Well my psp had 32 player games with dedicated servers, a unified online account that let me download stuff on multiple systems, and most games had voice chat.  He'll I'm pretty sure the original xbox had all of these features too.  So now your turn bud.  Didn't expect me to have a well thought out response?

Is there voice chat? DLC? Can I purchase the DLC once and use it on multiple systems?

I would say, for most people, it's the complete opposite.  A much larger portion of people think that the fate of the Wii U (and/or Nintendo) is already set in stone and that there's no changing it.  So of course when you see those kinds of comments, you're going to get retaliations making it seem like Nintendo can recover easily when people keep saying what is or isn't going to happen.  

And no one truly knows what all the right moves are.  If Microsoft knew, they wouldn't have had to make changes before and after the launch of the XBO in an effort to keep up with the PS4.  If Sony knew, they wouldn't be selling so poorly in Japan right now with the PS4 and the PS Vita or in general with the PS Vita globally.  And if Nintendo knew, they obviously wouldn't have ignored it.  I keep saying these things, but no one really seems to listen.  The decisions each company makes with their hardware and software lineups are NOT made last minute.  They are planned a good bit in advance, and are clearly things that a bunch of people online couldn't ACTUALLY come up with a legitimate fix for in just a few minutes, hours, days, or even months.  We don't know about all the internal issues each company may have to deal with, and we also don't know exactly how the general population reacts to certain pieces of hardware or software and their shortcomings.  It may seem obvious, but it isn't really.  Miscalculations are always possible, but it doesn't mean that they never accounted for it in the first place.

So many of you guys here act like you could actually be advisors for any of the gaming companies out there, but I can guarantee you that most, if not all, of you would not be qualified for the job.  

Though discussing these topics may be interesting and there's no harm in speculating, too many of you guys act like your suggestions are the truth and that no one knows what they're doing because they're idiots.  

FYI:  This wasn't really meant only for OP but a general statement to many of the kinds of things I have seen posted here (and a lot of other places, actually), especially recently. 

OK, so.. the PSP and Xbox had online matches, an account system, and voice chat?

Damn, I guess you're right. The WiiU only has:
- online matches / leaderboards
- account system
- voice chat
- video chat
- automatic game updates while console's off
- automatic firmware updates while console's off
- robust online store with catchy elevator music
- speedy web browser that can be used without closing game software
- exclusive social media service
- upload replay videos to youtube (mario kart 8)
- DLC, demos, trailer... etc etc etc..

Hells, even Pokemon X Y have voice chat.

Is it on par with the other 8th gen consoles? NO
Is it better than any 6th or 7th gen console? YES
Is claiming otherwise blatant trolling? YES

Yes, there is voice chat in MK8, but they choose to exclude during games(races),  it's more of a game design decision than a limit of Nintendo's network infrastucture

Same for your "12player vs 32 players" comment. Nintendo choose 12players as their target number for MK (like Respawn w/Titanfall). And CoD for WiiU is above that with an 18 players limit. We'd probably see more if WiiU had more 3rd party support, EA's BF for example.

DLC and games are tied to accounts which are tied to hardware. In this area, you could say they are behind, but calling the whole network 2 gen behind is a big exaggeration.

just butthurt over mk8 sales.

TBH I haven't set up the network account on my Wii U because the initial setup was giving me error codes, and I haven't been compelled to try more since I literally don't know anybody else who has a Wii U .  If there was anybody asking me to play online with them I'd set it up.

What's this tracking below the dreamcast thing? The dreamcast was on the market from 1998-2002 before sega pulled the plug. It sold just over 8 million units, Wii U has sold 6.3 million in one year and seven months and will have passed dreamcast sales by the holidays. Am i missing something here? Seems to me that one or two are trying to downplay Mario karts success because nearly 190,000 people thought the Wii U to be a good investment last weekend, meaning there are people out there who want it. If you like games then Wii U is the soundest investment as both PS4/One are very light on content at the moment...unless you like fifa and cod that is.

It isn't a joke. We might see only one Console in future which plays discs and we mostly migrate to Online and digital after that because of technology being affordable and best. So, Sony and Microsoft already started their Networking solutions with Gaikai and Azure but Nintendo doesn't have have anything like that and not even basic network (which they are trying still now recently with NNID etc.,) and also they are losing momenutum being terrible in Home console and not meeting their expectations in Handheld which is going to get worse in future. They should make major changes and come being competitive with Sony/Microsoft in hardware power and helping/funding development for 3rd partities to get their support, launching a good network infrastucture, making more new matured  and family IP's to balance the consumers base of theirs and current hardcore market, providing more value to gamers with services like PS+ etc.,  Otherwise they have to move to other kind of gaming section or media like they did with Wii and now going with QOL (or) they are going to face losses in future in gaming.

The Dreamcast was actually around 10m when it was discontinued. What people like to down play is that, before the piracy issue showed up, the Dreamcast had amazing sales figures. If you make a graph showing the first year sales of every console, the Dreamcast would be near the top.