Based on the table a few pages back that doesn't seem to help their gaming divisions much. Im shocked that it showed that sony has yet to make an overall profit on their gaming division in 20 years, microsoft is not suprising at all though considering how much they cut to push their consoles.

Im assuming that tables legit of course.

1. Okay that's fair, though judging by the success of PS+ and Gold most consumers don't seem to mind paying for online.

2. Arguable. The WiiU is $50 cheaper than the XBO and $100 cheaper than PS4. And that's not even counting Black Friday prices where you could get an XBO for $330 with gift cards. For the difference in hardware the price advantage doesn't help much. 

3. Disagree completely.

4. A lot of Nintendo's own published games like Wonderful 101 and Donkey Kong aren't doing that great. 

5. If that was true then Nintendo would have ditched region locking a long time ago. They're not doing a good job learning from their mistakes.

6. It's not exactly helping.

7. This their biggest issue right now. 

Here's the thing about games like Donkey Kong Country or The Wonderful 101. These games would not have done better on any other console. If anything, they would have done worse.

I'm not sure if the table is. Microsoft definitely haven't made anything out of gaming yet the original Xbox sank them to the tune of 4bn? Then the $1bn from RROD etc will have hampered the printing money capabilities of the 360 and they're now selling the Xbox One at a pretty hefty loss. However it gives them market presence etc which were vital in the transitional period computers/technology have been in.

Sony made an absolute fortune from the PS1 and PS2 (SCEI was Sony's most profitable division and I think also had the highest revenue of any division at some points) however the PS3 ate into some of that. PS4 currently looks on track to be the third system to bring in a good chunk of cash.

Going 3rd party is actually a high risk move for Nintendo and in no way does it mean they will make MORE money.  It's possibly benefits Xbox and Playstation users in the short term (that wouldnt't have bought a Nintendo system), but could hurt everyone in the long term if Nintendo crashes and burns.

Nintendo makes money on HW.  Plain and simple.  You don't need another reason than that.  Do you really think that Nintendo wouldn't have taken what they perceive to be a way to make more money if they felt it would have worked long term?

This is unlike Sony and MS, who typically use HW as a "loss-leader" in order to gain market share.

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Also, aside from the graphics chip insdie, the Wii U feels the MOST premium out of all the consoles to me in terms of build quality and look.  Maybe it's the controller w/ screen, but everytime I grab the controller I feel like I am holding something premium / special that my Xbox One just doesn't have. 

I do agee that more 3rd part support could never hurt.

Powerful and cheap hardware.

You are right man!

It wasn't its fault that Sega didn't had the money to keep it. It sold 8M+ from 1998 to 2001 and, if Sega had conditions to keep going, it could have outsold GC and XB. I consider that the poor thing had to be the sucessor of the Saturn, that really was a terrible console.

Sales generate success. PS4 and X1 are already lightly profitable. In some years they will be printing money. And sales do matter and do affect the profits. When you are market leade by a good margin, you can play with your strenghts and crush competition. One reason why PS2 obliterated GC and XB is that it started ahead enough and built a big enough userbase to secure big 3rd party exclusives/timed exclusives. With that in your pocket, they just killed the competition.

PS4 is already playing with its advantage. They secured SFV, a big game. They get the majority of software sales (more royalties) and so on. Having a bigger userbase allows you to play cards that will raise your profits and decrease your competitors revenue. It's pretty much clear that PS4 will be massively more profitable than Wii U this gen.

Powerful compared to Wii U (to a degree I guess), but not cheaper than a Wii U.

Cheaper than a PC, but nowhere near as powerful. 

In reality it isn't really all that powerful or cheap.