@sirbrandt: I hope you're joking. If we declared a "winner" this early for every gen then Genesis would've beaten SNES and the 360 would've outsold PS3 but they didn't. These are marathons.

@charizard1605: It's not Zelda, I think Aonuma said the debut for that will be next E3, so I doubt it'll be ready to show by the VGAs. If it's a new game then my guess is one of the B level franchises (Starfox, F-Zero, Fire Emblem) or a new property that'll appeal to the people watching the VGAs. I seriously doubt it'll be a "casual" game like WiiFit or WiiSports, the VGAs aren't the venue for that.

It isn't relevant anymore if the Wii U is more powerful than the 360. The Xbox 360 is almost eight years old. Having better tech than an eight year old system should be expected, and by a much greater margin than Wii U currently manages. By the time games that really showcase the power edge Wii U has over current gen systems, the next gen will be out in force, and no will give a damn that some Wii U games look better than anything on the 360. It's a moot point now because the 360 is essentially already dead and the period of time wherein it could have mattered was squandered because Nintendo didn't have any showcase games made in time. The graphics potential of the Wii U is irrelevant in every way, it just needs games at this point, period.RandoIphF

While I agree with your final statement and also the fact that at the end of the day, Wii U won't be impressive graphically, I must disagree regarding the relevancy of the 360/PS3. Almost every new 3rd Party game being announced is also being announced for 360 and PS3. The cost of development and a small install base for next-gen consoles almost guarantees that most AAA 3rd party games will be cross-generational at least for the first two years after the PS4 and One are out. That's good news for the Wii U. Also, while Wii U's raw specs will be dwarfed by PS4/One, the very next-gen GPCPU architecture coupled with the easy scalability of  next-gen engines will mean that once the industry finally abandons the PS3/360, the Wii U won't be left behind as much as the Wii was last gen.   

[QUOTE="JustPlainLucas"][QUOTE="Empty_World"] You have their balance sheet? Most companies lose money on consoles and use the games to make it up. Since the console is new I doubt they are at the break even point yet.Jaysonguy

They really haven't though

Nintendo has said many times that the Gamecube almost forced them into bankruptcy and the only thing that saved them was the success of the DS, if not for that there wouldn't be a Nintendo right now.

The Wii U looks as of now like it's going to follow that pattern.

Nintendo never once posted a loss during the GameCube generation and has never once been in danger of bankruptcy in its history as a video game company. Stable profit wasn't the issue with the GameCube, market share was. The GameCube was a ``failure`` because it sold much less than the competition (PS2 specifically), not because it didn't make Nintendo money. This is the reason why them posting losses in the last couple of quarters has been big news, it's unprecedented. Of course posting losses once in a while isn`t the end of a company, Microsoft and Sony have been posting losses regularly for several years straight now.

[QUOTE="Vickman178"]

Its 3 and a half months old. Let's wait at least a year before we say something needs to be done. I'm willing to bet the next Sony and Microsoft consoles are going to go through something similar during their start.

JustPlainLucas

The 3DS price cut came 6 months after the system's release, not 3. Regardless, I don't think the two systems are in the same position (at least not yet). The issue isn't really price, it's software. Also, The 3DS had a higher profit margin than the Wii U so cutting the price was an option, it's not an option for Wii U. I'm VERY curious to see how Sony and Microsoft do, I feel they're going to have serious problems of their own. I say this because I don't think the slow start to the Wii U is indicative of Nintendo's mistakes but rather a shift in how people play games and look at game consoles. People see no reason to upgrade from the last gen to Wii U because last gen is and still will be supported for some time. New AAA games are still being announced for 360 and PS3 (Destiny, Watchdogs, etc), the incentive to upgrade to a new expensive console isn't there. Not only that, the incentive for publishers to move on to next gen development isn't there either. Games are very very expensive to make and they'll only be more expensive on PS4 and the new Xbox. Releasing a brand new exclusive blockbuster game at a platfrom's launch is asking for it to not make money because the install base is just not there to make it a success. The shift from this generation to the next is going to be slow, painful and laborious for everyone and many publishers and mainstream gamers will have to be convinced to ditch the safety of the established and still healthy 360/PS3 to an uncertain and even less forgiving environment. 

[QUOTE="JordanElek"]

[QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

No, no major company has had a console of theirs fail like this from the gate.

What the Wii U is doing, or failing to do at this point, is unprecedented.

JustPlainLucas

Well let's look at some scaaaaaary numbers here:

Assuming these numbers are accurate (they come from Gamasutra), the WiiU is doing better than both the 360 and PS3 in the same time period after their launches in the US. But we all know how terribly both of those consoles ended up performing in their lifetimes with those initial numbers and how Microsoft and Sony both lost so much money that they had to pull out of the gaming industry entirely.

Oh wait.

Also, this has clearly happened before and is totally precedented (if you can make things up, then I can make up words). The best selling console of all time only sold 15% more units at its launch than the WiiU has.

The shortages for the ps3 ended by mid-late December. It was a lot like the Wii U, you couldn't find any for the first 3-4 Weeks and then they were everywhere. You're right about the 360, though they were littering stores by the end of March 2006. the 360 didn't get momentum until Gears of War and the PS3 floundered until its price was cut to $300 years after launch. 

[QUOTE="Master_Hermes"]

[QUOTE="Haziqonfire"] The first year of the Wii U seems on par with what most consoles go through during their first year.Jaysonguy

The world has a short memory, even those who follow the industry seem to forget all too quickly. In fact, even Wii U's "poor" January numbers best the first January of both the Xbox 360 and PS3. The Wii U is clearly no runaway success like the Wii but nobody should be reaching for the panic button yet. If sales are still this slow after Wii Fit U, Pikmin 3 and Wonderful 101 then Nintendo should worry, but as of right now, they're crusing along just fine.  

Nope

This hasn't happened before, that thing you said up there? That never happened.

You are correct and I've edited the post. However, it still stands that the Wii U's Install base is higher than the 360 and PS3's were at this point in their lives. 

Worse has happened though, the Sega Saturn sold less than a million in the first 6 months though that's not really comparable due to the changes seen in the industry since then. 

[QUOTE="rubber-chicken"]Welp they also made a system with graphics that will be again outdated in a year or so. The general public who knows it's not just a Wii attachment probably won't really care to get one when they already have a PS3 or 360.Haziqonfire

Not only that, I see a long tail-end for this generation. The increased buget for next-gen games coupled with the intially small install base of PS4 and the next Xbox means that publishers will absolustely have to down port games to current gen platformers, meaning that Wii U will likely recieve "middle-tier" versions of future games. 

[QUOTE="meetroid8"]

I'd desperately hoped they'd learned their lesson with the 3DS, or at least learned something from that failed launch. I don't think the price is a major problem, but a cut could only help. It needs games. Why did they launch a system without any games again? Nintendo really boggles my mind sometimes.

Haziqonfire

The world has a short memory, even those who follow the industry seem to forget all too quickly. In fact, even Wii U's "poor" launch numbers best the first months of both the Xbox 360 and PS3. The Wii U is clearly no runaway success like the Wii but nobody should be reaching for the panic button yet. If sales are still this slow after Wii Fit U, Pikmin 3 and Wonderful 101 then Nintendo should worry, but as of right now, they're crusing along just fine.