Adding a bunch of stuff is not necessarily innovating. Yes, PS3 added a simply insane amount of features however overall gameplay did not change in the least with it. Most of the features would barely have an effect on gameplay... PS3 was by all intents and purposes a PS2 with better graphics in the long run. Wii was obviously cheaper which made a HUGE difference however there are also the elements of an entirely new mode of gameplay and a much broader marker for it.
Now, with the wii u it will definitely not be as cheap as the wii (250 at release) but there are also a few things to consider. It will have the same capacity as the wii meaning that it should not be all that much expensive than a ps3 or 360 in the long run. It will keep using the old controllers from the wii meaning that families won't have to spend that much money on controller, specially if each wii U can only use one of the tablet controllers. In this particular regard, the wii U is in many forms a Wii with HD plus the added element of the new controller. In this regard, the wii U should be more expensive than the wii however I would think the overall idea is to not make it significantly more expensive than the competitors at least. I would think that the console would appeal to people as long as it is not priced above 350 (specially for people who already have several wii controllers and motion plus and wii games...). Since they do not intent on making the consoles work with several of the new controllers, I get the impression that the new console will be very flexible regarding gameplay. The do desperately need to make their motion sensing with the old wii controller more precise though, they can't really expect to use the same level of precision with a new console and keep people happy. Given all of these, I do think the console has a chance to appeal to the family segment and the gaming segment(specially with titles like batman, assasins creed, aliens and from what I heard even grand theft auto). The way I see it, this can be either a hit or a massive failure and it all depends on price and how they market that using the old wii controllers is cost effective.