Lol, no one cares about specs. PS2 was the least powerful console of its generation, and it outsold the Gamecube and Xbox by a LOT. Same for the Wii, it was the least powerful for its generation, but it outsold the PS3 and Xbox 360. The power of the console means nothing...plus the Wii U has plenty of processing power to make games look nice in 1080p while streaming to the gamepad.

Pretty much every reason around is why the Wii U is not doing well right now:
-Horrid Marketing
-Very few 3rd party games
-Lack of enticing exclusives out now to people who aren't extremely dedicated Nintendo fans (you've got 2 minigame collections, a Lego game, a 2D Mario platformer that looks very similar to the recent slew of them, an idiosyncratic horror title, and a port of a 3DS game that was a remake of a Wii game (wouldn't that mean Monster Hunter is not exclusive? People seem to forget that...))
-Online structure that is not up to par with its competitors' current systems (I can't directly invite friends to a game, no cross-game chat, longer download/installation times than my 360, etc.)
-Very few people currently have it, meaning stuff like "playing multiplayer with friends" as an incentive to purchase is now gone
-The system is very expensive for what it does. The Wii U almost only plays games. If it weren't for some of the video streaming apps and the amazing internet browser, that would be its sole purpose. Meanwhile, it's competitors current system (so not including what's to come) offer a slew of multimedia capabilities. The ability to play Blurays/DVDs, Media Center on XBOX, the many more streaming services on both systems, the music stuff, the interactability (is that a word?) with other products, etc. It does less than its competition now, let alone later on.
-There's the stigma that Nintendo is "kiddie and casual" that exists between lots of people who play video games.
-Questionable specs. There's a lot of statements by many devs out there now that show how Nintendo's system isn't up to par in some respects to its competitors current system (I won't even go into the next ones)
-Bad memory. Even if most people won't use it for much, it still acts as something that people will see and think of as inferior. Numbers have a big impact on people.
-Nintendo's lineup for the rest of the year isn't exactly spectacular to a gamer at first glance. Mario 3D World looks really similar to 3D Land, DK Wii U looks similar to DK Returns, Wind Waker is a remake, Wii Fit U is... Wii Fit U, Pikmin 3 and Wonderful 101 are pretty niche (although they'll both probably be great)
-The third party lineup isn't that great either for this year. If you take out WB, Activision, and Ubisoft out the picture, there's basically no 3rd party games on the Wii U outside of Sonic (which actually looks really good, btw, but I digress). Compared to what's going on with the other consoles, it doesn't look good for the Wii U.
-What's the point of the Gamepad? Nintendo still needs to prove its relevancy to a lot of people (not me, I get it, and surely not many of the people on this forum. I'm talking about your average joe consumer).

It all comes down to arrogance on Nintendo's part. That and the fact that they've been overthinking things lately.

Nintendo is still stuck in 2007. They thought the Wii U was going to take off like the Wii did and it just hasn't. In a lot of ways, Nintendo is like France in World War II. They started WWII trying to fight it the exact same way they fought WWI, and it cost them dearly. Nintendo needs to stop focusing so much on buzz words like "innovation" and "asymmetric gameplay" and start paying closer attention to software, interface, and even though it's too late now, specifications to some extent.

Also, the advertising has been HORRID! There are still people that think the Wii U is a new accessory for the Wii. Anybody that was alive in the early 90s or late 80s remembers how you always saw Nintendo ads on TV. There's no excitement or buzz generated around the Wii U right now. Simply lazy advertising.

I'll always be a Nintendo fan. But they just seem asleep at the wheel right now and out of touch.

The real reason it's not selling?

Your mom.

It's all her fault.

_{/me leaves pointless and repetitive circular-argument thread}

And @the_shydar wins the thread. Now go back home everyone.

agreed with most of the points. I'm thinking of grabbing a Wii U this late summer/Early fall still, PS4 will be my main system but not enough has bee announced for it and I'll still get one in March. The Wii U has a decent library of games and I'm itching for nintendo console games after pretty much skipping the Wii.

Plus grabbing the WIi U would still keep me enough money to get an XL barring more colors are announced

decesions decesions. .

