I'm just going to say this: If people just bought a Wii and nothing else, the attach ratio wouldn't have been near PS3 levels for the longest time. The revisionist history (now hardware sales don't determine first place in konsole warz?) and anger from the typical message board hardcore (who is increasingly more obnoxious with every year with their annoying entitlement and hatred of other people entering their hobby) for the Wii and now Wii U is just sad to me. I sort of hope the Wii U does extremely well, just to see the whining and excuses being made by the Western press and gamers. It will be a sight to behold just like it was this past generation with the Wii's success. Because between gamers and Nintendo, I have to choose the lesser of two evils, and that's unfortunately Nintendo.
I like this guy..
That just highlights to me that a truly astounding amount of people bought Wiis as novelty gadgets and never used them again after they got tired of Wii Sports/Fit.
I really am unconvinced with this myth. The Wii has a tie ratio above 7 last I checked. That tells me that people are buying games beyond just Wii Sports and Wii Fit.
Remember, people who complain about these sort of things on the internet don't count Zumba Fitness and Just Dance as real games, so to them they might as well be Wii Sports and Wii Fit.
The Wii U appears to be an entertainment system, and its controller, online play and digital distribution, and social possibility are much more appealing than anything else people are selling right now, especially from a casual standpoint.
...I don't mean to sound preachy with what I think, so I apologize if I come off that way.
Another smarty, I'm digging these new users.. And you're not preachy, don't worry. Even if you were, it's better than being a condescending prick who hates on the internet as their only form of social interaction outside of hating people on an online-multiplayer game

My take on the matter? It will boil down to advertising. Say what you will, but Nintendo really does try to get the word out there. First of all, they have the Nintendo World Store in NYC right in Rockefeller Plaza, a few blocks from Times Square - ie tourist overload. Now I haven't been there recently, but the giant displays they have on the corner glass-windows and the bright blue lights sure to catch your eye if you're in the area. Hell, I'm shocked how hard NBC goes to hide NWS from their shots in the Plaza during the Today show and anything else they film down there.
Besides that, they do those mall tours and music festivals. I haven't heard about any such music festival this summer but I'm pretty sure the mall tour is guaranteed. People like us probably don't care about it, unless we're desperate to try out the new hardware, but this too draws a crowd and helps spread the word.
Now you have to take into account, if Nintendo is serious about making the Wii U a more social console platform, they'd likely try a bigger on-line marketing blitz thatn they've ever done in the past. - since I'm not really into the social networking thing (I literally just made a facebook account like a week ago..) I don't know how that would work, but they'll try to get the word out how not only you'll get to experience new games on a new console with a new controller, but oh look it can act like a tablet web browser and has tweet-like features for it's game! In fact, any word on if they'll let you do any type of facebook integration with your Wii U friend-code/acct? If not, I'm surprised considering everything is tied to that site these days.
Lastly, good ol' fashion TV marketing. Those Wii Will Play ads were all over the place back in the day. Expect something similar, geared toward showing off the Game Pad yes, but likely getting the point across that this is a new console. Even if it doesn't, it would drive up enough interest to get people out to the stores and check it out, and with the economy still being pretty bad, I'd expect even the dumbest consumers to be either a little more informed from the get go, but at least more willing to ask questions - no matter how stupid.
In the end why does this all matter to us anyway? Mom goes out and buys a wii instead of a Wii U, she'll return it and get the new one instead, if she complains and thinks Nintendo somehow deceived her, so what? It won't be the end of Nintendo and as long as the sales keep coming, retailers will just see it as an opportunity to unload old Wii game stock as long as they make sure to take the initiative and inform the consumer the system is backwards compatible. This would only help during the holiday season when all the titles we call shovelware are discounted more so than they already are, a smart retailer will be able to sell a Wii U with old Wii games and finally unload all those games while giving the customer a bargain.