Well, they actually might be able to surpass PS4 and One in terms of power. But then what? Everyone jumping on the Nintendo boat? Or PS4 and Xbone gamers waiting for their next gen consoles to fire the guns and sink that Ninti lifeboat?

And it's not just power. I really don't care for that and give a shit about my gamerscore, but most gamers seem to love their gamerscore/trophylist, their friendlist etc., their exclusives of course and tons of other stuff. Nintendo would have to move lightyears in some points and have to do the opposite of what theyy have done the last thirty years in others.

It's by far not only the hardwarepower.

Then there's the Nintendo gamers.

Bought my Wii U last year. I'd actually be pissed off if there was a Wii U successor in late 2016. By the way that would probably mean no big Wii U title after Zelda U.

A 3DS replacement in late 2016 would be fine though and Nintendo could still use the same API and OS for both systems. The API hopefully not being totally proprietary by the way because that again just makes ports more difficult.

That's a tough question, but I'd think they'll largely ignore Nintendo's efforts, at least initially anyway.

We're fast approaching a scenario where Nintendo's becoming self-sufficient, in part because they need to. They cannot rely on 3rd parties anymore, as is blatantly obvious. Sure, there will definitely be 3rd party games, but imo they'll be exclusives catered to Nintendo's systems and their audience. I doubt any of the relevant 3rd parties will want to put their games on Nintendo systems, even if they'd be on par with PS4/X1. There will definitely be a lot of indie support, I'd guess.

But Nintendo can't rely on others to carry their system anymore, so they'll have to make sure they can completely sustain their own platform(s). Which they're fully on their way to achieving, going by reports of their merging teams, hiring new talent, and streamlining anything and everything as much as possible, opting for unified OS's, re-usable assets and whatnot.

So in that sense, Nintendo will be in a different league entirely compared to Sony and Microsoft, enough for both sides not to care too much about the other camp. I should think they'll just continue on with PS4/X1, with Sony phasing out the Vita slowly, and not opting for another handheld. This is all initially of course. Whatever happens in the long run will depend on Nintendo's measure of success and the success and longevity of both the PS4 and X1.

Also, lol @ all the people in this thread completely oblivious to the way Iwata's outlined Nintendo's future and that of their systems, and who keep ignoring your posts meant to educate them about the subject.

Unifying home and handheld won't solve their software issue. The Wii U has way less software than the PS4, since it won't get any 3rd party game. But the 3DS isn't in a much better shape. Aside of Japanese games (Persona, MH), most of them being niche, it has very few 3rd party support. A lot of the 1st party offers already intersect: MK7 vs MK8, NSB2 vs NSBU, Smash, etc.

And these "unified software" thing isn't easy from a technical standpoint. What's the advantage? What's the catch? Let's see:

- Both run the same software, handheld versions downgraded: It would be like iPhone and iPad, like you said. This have a big, big drawback. It will need a middleware, something to make 2 hardwares that are distinct look like they are the same. And this will remove the magic optimization and will immediatily halve the power of the console. It would be a disaster. And anyway, it isn't possible to simply downgrade the game. When you talk about PS4 and X1, both have the exact same hardware capabilities, with one just being slight more powerful. But everything the PS4 does, the X1 can do, even if it ended with an unplayble framerate. But mobile hardware lacks a lot of the modern functions. Console and mobile hardware aren't even on the same league. Current consoles have the same hardware and shader functions of modern PCs. Current mobiles aren't even on full PS360 hardware functions.

- Both run softwares with similar APIs, software is developed immediatilly: the problem is that the APIs will differ significantly, like I said above. You will end up just developing 2 versions, but with less hassle since the APIs are similar and the learning curve is lower. But that isn't new: PS Vita uses libGDM and it makes it very similar to develop for to the PS4. 

The second bolded part is simply impossible, unless you aren't interested in having console optimization. You would need to sacrifice a lot of power to do it, it would be hard even to make it beat PS4/X1 in power.

Thing is, MacOS and iOS are the same in many ways. The kernel basically is the same, lots of libraries are.

And no, there isn't neccesarily a difference between apps and programs. Mobile apps are just optimized for mobile devices in terms of UI etc. and you have your own integrated environment. Still, basically it just is a program like any other one.

After the incredible success of the WiiU proved that Nintendo can survive purely on 1st party support I haven't a doubt in my mind they will achieve the same level of success with their next console. Furthermore, with the failure of the iPhone and Android it's clear that dedicated handheld gaming is here to stay.

I'm always serious. But I'm also always trolling. 

It baffles me to see people actually having to point out that Sony, MS and Ninty all start working on their next console as soon as the previous one is released! What would their hardware teams supposed to do until the next hardware launch? Take leave? Enjoy tea parties? Or do people think that designing a console takes mere months?

Why yes! I mean, we can all build a gaming PC in a matter of days or weeks, can't we? Surely those big companies can have a fabulous new console ready in no time at all! It's silly they need entire R&D departments for that, anyway.

A better question would be does Nintendo have the courage to compete with Microsoft and Sony ?

It is Nintendo at a disadvantage compared to the twins since their the one's that came up late with a real competitor!