I've been to a huge electronic shop recently and there was a big sign telling customers that "WiiU games won't play on Wii systems". Yes it is awkward, but it means two things: first, that maybe Nintendo didn't find a way to explain the new product properly. Second, and most important, that people still want to buy Nintendo games. People go where the games are. Once the Wii U has a decent library, it will sell. See what happened for DS then and 3DS now.
I see this as a positive, as Nintendo has plenty of time to explain how the console works and what kind of experience it can offer. It would be much worse if Nintendo didn't have a generation of consumers interested in playing Nintendo games.
It's true that Wii sold mainly to families and kids, but it's also true that those kids who got a Wii in their early 10s are now 17, 18 or 19 years old, so they are now "mature" gamers who crave for Nintendo games. These are the people Nintendo has to make games for - not for people who want an xbox game!

also, I am confused. You want WiiU to sell or do you want WiiU to be technically on par with PS4 etc?! Because you know, one thing won't automatically lead to the other. I see a lot of cute ideas but I fail to see how Nintendo would generate sales by stopping being Nintendo.

Top 5.
1. No system selling games
2. No notable new games have been on it in months
3. Inferior specs to its competitors
4. Xbone and PS4 are most likely better long term investments
5. Lack of 3rd Party support

Agreed. He shouldn't even need spell check. However, I'll take a crack at fixing it.

So basically, he's saying:

1. Nintendo should have released better bundles for hardcore gamers at launch, including a 50GB WiiU with longer battery life.

2. The gamepad should have had a disk slot instead of the main console, to make it more portable.

3. Nintendo doesn't seem to have many games currently in development, opting for a 2014 release for them. With the PS4 and Xbox One coming out later this year, this could deal a huge blow to Nintendo.

I've been supporting Nintendo since the early 90's, so I've seen Nintendo do great things with their hardware, but by comparison, the WiiU is simply alright. More e-shop content would help, and they need to stop only showing trailers at expos.

Basically, I'm saying that the WiiU is 'Dust in the Wind'.

I will agree that your first point would have been nice for Nintendo to do, but I don't think it would have really changed much in the grand scheme of things. Most people already knew that they could simply buy flashdrives and have as much space as they could possibly want. As for the battery, most people I know (here and irl)simply play plugged into the wall. Battery life seems to be almost a non-issue, and the few people who do care (like myself) can simply buy a Nyko battery, which expands the life farther than Nintendo could offer anyway.

I really don't understand what you are asking for in your second point. For portability, we already have the 3DS. Why would you want two portable systems? The gamepad has to be within a specific proximity of the WiiU anyway to function, so even if the disc drice was in the gamepad, it wouldn't change anything. In fact, the disk is liable to get damaged because people who walk, shake, or hold the gamepad at odd angles may cause the disk to scratch.

Lastly, people who want to play Nintendo games will buy a WiiU, plain and simple. The release of other systems will not change this simple fact. The people who buy an Xbox One/ PS4 probably didn't intend to get a WiiU in the first place, so no harm done. As for e-shop content, Nintendo is actively working with indie developers to get a wide range of content on the e-shop, so that isn't an issue. As for demos at expos, I can't claim to know, but I would think it obvious that they should have demos. Why they wouldn't is beyond me.

I honestly think the main reason the WiiU is suffering right now because there aren't really any major games for it right now. Nintendo is really slow to act on it, but we will eventually get the games we're begging for, and by that point the WiiU will be aas successful as the 3DS, plain and simple.

