so you're saying nintendo's goose is cooked, they better just pack it up and go back to making playing cards? you seem to be saying everything is set in stone, nothing can ever change, etc., as tho the world is a kind of clockwork train that goes round and round on the same track with no deviations whatsoever. unfortunately that's not how the world works. tablets and smartphones didn't exist 7 years ago. now they do and they've changed everybody's calculus (the dualshock 4 has a useless touchpad, doesn't it?). that doesn't mean they'll always exist in exactly the same capacity, and the fact that tablet sales are way down in the last two years (to the point that google may abandon their own nexus line) is a good indication that that fad is dying down atm. we'll see, won't we?

Yes ofc trends change, but the thing is Nintendo was building their console in accordance with the trends and its still not working for them.  They can't seem to adapt to the trends, they knew where their target market went so they attempted to adapt to fit that trend, but they couldn't do it.  The sole reason for the tablet controller is to attract that audience because it sure as hell doesn't have any must own gameplay features for gamers to go out in droves to get a Wii U.  I'm saying maybe its time to target a different market.

so we're largely in agreement then. wii u was a disappointing (but now profitable) experiment and they're already planning for their next platform/hybrid which will probably try to appeal to the audience you seem to suggest the wii u should have tried to appeal to (going by miyamoto's edge interview, that seems to be the case, anyway)... so as i said, we'll see. no use pretending to know what it is right now, b/c we don't.

once they do announce it, if you find the product objectionable for the reasons you've outlined, feel free to bemoan their abandonment of 'core gamers' etc. atm all that hue and cry is really beside the point. it's obvious the wii u has not worked out as they expected. they're trying to make the best of it (and finding some success). that's that.

The Wii was developed by the Illuminati to keep the population distracted while they do their thing. So it's actually not a Nintendo console.

Its selling bad. Right now it doesn't even look like it will pass the gamecube.

i'll take you up on that bet if you're up for one. wii u will sell at least 21.74m units by the end of its lifespan. (i think 8th gen for nintendo is going to look awfully close to 6th for both the 3ds and the wii u.)

Does anyone have the sales numbers for their handhelds?

Sure, I'll make a bet with you. Its gonna be a while before we find who wins though...

Both really. It is selling in trend with GC. But, it's also selling bad because it's getting less games & attention than GC had.

pretty much this