I like to think the Wii and Wii U are both outliers. One has the highest sales for a Nintendo console and the other one may have the lowest sale of a Nintendo console.

That said, I think the Wii U should get close to 10 million before New Years hit.

Agreed, a best selling consoles vs a worst selling console comparison is boring.(Saleswise) 

I can't.... This is a joke post right? There isn't a dumber opinion out there than the "Wii was a fad so it doesn't count" one. Every piece of technology is a 'fad' that is eventually replaced by something newer. If the Gamecube wasn't a fad, why isn't it still selling well today?

The Gamecube was a huge failure for Nintendo. The fact that the Wii U could only dream of achieving such sales tells you just how bad things are.

People don't want underpowered devices. Look at the system leading the pack right now.
I have enjoyed the Wii U. MK8 is a ton of fun. But when they make a new system it's going to have to focus on the future. 4K graphics, regular style controller... This is what people are going to be looking to buy in a few years.

Still too early to say, it is selling less than its competitors but I agree it isnt selling bad.
Honestly though, if it sold a little more than I would be happy.

I strongly believe this gen sales will be far less than last gens.

EDIT: Almost forgot to say,

It's good to see a lot of the anti-Nintendo stigma fading from the world. It wont completely disappear but the less their is the better for sales.

I doubt even MSony will have native UHD graphics, let alone Nintendo.

People seem to forget that pixel count from 720p to 1080p is 2.25x (with performance hit of around 1.7), while 1080p to 2160p is 4x (with performance hit of around 3x).

Considering that many, if not most, think that 7th-8th gen jump is "small", even though PS3-PS4 is 10x, which, after the resolution penalty, translates to some 5-6x of actual jump, for MSony to have that same 5-6x actual jump for native UHD, they would need at least 15x stronger consoles...which in current tech TFLOPS would be some 27TFLOPS...and that's not going to happen, most estimates are around 15TFLOPS.

That said, IMO, most probable scenario is that native reolution would be targeted at either 2560*1440 or 2880*1620 (latter translates to same 720p to 1080p jump), with good upscalers, which leaves Nintendo with excellent opportunity to make proper 1080p console (which would call for 5TFLOPS GPU) that is actually capable or running all the multiplats and have upscaled UHD...but somehow, I doubt they will opt for that.

How? It's selling way less per month than it needs to. What was the latest figure? I think 45k WW. 

Shipped numbers? SSB for Wii U?

Even if Wii U does above GC numbers, it will still be a failure.

Actually, more than the GC, because Nintendo still made a lot of money from the GC and with the Wii U they sold the console at a loss for a year a year and half.
Also, with so few games being released on the console - unlike the GC days - they aren't getting a lot in royalties, either.

At the end of Wii U's generation, from the home console perspective, they might end up paying for the R&D and the losses they took with the Wii U, but then how much in profit did they actually gained from a whole generation?

If they had the support that GC had, if they hadn't cut on sports franchises exclusive to their systems, and maybe things would be better today.

Generally, we can pin a console's future based on it's first year.

The WiiU's first year was disastrously bad. Awful marketing. Tons of delays. No info on major upcoming releases. Really poor communication to fans. And too many early signs of dwindling 3rd party support and uncertain future with indies. And really, one of the weakest 1st party lineups could really put together.

The second year is trending way up. Better marketing (but still room for improvement). Not all that many disappointing delays. And we're now much better informed via Treehouse on the state of specific games. And although the 'mature' level 3rd party support is gone, the Wii U has games like Skylanders and Lego on lock for a long time to come. The indie support too has been much better than expected. The best of the WiiU's 1st party content is finally beginning to arrive at along last.