In my personal opinion, Utility is the better option, and so far, the one thing Nintendo does best is make the best use of what they have to their full potential in creativity, Nintendoland for example has a gorgeous artsyle despite seeing what the PS3 and 360 have done  in their lifetimes. And Metroid Prime still looks good compared to some shooters of Today and that was only Unreal engine 2.5.

The Wii U will honestly be fine as long as Nintendo keeps the support and encourages the 3rd Parties

I'd really like to see Sega get back into the hardware business and make the Dreamcast-2.  After all these years I still love my Dreamcast as much as I like my PS3.

although nintendo first got me into gaming with the original NES many many years ago, I turned my back on them a long time ago. As I got older and my taste in games changed, nintendo just stayed the same. The same can be said for their inferior technology. Compared to the other consoles available, it seems like they fall flat everytime. Much like everything else, in order to remain successful in todays world, you have to adapt and evolve and never settle for what is but strive for what can be. Nintendo deserves to fall out (not just the wii poo but as a whole) if they are always going to make sub-par crap with sub-par crap kiddie titles.   

"Sega finally got everything right with the Dreamcast, and it should have definitely had a longer life than it did, but people had enough of Sega."

The Dreamcast was out 9/9/99 in North America and Sega announced cancelation January of 2001. The Dreamcast did great for being out just barely over a year and having the PS2 competing and Xbox/Gamecube in the wings.

I agree Wii U is failing; however, the Dreamcast would have done well had Sega not pulled the plug.

As much as I like their classics, Nintendo is also way behind in online connectivity, e-store interface, friend system, story telling (way too childish, lacks voice acting, facial animations), gameplay (rehashed old games like DK, Kirby, New! Mario) ect. Their first party titles on Wii (imho) played and looked last gen. Now Nintendo makes their system much harder to support for 3rd parties than the Wii was and I am quite concerned. Not to mention no killer app that I am excited for.

Nintendo does have 3DS profits to fill their coffers until the Wii U turns around. Sega's Game Gear and Nomad I believe had died out by the time of Dreamcast's launch IIRC, plus they had a bad generation with the Saturn prior to that and a bunch of money sunk into gimmicky peripherals for the Genesis.

Still, quite worrisome, like the 3DS was before the massive price cut.

Dude! I was saying this very same thing to my brother tonight. Great post!

The tablet is a big problem. I bought a Wii U and returned it because (in part) the tablet is way to heavy for extended play sessions and I'm a 27 year old man that does manual labor for a living. Now think about a kid playing the Wii U.

Every console sux vs pc and every will rot soooner or later, pc is like rpg game where u can all the time upgrade for ur needs, can live years on pc without any upgrade and play  ALL games and not even just play but can do anythingm and everything looks super better thenin  consoles where u stuck and need to wait for next gen console to do something better and play good looking games like on pc, consoles for ppl with small iq or very for young kids, who cant understand more then push and play! Im playing console games on android super cheap phone, i not need huge box at home for that!

I love that within the few months when a new console launches and sales slow after Christmas, everyone immediately says "it's the next Dreamcast! It's the next Dreamcast!" This happened when the 360 launched and didn't get a killer app until Gears of War a year later and oh how long the PS3 limped along the first few years.

Remember the Power Glove gimmick? Wii-U (is U for UGLY) just might go the way of the Power Glove.  But M$ AND $ony just might nuke themselves by prohibiting the use of secondhand games.

Ninten DO re mi FA---iled !!!

With the constant rise of smartphones Nintendo should watch out their leading spot in handheld business.

BTW, I still have my old Dreamcast. I had some great memories tied to it. It cheered me up after dumping some ditzy girl.  I still have some great games on it like Soul Calibur, Skies of Arcadia, and Grandia.  I'll play it on occassion. It needs no firmware updates, it boots up faster than the Wii-U, and it plays emulated games from long ago (SNES, NES, Genesis, etc). It's a super solid system. It can even play movies burned a particular way. Dreamcast is not dead for me, but quite a novel console with many uses.

But, to Nintendo's credit, the Wii-U's initial release included games that were "heavy-hitters" on other consoles -- Batman Arkham City, Assassin's Creed to name a few. However, since gamers already enjoyed those titles from other consoles, it was nothing to wow the crowds.  Nintendo desperately needs to pull a big rabbit out of its hat. A sexy, female main character in a tasteful, mature setting with great gameplay and plenty of action reminiscent of Infamous or Arkham Asylum would be a terrific starter. Mr. Miyamoto needs to crank the proverbial gears in his head into great speed; got Alzheimer's, Miyamoto-san? I've got a few ideas of my own.

