Handheld games are getting more expensive to make, crossing the threshold from PS2 level graphics to close to/better than PS3 graphics with the 3DS successor is likely a big turning point for Nintendo, there's no way they can continue to support progressively more advanced portables while doing the same with consoles forever. 

It also begs the question if the Nintendo portable can basically run very good looking versions of any Nintendo IP, even the extremely big scope titles like Zelda 3D and Xenoblade ... then what really is the draw for the console ... that it has good-er-er graphics? This is also a problem, most consumers will buy the portable and say that's "good enough" to get their Nintendo fix. 

The days where you *needed* a Nintendo console to play "real" Nintendo games like Mario 64 and GoldenEye and Zelda: Oot, because you could only play basic rudimentary 2D games on the Nintendo portable are long over. 

The reason for wanting to unify is fairly obvious for other reasons too ... 4/5 people buying Nintendo hardware don't buy Nintendo consoles in 2 of the last 3 generations. That means the vast majority of their userbase never plays the games they put the highest budget/most dev time (mostly) into. This generation Nintendo will sell 85 million pieces of hardware, but 70+ million of those are not a Wii U. 

That is an insanely stupid way to run your business for one. Imagine if we're running say a fast food business like McDonalds and the Big Mac (the "flagship sandwhich) is only available at 1 out of every 4 restaurants. 

I'm not inventing a problem where there isn't one. I'm taking a very pracitcal stance to this, and while none of what you're saying is false per se, it's very let's say "theoretical" in the sense that it looks good on paper, but not in the real world. This is a legit concern that you're completely undermining. You're downplaying how difficult such a thing would be to do. It absolutely isn't trivial. It certainly isn't "very easy". It might be "theoretically possible" but Nintendo has to execute this idea of yours. Nintendo has to develop an API that is not only super low-level, but incredibly powerful so that developers can just "pick the settings" (making it very high level) but all of the calculations that involve executing these settings have to be carried out on an a razor thin API using little to no processing time or resources (otherwise it's not low level). Are you seeing a problem here? Sure it might "be possible" but it certainly isn't practical.

On top of that, the team that would be doing it is Nintendo. Have you ever had to work with Nintendo? Used their Dev kits or test kits? Used their developer tools? Called up Nintendo developer support? I have. Let me tell you - They are about a decade behind where Sony and Microsoft are right now in terms of making developer tools that are actually useful compared to Sony and MS's offerings. I'm not joking - the original Xbox's developer tools are better and more powerful than the Wii U's in a lot of ways. And now you're going to take a team that for all intents and purposes has been mailing it in for generations, and now make the most advanced, sophisticated, yet light weight and easy to use API the video game development world has ever seen. And you tell me it will be "easy" for them? Sorry. It isn't easy. It's not trivial. Not for anyone, and not for Nintendo.

In an ideal world, sure developers would "only have to choose" x or y to get their game running on a different spec console, and the lightweight API would just make the magic happen, and *poof* game on new platform with minimal testing. But realistically, you and I both know that would be an incredible achievement, would likely win Nintendo dozens of engineering and desgin awards world-wide if they pulled it off. I do not have that confidence in them. Its fine that you think that Nintendo can pull that off, but I'm taking a far more realistic and grounded approach.

P.S. I also love how you act as if this isn't the funamental issue, but and then chalk it up to something that from what I can see, cannot be solved with an API. The ability for CPU core to send and recieve commands from the GPU simultaneously little to do with the API, and far more to do with the hardware design itself. No amount of API coding is going to get around a hardware bottleneck, and create new physical communcation channels where there are none. But I suppose you think that's trivial as well - making super lightweight ultra powerful APIs getting hardware to do something it's not designed to do. Maybe it's theoretically possible, but in the real world, a team actually has to program it to work that way, and that would not be trivial.

1) It's always been like this. Nintendo was wise enough to keep all their handhelds lo-tech, and they sell regardless. 

2) Why? Why should there be no market for epic cutting-edge AAA games when PS4 and PC are hugely successful with exactly these? How are an Ocarina port and a Xenoblade port proof that you don't need a powerful home console for new big Nintendo games? *I* know I want the next Zelda, and I want it to be as epic and beautiful as it can be.

