On the other hand though, TPHD will have to compete with widespread disappointment over its lack of a more thorough graphical overhaul, and with selling to a little over half Gamecube's install base.

Fair, but this version will definitely recieve marketing, whereas the wii version took all of the attention away from the gamecube one.

plus, most wii u owners probably won't deny a game on the basis of graphics, for obvious reasons

Even among Wii U owners I've seen a lot of people labelling it as looking "like shit" or "hardly any different from the Gamecube version".

In the end, I reckon both versions have significant handicaps to their sales potential, and should end up in the same ballpark.

Oh, they both definitely have handicaps. But if the Wii u version outsells the GameCube one (I doubt it), it shouldn't be too surprising why

Neither version winning would really surprise me, but I do expect them to be close to each other in lifetime sales, like within 400k.

A vocal group of people on forums really isn't a good indicator for a games sales. There are very few things in the world that don't get criticized on the internet.

I'm not saying it will have bad sales, but I do think it's somewhat barebones graphical overhaul does count against it. Imagine its sales if it looked like the E3 2011 tech demo.

It seems to be a standard HD remaster, E3 2011 tech demo would essentially be a complete remake.

True, but Nintendo kind of built a reputation for going above and beyond "standard" remasters with the heavy reworking given to Wind Waker HD, Ocarina 3D, and Majora 3D, which makes a standard HD makeover look underwhelming by comparison.

Ya I guess, I just don't see it really affecting sales by any notable amount.