I think with the Wii U Nintendo hopes to get back the casual gamers that it lost to apple by offerering them simplistic games. They also hope to win back the hardcore with the HD games.
Nintendo is doing what they couldn't afford to do in 2006, appeal to the hardcore gamer
and the casual crowd. That would have required them to release an HD console so they could get 3rd party ports. They didn't think people were willing to buy a $400 console and I'm not sure they could have matched the processing power of 360/PS3 without taking a loss at that price. They chose weaker hardware, appealed to non-gamers, and made boatloads of money. Although, they had no idea what they had on their hands when Wii was selling out a year and a half later and people were price gouging on ebay. Honestly, I think they made a wise choice. Wii made Nintendo relevant again even if hardcore gamers turn their noses up at the Wii.
When I look at the current generation and ahead to the next generation, I see people basically deciding which 1st party titles appeal to them the most because 3rd party games will probably be released across the board. What I think Nintendo wants, in addition to the casual gamers who jumped on the Wii bandwagon, is for hardcore gamers who are also Nintendo fans and who bought multiple consoles this generation to only buy WiiU or at least have WiiU be their main console rather than the Wii60 or PSWii thing. Any other hardcore gamer who purchases WiiU is a bonus. They don't want a stored-in-closet-except-for-parties console. I consider myself Nintendo target hardcore audience. I bought PS3 partially because the Wii didn't have certain games and Microsoft's 1st party titles don't intrigue me. I'd happily buy 1 console if I could (and wait until competing consoles were super cheap to get those). I love Nintendo's 1st party offerings and if I got all the 3rd party hotness, I'd stick with WiiU and be content.
That's not enough, but they should definitely make it look a little bit more different than the Wii. One major difference is that the Wii has always been shown standing vertically in commercials, displays, etc, but the WiiU must lay horizontally (as of now at least), so it already look a little bit different.
I agree that they need to differentiate the design a bit more. WiiU looks too much like the Wii. However, I don't think pulling the Wii out of stores is a good idea. The Wii will probably continue to sell long after WiiU launches. After a price drop, it'll be the budget console similar to the PS2 is now.
As much as I like the idea of saving money by using peripherals I already own, I think it
also would have been a good idea to rebrand the console. I believe people know Nintendo made the Wii and Nintendo is still a brand that people recognize, hardcore and casual. Nintendo would avoid confusion by naming and stylizing the console "Nintendo
Stream" (similar to how Nintendo refers to DS/3DS as NintendoDS and Nintendo3DS respectively). I don't especially like that name but it's descriptive, includes the Nintendo brand, and definitively explains that it is, in fact, a brand new product. I don't think new remotes and such would be a major hurdle. If people find the system worth buying and/or they think the tablet controller is the best thing since the Wii remote, they'll buy it. Period. If you have a hit on your hands, people will spend money on it. I'm still amazed that Kinect and Move have done so well as I expected both to fail miserably. If Nintendo packed their new console with a tablet controller and a remote, they'd be fine.
No Friend Codes, Username and Friends List.
"Nintendo Enters the 21st Century!" say some people.
Awesome! I still wonder if Valve helped them or maybe EA which may explain what the hell
John Riccitiello was even doing at Nintendo's press conference. I would love to hear Nintendo say their online system is "Steam-based so it doesn't suck. All thanks to Valve." Still, I wonder if this gloriousness can be brought over to 3DS and my WiiU online identity can be carried over to (my eventual) 3DS. Anyway, all around exciting stuff. It's weird not seeing Nintendo fumble around like reh-tards.