well the most obvious reason is the lack of software up until the near future. Having a lack of games kinda defeats the purpose of a owning game console lol. But Nintendo really has been lacking on the advertisement front, I've noticed that the 3DS is getting better but it still is relatively poor. But also the lack of an account based online system also drives people away, I know it drove me away for a period of time. Also people bashing the Wii U really isn't helping either, although like the recent article with this Pachter(?) guy works for MS so obviously it's in his best interest (and the interest of his bank account) to make the other consoles look bad. But at this point it really is just beating a dead horse, I can't tell you the number of time's i've heard 'omgzzz Nintendo is doooomed omg XBOX4LYFE' and that kind of thing. But I think the Wii U will be fine once the games start to roll out, just like the Wii and 3DS before it. I don't own a Wii U yet so I don't have and first hand experience with it, but when the games start coming out I think they're gonna start selling for sure. I mean yeah the PS4 and Xbone are more powerful systems spec wise, but they arn't Nintendo and I think that is one of Nintendo's biggest selling points, that they are Nintendo. I mean I plan on getting a PS4 simply because it looks like it's gonna be an awesome system and will give me and experience that I don't think Nintendo can IE their 1st party games, online play, etc. etc. But I still am the very proud owner of a 3DS and I definitely plan on getting a Wii U sometime in the near future. Sony and Nintendo are my gaming roots so that will be my setup this gen. But before I start getting all off topic, I do think the big N will be just fine when the games start rolling out and of course they will still have thing that, IMO, they will need to continue to work on but at least the software library of the Wii U won't be one of them. Then they can start getting to work on an account based online system which I want oh so badly.

hey guys I found a picture about this topic

I remember the Nintendo DS was in exactly the same predicament. At the 1st and 2nd E3 that the DS was being "hyped", they used Metroid, New Super Mario Bros., and Mario Kart--games that were not released until well over a year after launch. The launch period of the DS was also pretty dry, SMB64 being the only significant launch release--and it was a port of a previous system.
I tend to see a lot of similarities between the Wii U and the DS, just because of the unexpected "sleeper hit" that the DS became, and the 2nd touchscreen that nobody thought they needed. The only real difference is that Nintendo had the GBA--and its great software lineup--to fall back on during that dry launch period. The Wii U does not have that luxury with its predecessor, which is why this moment really really hurts.

I wouldn't call them vultures, exactly. It's not their responsibility to sell systems, it's only to sell their software. I'd say they're more like prospectors waiting for the next "gold boom" to happen. They're perfectly right to settle on the PS4/Xbox camp, but with the elevating cost of making good software, Microsoft's recent fall from grace, and their own economic troubles (EA), time will tell if they made the right decision not sticking with Nintendo.

@intrepid

I doubt the Wii U will ever be as successful as the 3DS, nintendo home consoles after the SNES have always sold much less than their handhelds and this time won't be no different....

The Wii had fantastic Marketing and brilliant First Party support. The 3rd Party support was also there. The only thing that it lacked was specs, but it made up for it by having a new gimmick that Nintendo could easily market to a wide variety of people.

Agreed. the people who think the Wii U is gonna reach the Wii's level of success need to get off their high horses.

all Nintendo needs to do to beat the competition is to convince 3/4 of the Wii users worldwide to upgrade to WiiU. Those people who spent the last 7 years playing Wii will eventually get a WiiU once they see familiar games in a shiny new form coming out. Just wait until Mario Kart gets released.

The only thing that I really think Nintendo got wrong is releasing NSMBU as a launch title, expecting it to convince Wii users to get a WiiU based on the strength of that game alone (which couldn't happen, obviously). As a result, the game didn't hit the market as impressively as NSMBWii. Now, NSMBU could be a console seller, but not on its own, and the ordinary Joe Bloggs knows that it's better to save his 300 quid and wait for other beloved titles to come out.

Quoting from Reggie: "Great software sells hardware". Specs don't matter as this was proven in every gaming generation. Examples:

1- GameCube and Xbox were more powerful than PS2, but the huge amount of PS2 games has made it the most selling home console yet.
2- Wii was less powerful than PS3 and Xbox 360, but in the end, and thanks to the software, Wii was sold more amount than PS3 and X360.
3- Even though that the PS vita has better specs than 3DS, The amount of games for 3DS has helped outselling the PS Vita miles ahead.

And I believe this will be the same for the Wii U once big titles for it hit the stores.

The problem is that a large percentage of wii owners are people who bought it for Wii sports or Wii Fit, played until the novelty died, put it in a box and never knew the Wii played anything else. Really what can Wii Fit U do to convince people who already had Wii Fit to upgrade

You're right; I worded it wrong. What I meant is that WiiU will enjoy the same type of success that the 3DS had. Overall sales for the WiiU will still be obviously low in comparison. Even the Wii sold less than the DS, so I never felt for a moment that the WiiU and 3DS were on equal footing.