For example, start with a beautiful, female character with flowing blonde hair and blue eyes. Her main objective is to rid her world of a great evil. The evil is not what anyone expects. Enable her with basic melee powers, learning different techniques after fulfilling specific conditions. Have permanent upgrades given after completing certain missions, each one granting her fearsome, elemental powers in the form of armors which can be combined / mixed to convey even more abilities. For example, after acquiring fire and earth powers, she can combine them to become a Thunder goddess that yells out, "Thunder! Thunder! Thunder!" With the correct combination of eye candy, control mechanics, and gameplay it would make an awesome game. Give it a good backstory and you've got yourself a million-seller. 

it probably will not. it will probably be gamecubed instead...but being dreamcasted is possible.

Wii U just seems like a slightly upgraded Wii, not a new console. We'll have to wait until Nintendo releases it's next console before we can predict Mario's future.

Honestly though, Apple should just purchase Nintendo.. Would open up so many opportunities for both companies, think about it.

I really don't understand why you folks post your thoughts and comments on these boards like yours is the only one that is right. I am a firm believer in the phrase "different strokes for different folks". If you don't like Nintendo/their systems then that's fine for you. But why bash them or their fanbase? Which i am proudly part of. I am not a fan of Microsoft, but i for sure don't trash them or the folks who like them. Maybe someday we will all get along and get back to the way (i feel) we should be playing games. For fun and enjoyment.  Good day, everyone! :)

screw you, the dreamcast back in a day was 10 times better then that cashgrab Wii U 

basicly the dreamcast is slightly less powerfull then the ps2, but they discontiued it's games after a couple of year (2003 i think?) 

the Wii U is nothing but another wii which just falls behind it's rivals (sony and m$) just waiting to be crushed by the next gen's games and specs 

Actually, Nintendo isn't doing that great in the handheld business. Not anymore, anyway.

Remember that at launch the PS3 was retailing for £400, the xbox for about £300 (iirc) and then the Wii came along at £180... that was a MAJOR factor in the success of the Wii. But with the increase in price that they charge for the Wii U, coupled with what is rumoured to be a £300 starting price for the PS4, you're looking at less of a value for money. There is just no reason to buy the Wii U in lieu or as well as a PS4. I wouldn't say it's doomed, but it will not be very successful.

Nintendo's biggest issue is trying to convince 3rd party game developers to take the plunge on the Wii-U. The problem with all these mergers in the gaming industry, is a single massive company like EA can have a big impact. The whole Origin / Wii-U feud and following black listing by EA aside, there's a number of big releases coming out like Grand Theft Auto, Bioshock Infinite, Splinter Cell, Tomb Raider, Destiny (2014), etc... and there's a HUGE goose egg for the Wii-U. With NEW consoles being released so close together (in console terms), why not hold out for the X-Box 720 or PS4? This coupled with major defections from Nintendo's camp so early into the console's life spells trouble for Nintendo.   

It seems everyone forgets how abysmal 3ds was doing this time in it's system life. Everyone was talking about how 3ds would be the end of Nintendo. And anyone with half a brain that looked at the sales at the time would agree , but look where 3ds is now? Absolutely dominating. It seems everyone forgets that .. whether for good or bad , launches almost NEVER predict how well a console will sell over time. Nintendo just got through announcing a first party lineup that almost anyone has to admit is , even though not particularly fresh , quite solid... it's highly possible an entirely new ip will be announced at e3. It seems 3rd party support is at least decent. As I said with 3ds , let the first wave (or lack thereof) pass and then pass judgement on the system. It might be a huge success , it might be a failure , I don't know either way... but I do know , from any knowledge of the 3ds and past systems , it's not accurate to judge the system yet.

The novelty of motion controls has wore off as well.When Wii launched it was new and at the time a trend.With every trend it fades away,that and the fact it does not offer anything beyond our 7-6 year old consoles.WiiU is a bad name,it sound's like a add on just as the poster said.

I dunno what people were expecting.  Nintendo has been ignored by third parties since the n64.  Lets mention that the n64 was much stronger than psone, and gamecube was stronger than ps2.  I don't think console power has ever been the issue for Nintendo...  I think it all depends on price, and Nintendo might be one price cut away this holiday from dominating this war...

If, and I mean if, Sony charges a large amount of money, like 500 dollars, this holiday for the ps4...what is gonna look more attractive?...

A Wii U with possibly a new mario kart, AND a new 3d Mario would look alot more appealing than an expensive ps4 this holiday season...

That's just my 2 cents...