The Wii U

 Source Article: "Analysts chime in on Wii U's mid-term forcast" By Chris Morris. Gamasutra. November 16th, 2012.

On November 18th Nintendo released their newest home console, the Wii U. Nintendo hopes the Wii U Gamepad, a touch screen, tabletesque, controller will change the way we play games. The Gamepad's second screen allows for asynchronous gameplay, displaying different information on the television and the Gamepad. There is always a lot of hype surrounding new game consoles and the Wii U has garnered a strong initial reaction from critics. Not all press leading up to the launch of the Wii U has been positive though. Analysts have voiced concerns about the Wii U's long term potential. Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter predicts "The Wii U will quickly lose positive momentum" following strong holiday sales.  Pachter suggests the consoles $350 price tag will drive consumers away after a holiday sales boon. Critics and developers are concerned that the Gamepad's second screen is a gimmick and the system's CPU is underpowered.
Nintendo has faced similar situations to this in the past. The Wii, Nintendo's previous home console, was also derided as an under performing console relying on gimmicks to entice consumers. This criticism did not stop anyone from buying the Wii and as of September 30, 2012 Nintendo has shipped 97 million Wii's worldwide. The 3DS, Nintendo's stereoscopic 3D handheld system performed poorly at launch. This poor performance was due to one factor more than any other; the 3DS was too expensive. Nintendo wasted no time in rectifying this situation and within six months of the 3DS' release Nintendo slashed its price by $80. Sales of the 3DS have been strong since and the handheld has sold 22 million units in less than two years.
A major factor in the strong sales of the Wii and 3DS is the games available for the systems. Both systems offer experiences not available from Nintendo's competitors. Nintendo needs to capitalize on the unique nature of the asynchronous gameplay to push sales of the Wii U going forward.
The best way to guarantee the success of a console it to support it with must have games. Wii Sports sold 70 million copies and proved the Wii was more than a gimmick. The 3DS benefited from having one of the highest rated games ever, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, ported to the system. Once Nintendo creates the Wii U's must have title developers will stop complaining and start taking the Wii U seriously.
Nintendo's strategies leads many to believe the company is out of touch with their consumers. Sales numbers tell a very different story about Nintendo's relevance in the console hardware market. Hopefully Nintendo has learned enough from their last two hardware cycles to prove their critics wrong and make the Wii U a success.