For the time being, that's riding on the sure promise of software. Something Nintendo failed to give with the WiiU.

Hardware was key for Wii more than software.  Maybe DS too, at first.
Pretty much, Wii Sports allowed people to play the Wii more than the Wii allowed people to play Wii Sports.

But that's what I don't understand! Why do people want a PS4?

Is it simply because it's $100 cheaper than the Xbone? Is the latest Dualshock controller that comfy? Was the holy grail to console design always to italicize them?

Starting with the NES, the most popular consoles, and even less popular consoles that found niches, did so because of big, exciting games that could not be done on older hardware. The main exceptions were things like the Wii, which were less powerful but because of their control scheme did something new and exciting.

Of the Top 10 selling PS4 games, 7 can also be played on the PS3.

So why is it that people want a PS4, if it offers nothing new, is more expensive than the Wii U, lacks backwards compatibility, etc?

For the core gamer, it has a higher promise of gaming than WiiU while doing everything the XBO can ... better.

For the normal gamer... they are buying PS3s currently and/or waiting for price cuts.

Perception worldwide is WiiU is dead and not worthy. XBO is a costly waste of space. PS4 is the only real option. So if $400 is too much now, they'll largely keep PS360 until its $300, etc. XBO only chance is to dump kinect and reach price parity.

The Wii U's problem is not and never was the gamepad. It's that the console itself was ill-timed, didn't have a good title set at launch for what it was trying to do, and is now overshadowed by the PS4 and X1.

Everything EXCEPT the gamepad went wrong.

YEP! but too many people focus on gamepad and think tossing it out will allow wiiu to rebound... clearly missing the point of why its failing.

I'm with you Sal. I created an entire thread dedicated to this question.

It does of course have Killzone, inFamous, Rezogun, Knack (lol) etc (as well as all that good publicity from having the better version of multi-plats), but i do agree it's not really worth the cost right now. What it does have though is the PS brand, which has delivered on peoples expectations of content, value and quality for 20 years.

In essence, right now the PS4 is a decent system that comes with the promises met by its predecessors. Nintendo have that same core market brand power, but they lack the general markets faith (those who primarily play 3rd party games, which is the large majority of gamers). That's been the primary difference between the two thus far.

I have to agree. The WiiU may be failing, but it's certainly not the gamepads fault. I personally can't say i'm overly fond of it, but i can understand why others are.

Your statement was: "Simply it was unnecessary, and have yet to see a game that justifies its existence". It wasn't about wheter a game justify the purchase of the whole system, it was about wheter a game use the gamepad in a way that makes it relevant. Nintendoland does and Zombie U does.