They already sacrificed it to save a buck -- it's called 2DS.

Heh - I forgot about the 2DS. I still think it would be cool to play on the TV & Gamepad, but it probably won't happen.

I immediately thought the Wii U would be ideal for a DS Player like the old Super Gameboy or GBA Player. The pad should have had a DS slot built un, but at least make a usb DS card reader for the Wii U.
I also thought the 3DS virtual console would have been ideal for arcade ports of Punch Out and Arm Wrestling thanks to the two screens, but Nintendo rarely sees the obvious.
VC should carry over between 3DS and Wii U to convince folks to buy one or the other and this trickling out of VC titles already available on the old Wii needs to stop. If it was out, then put it out. Don't make us boot up Wii mode to play most of our VC games on the old controller setups.

pretty sure there is a SD card reader in the front of the Wii U, yes there is... Low and behold! someone just needs to create some sort of emulation software that is installable on the Wii U and bingo!

Nintendo is caught in limbo. Do they continue to spend so much of their manpower and money on the aged Miyamoto franchises (Mario, Zelda, DK), or move onto new IPs? I think it's well past time to move onto new IP's. That may annoy some of their diehards, but Mario and Zelda can no longer sell their consoles. Perhaps they do in Japan, but nowhere else.

True!  Mario definitely needs to go on sabbatical for ideally 3 years, and they either need to bring back IP's fans have been clamoring for (F-Zero, Star Fox, Metroid, etc.), or like you said, bring out some new IPs.  Zelda I'm OK with, but Mario needs a break, big time.  And going off what you said about doing well in Japan, Nintendo needs to know that for all intents and purposes, North America is the biggest market for video games.  Therefore, they need to start pandering more to the North American Market.  Prime example being the Metroid franchise. (No Pun Intended, LOL)  Nobody gives a crap about Metroid in Japan?  Fine by us, have it flourish in North America and Europe!

Bottom Line:  Give Mario an extended break, either let old IP's back in the Spotlight or Bring out new ones, and start caring about North America and Europe again.  

I do agree that they need to tone down Mario games, however, Mario, Zelda and Pokemon are worth more than anything and everything Microsoft or Playstation has come up with. For generations of consoles, those games have been system sellers. Nintendo won last generation with the Wii AND with the DS. This time around they are winning the handheld market with the 3DS and it was the best selling console of 2013. The Wii U will turn around and will likely sell over 40 million units when all is said and done. Sure, this past year has been crap, but the 3DS was dead in the water for the first year and now look at it.

I haven't bought one yet, (I don't have an Xbox or PS4 either), but I'll probably pick up a Wii U when the more "core" titles come out that are not remakes in HD. Zelda, Metroid, a 3D mario game, etc.

IMO, the WiiU is slow not only because of the system limitations, but Nintendo did not launch enough of their "core" games in a reasonable amount of time. And like others have said, who the hell decided that adding "Wii" in the new title was a smart idea. A lot of people were turned off by the original Wii, so unless you are a hard core gamer, most casual gamers won't know the difference. And also, marketing wise, I've seen very little out there. Most people I know that are casual gamers or bought the system for the kids don't even know there is a difference between the two systems.

I disagree, I think those titles are system sellers.   Maybe not the 2D mario games, but the 3D ones are.  And I think Zelda, Metroid, and DK to a lesser extent are what drives the Nintendo systems.

That said, they do need to bring in new IPs.

Worth more? Halo CE sealed is close to $1,000 last I knew, and I haven't seen anything Nintendo related that's the same age worth even close to that. Also, how long are you guys going to keep saying "they'll turn it around"? It's been out for over a year and a half (or close to that), and you're still saying that? How long is it going to take to accept that it's not going to be anything better than the 64? End of this new generation of consoles?

What do you want...another PS4/Xbone FPS online machine?  Are two not enough already?

Nintendo has found a niche with the Wii U and for those who have played it/own one...it really isn't a bad system.  It's not perfect, but no system really is.

I certainly would not compare it to the N64.  The reasons why that system was a dud has nothing to do with the Wii U.

I don't play FPS's and only play 1 or 2 games online, so that aspect doesn't affect me at all. All the games I have span across every other genre (platformers, puzzles, strategy, RPGs, etc). I also wasn't saying the wii u suffers the same as the 64, but comparing it's success, or lack of. A lot of people on here alone have stated they haven't turned it on in months, imagine the casual gamers opinion on it. I never said it was a bad system, and I'm sure there will be games that a niche market will enjoy.

It's the denial that's annoying. After a year head start, they're behind. After a year and a half, nothing has really changed. So how long will it take to realize that it's not going to get much better and "turn around"? It also has plenty of things working against it as well. If the online system is still wonky and cumbersome, that's a HUGE downfall. Online gaming is huge, even if a fair amount doesn't use it, the majority does. FPS's or otherwise, people like to game online.

Honestly, if you think sony and Microsoft are only fps machines, you do have blinders over your eyes as there's plenty of fantastic games on both, and in my opinion, both have a significantly more amount of excellent titles than the wii, and even wii u. Just my opinion, so take it for what it is, though I don't believe I'm in the minority on this one.

I meant that the franchises of Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon are worth more than anything MS or Sony have made. 
If Nintendo does not see some progress with Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U, then I can start calling this thing a failure. Though the Wii U has some amazing games and I am really enjoying the console, if those 2 games released this year combined with a price cut do not move systems, then I can re-evaluate my position on Nintendo. 

Essentially, I do see the system selling more than the N64 (I said 40 million perhaps) - and you are calling that a failure? Nintendo home consoles have an average sale of 53 million units - if the Wii U gets anywhere close to that, I still call it a success. 

