Well, I wouldn't say the game is ruined. Just wasted potential. Playing on a console version feels sluggish compared to the PC, and I feel the gamepad could have helped with these issues, but now it's just like the other consoles, which is not very good, personally.

I think all the parents who bought their kids Wiis in the past are ready to upgrade and this game will grease those wheels.  I'm not talking millions but I will bet it garners an extra 50k of sales that would not have been there without Minecraft U

Except those kids either grew up to be old enough to have a ps4/ps3/xbox one/xbox 360 with minecraft, or those kids are young and probably use their parents iphone/android/ipad/computer to play minecraft.

If a parent has a wii u, they could buy minecraft for the wii u. That's why minecraft could sell well on it.

If a parent doesn't have a wii u, they have soo many other options that buying a wii u for minecraft is not worth the extra hundreds needed.

Minecraft U won't be moving any hardware units for the wii u.

It would have if it released with gamepad support and as a launch title for the wii u, but it's too late now.

I'm not saying it's a 1:1 causality ratio, merely the difference maker.  I agree there are other opportunities to play the game via alternate systems but being such a hugely popular game there will still be opportunities for new players.  

I realize that, nothing will ever be a 1:1 ratio. Thing is, that amount is negligible, along with claims like "devil's third is going to move units." Although technically that statement holds up if devil's third moves at least 2 units, it is implied that devil's third was supposed to move a LOT more units for that phrase to mean what we wanted it to mean.

Also, your earlier estimate of moving 50k units is really high. Again, there is no incentive for buying a wii u for minecraft. You're better off buying a ps3 for cheaper to play minecraft. High software sales =/= High hardware sales

50k is high, why?  Also, you reference a 1:1 ratio when you say "buying a wii u for minecraft".  Did you mean to phrase this differently?

let me rephrase: people buying minecraft on the wii u does not imply that those people would buy a wii u for minecraft. It isn't a 1:1 ratio, instead for every 1,000,000 people that buy minecraft for the wii u, there is 1 person who will buy a wii u for minecraft. That ratio is too small to claim that "minecraft will move hardware."

Yes, I do believe 50k is to high. Once again, there is no incentive for buying a wii u for minecraft. If someone wanted to buy a console for minecraft, they are better off buying a cheaper ps3. I estimate minecraft to move less than 5k units of wii u hardware.

Oh, god. One of the few games that I would actually like to use the gamepad. And it doesn't actually help you in the building part of Minecraft. What the fucking hell...

Indie developers know how to do it:

• UNEpic has a separate inventory screen that you can toggle between TV and pad.
• Stone Shire has a separate inventory screen. This game is $1 on european eShop. 
• Terraria will (most probably) also have a separate inventory screen.
• Qube Life show the same screen on both TV and pad, so when you want to craft you look at the pad and when you play you look at the TV.  Minecraft will probably work the same way.

Because it would have been too obvious to use the GamePad for all that!