3) You're looking at it backwards. Of course it makes no sense right now - because Wii U already flopped! But the reason is not that there's no demand for AAA games. It's because they messed up the time schedule to build momentum, causing a devil's circle of no software -> no install base -> no new developments -> repeat. 

They have struggled to supply 3DS with adequate software at times as well. Remember the post-launch drought in 2011? 2012 wasn't really a killer year in terms of Nintendo-published titles either. 2014 & 2015 both saw summer droughts. This will continue to get worse as their devices get more powerful and require longer dev cycles and larger budgets. Let's say, the 3DS successor is above Vita level & the Wii U successor is around PS4 level. Do u think they can supply either device with a steady supply of software? Probably not.

Look at 2015, 3DS lacked really big software titles but had a solid amount of small/mid size titles while Wii U had a few really big games but lacked in quantity. The combined output was pretty solid throughout with a nice range of small/medium/large games.

February-The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D+Kirby & the Rainbow Curse+Pokémon Shuffle

March-Codename STEAM+Fossil Fighters: Frontier+Mario Party 10+Mario vs Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars

April-Pokemon Rumble World+Boxboy!+Xenoblade Chronicles 3D

May-Stretchmo+Puzzles & Dragons: Super Mario Edition+Splatoon

June-Art Academy: Home Studio+Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure

September-Super Mario Maker+Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer

October-Chibi Robo: Zip Lash+Yoshi's Woolly World+The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes

November-Nintendo Badge Arcade+Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival+Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash+Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon

December-Pokemon Picross+Xenoblade Chronicles X

A bit of a summer drought in there but with a unified platform they can afford to spread things out a bit more resulting in an average of 2-3 Nintendo games per month.

Yeah I remember the 3DS launch, it wasn't optimal, but again, launch drought is not a new phenomenon. They managed. But I admit that for handhelds the next generation might be different because smartphones changed that particular market so much (graphics / price point). Nintendo might not get away with another machine that is far behind smartphones in graphics. 

For consoles I still can't say I follow the reasoning. They're making money off of software, not hardware. What do they win if one copy they sell runs on both systems? Had they not messed up the Wii U launch timing and, as a result, lost ALL the third party support, they wouldn't be stretched so thin, carrying the Wii U all on their own. 

I say the unified library is bad news for us users. How will NX games compete with PS4 (let alone its eventual successor) if the common denominator for NX is "handheld"? And the whole situation is so unneccessary! Wouldn't you love a gorgeous Metroid? Mario Galaxy 3? Zelda U? Mario Kart 8? Hell, everybody does! The market is still there. But if you launch with NOTHING and it takes years before your first compelling game... yeah then you're making expensive games for no install base. I'm feeling bad for the Zelda team already - another massive Zelda released as a swansong, it will likely go unnoticed just like Skyward Sword. 

Why can't they release a gorgeous Zelda? 

500-600 GFLOP portable, runs the game at 960x540 resolution

2 TFLOP console is a good 4:1/5:1 ratio, runs same game at 1080P resolution + a few added effects + anti-aliasing. Boom done. 

Unified library is good for Nintendo users. For one you don't have to pay $500 to play ALL the Nintendo games, the fact is 80% of Nintendo's own userbase did not bother with either the Wii U or GameCube. Never owned either one. That means it doesn't matter who pretty Zelda U or Metroid Prime looked ... the majority of Nintendo's usberbase never played those games. 

There are other benefits to unified platform too ... less/no droughts for one. The other is a better diversity of games. If the Mario Kart team doesn't need make two Mario Kart games, because one Mario Kart suffices for the entire NX ecosystem then they can work on something else like a new franchise of making bringing back something like Wave Race or F-Zero. 

