This is the first "Wii U vs Xbox One: Race to second place" thread. There will be more. A lot more. I'm not including PS4 because its obviously locked for 1st.

Hardware numbers as of August 2, 2014..  Wii U- 6.9 million   Xbox One- 5.0 million     Wii U leads by 1.9 million and the gap is increasing weekly.

Hardware numbers in each reigon...

North America:  Xbox One- 3.2m    Wii U- 2.7m    Xbox One leads by 0.5m and the gap is increasing weekly

Europe: Wii U- 1.6m    Xbox One- 1.2m   Wii U leads by 0.4m and the gap has been increasing weekly since Mario Kart 8 release for Wii U

Japan: Wii U has a huge advantage. Xbox One has released there yet... Wii U- 1.9m

The rest of the world: Wii U- 0.7m     Xbox One- 0.6m

Prejections: When all August numbers are in (which will be the second or third thread of this) This is what I expect LT from each console. 5 week period.

I expect Wii U to hold the lead (obviously) Wii U should be at 7.2m based on the current 60k baseline... Increase in a month should be 0.3m

Xbox One is a bit harder to project... Should be around 5.3m  based on the 50k-55k baseline

Predict LT numbers by the end of August (5 week period) I will make these 1-3 times monthly... These will get better especially during hoidays. I will include more numbers and software numbers and other stuff. This one is just seeing how it will work.

Wiiu base will fall soon enough, X1 will slightly rise and hold on strength of 3rd parties.

2nd will be close as between gc xbox, or slightly more separated.  LT Wiiu 18m X1 as high as around 29m.

X1 should outsale wiiu in Aug, madden effect.

Whoever wins depends on how Xbox One does in Japan. Nearly the entire gap is because of Japan!

I don't understand the 3rd party part, it has barely helped Xbox One at all. Wii U is remaning at the same baseline and Xbox One is still dropping.

nothing cant really help much can it.  But the coming flood of games is another story.  

XB1 in US, Wii U in Japan... Europe will be the balancing act, and i think it'll favor Wii U, though not by much.

In my opinion the WiiU is slightly more likely to come out ahead

I put this down to the Xbox One having to compete more directly with the PS4 than the WiiU which seems to be in a league of its own.

I want to still say the x1 will be second place but its hard to be sure mostly cause when a consumer looks to buy a console, they will mostly see that, ps4 has the best third party with good first party, Nintendo has the Best first party with poor third party and x1, even though it has the same amount of third party as the ps4, the experience is worse than it would be on the ps4 in terms of graphics and performance and x1 doesn't really have that notable first party apart from Halo, Forza and Gears

So what I am trying to say is that, I think most people would go ps4 if they want a great third party experience which is stealing x1's main customers and most people would go wiiU if they want great first party experience and don't really care about third party so idk anymore. But we will see

PS: Those are obviously examples from what I can tell so don't kill me if you disagree

I think the U actually has a great chance to jump start at $199 or less pricing. It becomes almost an impulse buy companion console for the superb 1st-party library at that price. And that price is probably possible even during the upcoming holiday season (and DEFINITELY by fall '15 if they decide to hold off).

Due to PS4 being a damned steamroller even in the US (latest numbers 2 to 1 over XB1, lol), the real magic will be : what makes the better companion console? The XB1 makes a terrible companion console. It's expensive, it requires a subscription service to be viable, and 90% of the library is the same (only worse in most cases).

Winner on logic? The U.

Winner in reality? Wait and see. Smash's success or failure will have a lot to do with it. It could become a game that people really talk about and get into, and that would keep them pumping onto Zelda's release and sub-$200 price point. At that point I have no doubt that the U will stay solid for a long time.

My brain says X1, but my heart keeps telling me Wii U!
So i'll go with the Wii U, why not.