Well we aren't talking about the 720 or the PS4 as we don't even have an announcement yet. While it's true it will come down to the games, I think it's Nintendo who doesn't see that. They aren't pushing games, they are pushing gimmicks. I think in the games department, the Wii comes up pretty short compared to the 360/PS3 and I haven't seen anything that will make me think the WiiU will have better games. Super Mario Galaxy is an amazing game but it could have been better with an option to turn off motion controls. Phantom Hourglass needed an option to use buttons and the d-pad.
Next gen we have the motion control DS, it's gimmick city and Nintendo will not use that to give us options, they will ruin great games with gimmicky controls. I hope I am wrong but why would I believe any different?
You know what though, maybe I am just an old gamer who doesn't belong anymore. I am a person who played more Virtual Console than I did Wii games and more JRPG ports on the DS than I did games made for the DS. Perhaps gaming just won't interest me at all next gen. I'm ok with that too but if people like me lose interest, how much will it hurt the industry, if at all?
I Think Nintendo isn't that focused on gimmicks this gen though that's why I think they made the Wii U, it seems to me they ditched the Wiimote as a primary controller and went back to a simple old school console that has a controller with buttons and only added a screen to the middle of it because like we've heard in some rumors there is a good chance other consoles might have one as well, so they figured it's better to be first then last with one.
I also agree with you about the PS3/360 being better systems this gen and having a bigger array of games, I only brought them up because you said that the Wii U would likely fail because it doesn't do anything that can't be found anywhere else and I was just pointing out that the PS3/360 don't do anything that you can't find anywhere else the only thing they do well is they have a few exclusives and get all the third party games.
That's really the only reason I brought up the 720/PS4 too because they are pretty much guaranteed not to do anything that can't be done elsewhere with a PC or tablet or something, what will likely be nice about them is their games.
I guess only time will tell if Nintendo can get all the third pary games that Microsoft and Sony can but as of now their isn't a reason they can't, HD isn't standing in the way and motion controls aren't standing in the way, so it seems likely that all 3 consoles next-gen will be similar from a input point of view meaning they will all have controllers with buttons and there is a chance they might have a screen in the middle but I don't think the screen is there to change the games or as a gimmick it will just be there as a little extra bonus.
I see where your coming from as I feel controllers have never really needed to do anything more once we got analog but that doesn't mean something else being on the controller will ruin a gaming experience. I'm pretty set in my ways too and if all systems wanted to have a Kinect like future I probaly wouldn't play games anymore, hell I've never even felt phones needed to do much more then call/text but as proven with phones having the option to go online with one doesn't mean it ruins a phone call.
My only original point of responding to one of your posts was to say that while the Wii U could fail it will have nothing to do with it's ability or lack thereof to do something that hasn't been done before as neither the 360 or PS3 do anything that hasn't been done before, I mean look at them they play games and have a few apps like Netflix, the only thing they do well is get every game except a few Nintendo exclusives.
So the important thing for the Wii U is that it gets third party games plus has it's own exclusives. Point being it's success or failure will have nothing to do with it's ability to do something unique, as that's impossible no console will do anything that can't be done with a PC or with some other device, it's success as you and I believe now agree on will have to do with getting all the games it can, just like Sony and Microsofts next consoles success will hinge on getting as many good games as it can.