It's largely (probably mostly) Nintendo's fault... but I still think that certain other companies haven't helped matters either.

What the hell happened with EA's relationship with Nintendo between E3 2011 and E3 2012? I think until we know the answer to that, we won't know some of the most important details of the Wii U's story.

The Name is dumb, the idea is dumb. I hope they learn in the next generation. Even the Wii 2 would have sufficed. The Super Wii, the Wii HD, anything but U!!! The pad is unnecessary but it is hard for a company to focus on handheld and console and make both a riveting success. The 3DS is doing wonders for Nintendo as Vita has a hard time treading water. If Nintendo wants to succeed, the must put more power into 3DS because it will save them. Seen those Pokemon sales figures? Let 3DS lead them for another 4-5 years and the Wii U will be done.

Of course. Nintendon't advertise!

When a console isn't selling well, who else but the company is to blame?

PS3 is not a failure, unlike Wii u and most consoles of the company since N64. A lot of people switched to 360 because launched earlier and it was cheaper. And you are wrong, most sales on Nintendo's systems are because of brand loyalty (Which is 20 million approximately). I would say Sony fanbase is between 15-20 millions and Microsoft has definitely the smallest one.

The situation with the Wii U is pretty strange to me. It's as if Nintendo found a chest full of buried treasure, but were somehow convinced they'd hit a gold mine and kept digging.

I don't think the Wii U was ever going to work. Issues with the price point, the library, and the advertising certainly didn't help, but I believe the fundamental issues with the Wii U are in the design, especially the GamePad. Even the people at Nintendo don't seem to know what to do with it.

It's not my fault. I have the system and some games. Nintendo needed more games than they had the first year. Their ips are good but people like seeing new faces. They have games that will sell this year but how they will sell is up in the air. They need a game that is out of left field from what they are doing. Maybe they should do another bayenetta 2 with a third party.

It is Nintendo's fault. Wii U is a confusing name, the gamepad confused people at that E3 2011 event, lack of games and third party support, and their games don't support online.

It's definitely their fault and it started with the N64.

They wanted to stay stuck in the past with cartridges and ultimately created the rival that would dominate them for years to come. They tried to play catch up with the Gamecube, but it fell on deaf ears due to the PS2 and their inability to work with 3rd parties. They struck gold with the casual crowd with the Wii, and further alienated real gamers with even worse 3rd party support and archaic business model. The hollow success of the Wii pretty much doomed the Wii U because most Wii owners don't care about a new system and are perfectly content with playing Wii Sports at YMCAs and nursing homes around the world. I'll probably still get one though.

He never said that. But it is not easy to get casual gamers changing from one system to the successor. Gaming is not their main hobby, its more a side quest to their other entertainment venues.

So they will have no emotional bond to Nintendo, Microsoft or Sony. When/If they are looking for their next gaming device, all bets are off.

Many of them switched to smartphones or tablets to satisfy their gaming needs. Some of them lost interest in gaming a long while ago. And some of them are quite happy with the games / fitness programs they have for the Wii and won't switch for another few years.