I love how you claim that Nintendo's 'core base' is smaller than ever, when there handhelds are still selling extremely well (at least far better than any competitor handheld in the history of video gaming has come close to)

Nintendo's publicity has not been killed, nor the popularity of their franchises, nor the relevance of their name. The fact is that the Wii U was marketed terribly, it confused people and no one even realized that there was a new system to buy. obviously added a simple 'U' to Wii makes people think its more of an accessory than anything else

also arguably the Wii U was released at a bad time with a terrible game lineup. System launches and the success of said launches are based on the correct timing and strategies, the Wii U was just a poorly executed combination of those things. 

you compare Nintendo to Sega when Sega at the time of the Dreamcast was not following up a success; they were following up a failure in the Sega Saturn. the Wii U follows a success. The Dreamcast was abandoned (well it was forced to be) in the middle of its life cycle do to Sega's financial struggles. Sega also did not have an extremely powerful and successful second part of their business (i.e. handhelds), nor did they have any real cash reserves to save themselves if the Dreamcast failed.

the comparison is extremely poor because besides a struggling system there is nothing in common with the 2 companies. It's amusing that you highlight the Dreamcast, that initically actually did not sell THAT poorly. it obviously later on collaspsed with the release of competitor systems but all the same. Nintendo did not sell THAT MANY units for the Gamecube and N64 but they made money. the Wii (and frankly any Gameboy iteration) proves that the NIntendo brand is virtually indestructable. as long as they are making money it is not extremely relevant if their systems have sale dominance because they will always be in a fairly comfortable position to try something new in the future

in the end the Nintendo brand is just too powerful for all of this naysayer business. They have consistently released acclaimed games and have the most powerful IP's in the entertainment industry outside of Disney. stop overreacting.

Its first drop below 40k post-MK8 was 14 weeks after the game's release, you predicted it would be 4 weeks. More than 3 times as long just doesn't strike me as "a little" longer.

The fact that you know Wii U will easily beat Dreamcast illustrates that your thread title is basically FUD.

The Wii U is not a Dreamcast. It will outsell Dreamcast easily, it has already outlasted Dreamcast's lifespan outside Japan, and soon it will outlast its total lifespan.

Dreamcast was simply more front loaded, as it actually had record-breaking sales in the beginning, then dropped like a rock. Wii U, on the other hand, shows no sign of going anywhere anytime soon.

So you think the Wii U will also have a shorter overall lifespan than the Dreamcast? ;p

Wii U will outsell the DC.The DC started strong but faded quickly unlike the Wii U which will actually sell more this year than last year. Not defending Wii U sales, just saying it will sell more than it.

Edit: actually as some have pointed out, it should outsell the Dream Cast by this year.. not sure where you're getting your figures from.

lets give credit where credit is due shall we? Sony did a much better job at that than nintendo. 

This. The Dreamcast was never that much of a failure in its own right, though I can understand people may perceive it as having single-handedly forced SEGA out of the console business. Truth is SEGA needed a huge success with it to overturn failures from the past (Saturn, handhelds), and it never reached those desired heights. If the Wii U had been beaten by the Saturn- then this sudden sign of worry would be far easier to accept. Either way Nintendo would at the very least be situated a couple of generations away from abandoning their console-making aspect due to the form of events which we discuss. Almost anything could occur in that time frame.

never trust someone with One direction kid as their avatar!

(joking)

Dreamcast was sold with a loss. Nintendo is making profits with the WiiU. 

By the way, with December sales WiiU will outsold Dreamcast lifetime sales easily

I assume you´re being sarcastic, aren´t you ? :)

There will never be another bowser :(  Maybe one day i'll get a puppy again but right now i'm still recovering from a crazy abusive chick and well i'm not ready for a new puppy in my life yet. I just work and play video games right now and I'm actually quite loving it.