I've had several people at work (who know I'm a rather serious gamer) ask me about the Wii U, and what kind of game it is. People seriously don't understand that it's a new console.
Nintendo really should have just called it the Wii 2 or the Nintendo U. Or a new name altogether.
A friend of mine just bought a 3DS, and he had no clue it was a brand new handheld console. He thought it was just another extension of the DS line. Luckily, he bought a bundle that came with Mario Kart 7, so he actually has a new game to play and test out the new features on. He has several DS games from owning a DS Lite previously.