Hopefully Ninty would have learned from their mistakes with the 3DS. By the looks of things, they actually do have some pretty decent third party support backing their console in and around release day. Its exclusives look pretty cool (I was amazed that Bayonetta 2 is announced as a Wii U exclusive!) and other AAA-titles like Assassin's Creed 3, BLOPS 2 and Arkham City: Armoured Edition will give it a good edge compared to the 3DS's launch that had very little besides a few Nintendo games. And even then, not that many of those few games fully demo'ed what the 3DS was capable of.
It's hitting UK shelves end of November at around £249 basic or £299 for premium edition by which the sensor bar is included along with Nintendoland and a Ninty Network subscription package for the latter. Dunno, I very rarely buy new consoles on release day but I can see myself getting one. I can wait for price drops and see what else they do with it before leaping at it myself. Time will tell.