and everyone left out. In other words the wii U is "US"

No at this point they should just drop the "Wii" from the name altogether. if they want a silly casual name, give it something like the "Yu Tu"... At least that one won't be confusing to anyone.

To be honest, I don't think the name is the WiiU's problem. I think people are just not really interested in another console under the TV that does hardly anything else than their existing console(s) already do for them.

I love my WiiU, so I am hardly biased against the console, but if I look at my circle of friends: a number of them bought a Wii for the party and karaoke games. None of them are interested in the WiiU - they are happy to dust off the machine over Christmas to play Wii-Sports with the family, and then put it back in the closet for next year. They know exactly what the WiiU is, they simply are not interested in it.

More mainstream gamers already own a 360/PS3, so they are not interested in spending $300 to get what they already have. And they are all saving up for the PS4/XBone, because for them resolution and "teh graphix" are rather important.

So who does this leave? Parents will probably eventually give in and get their kids a WiiU to play the latest Mario. On-off gamers like myself who don't already have a 360/PS3, and think that the next-gen graphics are hugely over-rated and not worth the cost. Gamers who love Nintendo exclusives. Who else? There simply seems to be no huge market.

I have had an xbox and an xbox 360 so pretty much faithful to Microsoft. I also had a Wii and to be honest I loved the games I played on Wii as you cannot get them first party games anywhere else. The ethics of Microsoft turned me off from buying the xbox one and Ive never been a fan of sony's PS. So that leaves me buying a cheaper console and also one that I would of bought In the foreseeable future anyway specially for the first party games you cannot get anywhere else.

I can't believe Nintendo didn't see this coming. Maybe they thought they could clear up the confusion with strong marketing but that hasn't happened yet. Hardly any marketing has happened at all.

Since the E3 reveal Nintendo got their marketing completely wrong. They were only presenting the new tablet controller, which, with all factors combined, only reinforced the perception that it is only a new controller add-on instead of a whole new system.

And people claiming that it is clear that the WiiU is Wii 2 obviously have little touch with the mainstream market. I bet that at least 80% of Wii userbase don't hang out on gaming sites.

If they are going to change something at least put the U in front of "Wii" and not above it, like it`s some sort of attachment.
If they are going to be radical just change it to "U" (as the U is already there) or "Unity" (as the U is already there, too).

Sorry to break it to you, but neither you nor those you're referring to are "core gamers".

Anyway, I think "Wii 2" would have been problematic for a different reason - one of Nintendo's biggest arguments in favour of their systems is "creativity". Going with such an uncreative title would have made people think that Nintendo have lost their creative flair.

I don't think that "Wii U" was a bad name. But I do think that the specific branding was poor - the same "Wii" logo, with the "U" in a box after it. Makes it look like a peripheral. They should have come up with a new logo that was just similar enough to the old one to evoke the connection, without making them look like they're the same system.

In addition, I think they should have advertised it as "the All-New Wii U" from the beginning, to emphasise that it's *all* new, not just the controller. This is, unfortunately, no longer possible, as it's been out for a year now.

All of that said, I think that all Nintendo really needs to do now is have a solid advertising blitz to make sure that people know about the system. Something a little more substantial than what we've seen so far.