Sony did a number on the Dreamcast making the PS2 sound incredibly more powerful than the Dreamcast and making it seem like there is no buying a Dreamcast when the PS2 would be released soon. It worked really well. The PS2 while more powerful wasn't more powerful in all areas and was much weaker in some. The PS2 went on to sell 150 million consoles, far above wii even and 1.5 billion games! I was one of those stupid enough to ignore the Dreamcast and only bought one when they were £40 and the games were selling sometimes as low as £1!. It was amazing and games like Shenmue were truly stunning and state of the art for the time.
I guess it is possible that many people realise the wii u isn't as powerful as it should be and are waiting for the PS4 and Xbox 720 instead. In that way it could be like the Dreamcast. Many have been disappointed with the wii and don't use it that much. That could also be labelled at the Saturn but of course the Saturn was unpopular and hugely expensive to make. The wii was/is a good seller that is hugely profitable as its based on old technology even when launched.
Sega really went for it with regard software. A huge number of brilliant Sega games for the Dreamcast. Nintendo haven't really done the same with the wii u.
Sega sadly are still a bit of a disaster. The Aliens game looks like they have been outright conned with the developer taking the money for development and releasing a rushed, weak game with little money spent on it. I think its more likely Sega will disappear completely before Nintendo go third party.
As previously stated its clear the wii u is cheap to make. There is no hard drive, the gamepad only has a very low cost resistive screen. It looks more impressive than the underlying cost of the hardware underneath. If PS4 and Xbox 720 sell well, Nintendo will position the wii u at a lower price and probably still make more money per unit than the new Sony and Microsoft offerings. There is nothing expensive about teh wii u. It is extremely likely it costs less to make than the 360 or PS3 models that feature hard drives.
Nintendo cleverly cost their hardware low so they have room to move at retail. If they can sell at high prices Nintendo make huge profits but if they have to cut retail prices they are still profitable.
Also although the pricing is currently too high the Nintendo brand is very parent friendly. Maybe this Christmas there will be a bundle of wii u and super mario bros for £199 and it will be a huge seller. The PS4 is likely going to be £299 for the minimum spec model with a small hard drive.
Nintendo have and tried and failed to sell weak hardware at high prices at launch with little software this doesn't mean the same hardware won't sell with a price cut and a much wider range of software later on. I was frankly amazed that Nintendo tried to sell the basic wii u at more than £200 in the UK. Totally unjustified. I bought a wii u premium because I'm a gaming fanatic who loves Nintendo games but there isn't enough of people like me around to make a successful launch.