There actually are little/no benefits to a segregated library in this day and age. You pay $500 for hardware to largely play the same 10 franchises over and over and over again. Even most Nintendo buyers are saying "no thanks" to this proposition. Unless Nintendo has a miracle controller that can sell the console on its own, this situation is not likely to improve. They are making money off console software but they're also leaving a lot of money on the table ... Splatoon should easily have sold 2x whatever it's going to sell. This is no way to run a business, you don't keep your best products away from the majority of your userbase. 

Again, you're holding it the wrong way around. No one denies that, between Wii U and 3DS, Nintendo's most ambitious efforts are wasted on Wii U. That's because Wii U is a failed ecosystem. Had Nintendo not botched the launch, there's no reason why a Nintendo home console couldn't be just as successful and financially viable as PS4 is right now. It's not about "this day and age" and something something "days long gone". PS4 and PC are proof that the traditional model still works. Sony et al make hugely expensive AAA titles, and they sell 10 million copies and more. 

The other thing where your perspective is off (imho) is when you say Nintendo "doesn't need make two Mario Kart games". If Nintendo makes 2 Mario Kart games, chances are fans will buy them both! Yeah yeah not MK8, for the same reason as above - Wii U was dead in the water from the start. Under normal circumstances MK8 would have been the bestselling entry in the series, and I wouldn't want to miss neither MK7 nor 8. 

Let me say this, if Nintendo manages to build what you proposed – a handheld powerful enough to scale AAA home console games nicely - fine. But you must admit that it would go against everything they've always done. Every single Nintendo handheld was lo-fi, built like a tank and cheap. And that's why they're so successful. 

Most, if not all AAA games should have $59.99 as the price point for both HC and HH. Then some A/AA games would be around $49.99 like what Nintendo is already doing this generation on the Wii U.

There's nothing stopping them from making two Mario Karts, it's just the way it is now, those teams have no choice but to work on the same franchise for like 4-5 years straight. The portable *has* to have a Mario Kart, and then the console which probably is selling even worse than the portable obviously also needs a Mario Kart. 

So there's no choice given to those developers, they're stuck basically working on the same thing for a half-decade where at least in a unified structure, maybe the NX still gets two Mario Karts, but in between now the team has the luxury to develop something else, like maybe (gasp) a Splatoon type idea. 

I think regarding price, the best thing they can do is to up the value proposition of the next handheld. Let it run Android apps/games, Nintendo can pick and choose which ones are available through their eShop and even take a small cut of profit from downloads. But this gives the system a lot of value, because that regular Android tablet doesn't play Nintendo games, but now suddenly you have one device that has both. 

I also think letting the portable be a mini-console in and of itself (can stream to a TV) wouldn't be a bad idea too. A lot of people simply don't want to buy two seperate Nintendo devices, not everyone has $500 lying around to play Mario. So if you have a good chip in the portable, it'll be able to display good graphics on a television. 

So now I think you can charge $249.99 to launch instead of $199.99, you have enough value, just make sure you launch with *strong* games, no more launching with Nintendogs and nothing else for 6 months nonsense. Start with Zelda day 1, Smash All-Stars wouldn't be bad the following month, then Mario NX 2-3 months later, come out swinging. Throw in a free Amiibo too. For $250 this blows the shit out of a $200 3DS XL and this is good proactive evolution of Nintendo's portable brand in the wake of low-cost cheapo tablets, you have to differniate now from them too and there is no product like this on the market.

In a year you'll be able to drop to $199.99, but you'll have a platform that has sooooooo much more developer support because you chose a powerful chip that lets devs actually bring over the content they're making in the modern generation, rather than having to rework a game from scratch for the portable. 

Everyone think NX is new HC and new HH, i think NX is a wiiu handheld, Nintendo going to put a ARM processor to remplace PowerPC, and use more récent graphique core then Wiiu, but nearly the same power... This HH will streaming pictures on TV with help of a case wifi connecte in hdmi to the TV
NINTENDO will unified library of Wiiu and new HH.. That is why Nintendo don't cut wiiu price, and don't tell about wiiu games de for 2016, 2017... New wiiu games are the line up of NX... And You can be sure MK 8, splatoon, bayonnetta, Mario Maker, xenoblade, SSB and zelda wiiu will arrived quickly on NX.