I never said it was a failure, or will be. A lack of success doesn't instantly mean something failed, but rather didn't meet expectations from the company or the fans. Quit trying to twist things around that are clearly not be said.

Didn't the nes and snes both sell over 100 million units each? And the wii sold more than that, so I'm not sure where you're pulling that average from. Nintendo "lost" the console wars for 2 generations for the home console, and it can be debatable with the wii when you compare hardware to software sales ratios. Nintendo hasn't had the same support since the snes, one would think that after 3 generations, and entering the 4th, they would do something to remedy that. Why is it the DS and 3DS get all the support yet the n64, wii, and wii u lack it? The GameCube is an anomaly as it wasn't the best of it's generation, but wasn't the worst, but still had the support (more or less).

"franchises" are "worth" as much as any other sort of corporate welfare.

I think Nintendo is fine. I didn't buy a 3DS until the Zelda version XL came out w/ALBW. I went from no 3DS to 3 3DS systems and 55 games since December. I got a used Wii U from a local parent whose kids wouldn't play it for $100 and will be buying those games (although I still really wanted a prettier looking one). Part of the problem IS that parents don't know it's a different system. When I was looking for a CIB one on FB, the women kept telling me they had a regular Wii for sale (they would say Wii with games for $100) and then finally one person knew what it was but not well enough to even tell me what came with it. Say something about a DS or a 3DS though and the moms know all about those!

Fine doesn't make you take a financial year loss that could have been a huge gain had it done well since the 3DS totally blew it out in sales of hardware and software. Yet instead the 3DS was a leaky liferaft that didn't quite keep them afloat, but didn't leave them sinking entirely either. I imagine if the WiiU didn't exist or sold even 1/3 as nicely as the Wii did they'd be sitting pretty happy right now but that didn't happen. Sony is the one kicking the most ass right now and they like NIntendo are into variety and (unlike Nintendo) making people aware of it.

Nintendo just needs to make a Sony/Xbox like machine that still has the typical Nintendo innovation. I love my Wii U and it's unfortunate more people I know don't own one. I've managed to convince nearly all of my friends to buy 3DS systems just from streaming my games online so they can really see what they are missing out on.

Ehh maybe but I'm not so sure that would work. They halfassedly did it with Gamecube if you get beyond the odd controller shape and the mini-dvd discs look what's there. A decent blend of third party titles (online removed when applicable) and first party wares that people did enjoy if they gave it a chance. Even then the overall amount of third party was lacking, but definitely better than N64 or the Wii. Perhaps if they put a Wii U game pad pro type controller together with comparably strong hardware that's easy to code for and the code itself is very portable to it could happen but I doubt it. Sony is super entrenched with what Nintendo used to get, and MS has some of that too plus their specific base they grew out of the gate where they started with a narrow focus a decade ago and I don't see them pulling those users off.

I calculated the average exactly. 

NES - sold 50 million "won"
SNES - sold 62 million "won"
N64 - sold 33 million "lost"
Gamecube - sold 22 million "lost"
Wii - sold 100 million "won"

Software sales not included, Nintendo has only been on top once in the past 20 years for home consoles. 
And the DS and the 3DS get the support since they are winning the handheld market. When a console sells 154 million units like the DS has (1 million behind the record of the PS2), it gets support since developers see potential sales, espcially since the DS and 3DS are the only big players in the handheld market. 

The Wii didn't get support because it was non HD and devs couldn't easily port games over. 

They always make articles proclaiming that Nintendo is in Trouble. Maybe the WiiU is trouble, but the 3DS seems healthy. I mean pokemon pretty much got them through N64 and the GBA got them through the GCN. They'll live. The media just loves being all gloom and doom.

love my Wii U and I won't be buying a XBone or PS4. Nintendo makes the games I want to play, I don't care about graphics or first person shooters.
The one game I really want ported over is Phantom Pain, going to borrow a friends console I guess to play that one

Nintendo makes the games I like to play, or at least I think I still do. I'm really liking the Wii U, it is far better than Wii ever was despite the hardware data to mess with that argument. The thing is I keep looking back at the 3DS and also the PS3 (and now the PS2 I have back) and I see these things, special things that Nintendo consoles aside from a few decent GC titles has been abandoned of since the 16bit era. The 3DS is this screwy outlier probably since no one has somewhere else to go to that's cheap and viable to get out games for good return outside of touch gaming handhelds. 1/2 the 3DS games I have are third party, yet you look at the Wii, the Wii U, and even the GC(not overall in the past, but now) and 2/3 or more of the games are Nintendo made titles or they worked 50/50 on and published in the end. And the sad thing is the last 8 years roughly, the Wii and the Wii U stuff, Wii in particular but I don't have the motivation to apply myself much, almost have to drag myself to get to it but I'll enjoy it for a little when I'm there. This is also the first generation I've bought a game that just sat on the shelf unplayed (Pikmin 3) and I can't get to doing it for one reason or another.

Yet, I have this PS3 and now PS2 again and I'm snapping up games here and there and I'm more motivated to mess with those and really get into them, old day marathon-lite plays where I can blow 2-3+ hours and not realize it. I think the last time that happened aside from a few days here and there, consistently was the Gamecube. Mario games I still like but they are what they are, and Zelda games I have trouble dragging myself into despite loving the stories (I like my 10 manga books more than the games.) Perhaps I need to find what's lost or just give up on their consoles as I'm not feeling it anymore and am too afraid subconsciously to admit it. I may love that Wii U but it will sit for weeks or months doing nothing but having a light glowing at me. I got gifted that DK game for my bday on the 10th, played it an hour I think and did most of the first world and haven't gone back.