The problem is that many people would expect a 'WiiU without the Gamepad' to retail for cheaper than just $50 less than the current SKU.

But the way they could make that $249 price work is if it came bundled with a new hit game such as DK, Mario Kart or Smash.  They would have to make sure that the existing $299 SKU didn't have such a game as a pack-in, however, or it would be back to the issue above.

define save.

Is Nintendo going to sell the Wii U for $199 at a loss just because people expect them to? Doubful, if they do in fact ditch the Gamepad it will be sold at a porfit in order to cancel out the losses from the Gamepad bundle.

I think Wii U has lost this generation.  One or two games won't turn it around, most of the best games have come and gone.  Smash will boost it up for awhile, but unless the other consoles have a string of badluck, I don't see the Wii U doing anything great this generatoin...

however, I don't think Sony will be pulling off anything huge themselves. I say end of the gen, Sony has 70 mill at most. As far as console excitement goes, I would call it luke warm at best. There was another thread awhile ago saying that there were still PS4s all over the retail stores and they weren't moving that fast for a launch day console.

All this tells me is that only the super hardcore are picking up the system or that there's no fire under anyones but to buy one.

well mario kart is one of the best selling games for nintendo, it sold about 36million units, and considering that wii reached the 100 million units, 36 million of 100million is a good portion

smash sold less, like 11.5million up until now, but still good portion of those 100million

Gamecube-21.74 million, Mario Kart Double Dash-6.95 million, Super Smash Bros Melee-7.07 million

Nintendo 64-32.93 million, Mario Kart 64-9.87 million, Super Smash Bros-5.55 million

Mario Kart/Smash Bros were on N64/GC but these consoles still didnt sell extremely well.

I don't believe that a $199 WiiU with only a Wiimote/nunchuck would be sold at a loss.  At worst I'd guess it'd break even, which wouldn't offset the losses from the current SKU up front, but they would move a lot more consoles which would mean a lot more software sold, and that would bring in more profit.

In any case, I wouldn't see Nintendo dropping the price a full $100 because $50 increments is more their style, which is why they'd have to make the $249 GP-less SKU worth it to the consumer, hence the bundling of a MK8 or Smash.  In other words, if people end up seeing more value in the current loss-leading $299 SKU and purchase it anyway then it defeats the purpose.

Not only saved but also the market leader.

What? PS4 is outpacing PS3 by a huge margin if PS3 managed to reach 80M there's no way PS4 the record breaking console and current market leader can't pass 70M. We are practically March and the console is still sold out.

"As far as console excitement goes, I would call it luke warm at best", I hope your post is sarcasm.

Nope, I think last generation there was still a lot of excitement in the gaming world, but I just don't see it this generation.  Developers are dropping left and right and there's nothing amazing which is pulling in the casual gamers like the Wii did last generation.  I don't think any of the consoles will be performing that great this time.  

PS2 sold as great as it did because it had tonnes of games and a dvd player, and it came out early.  The DVD player caught the casual gamers as well as the huge variety of games.  I remember my classroom was buzzing in high school when Katamari Damacy was out.  Now what do we have, FPS games and Sports Games and Open World games.  

Wii sold as well as it did because of the motion controls.  People just had to try it.  It was fun as hell if you had a party going.  That's how that console spread so far in the casual market.  Word of mouth

PS4....  It has graphics and a really thin circle of games.  Don't bring up the indie market though.  Casual players have no clue how to even access the online shop.  Just getting them to turn on the system is an achievement in most cases.  I still have to show my family how the laser button works on the PS3, or that theres a power switch on the back, or how to delete old saves.