That statement is not false, on the grand scheme of things how many PCs do you think are out there with 128/256gb SSD's and a massive standard HDD for storage? in comparison how many PC's do you think have 16TB SSDs in them? I would wager far far less than .1% would be the latter making the "almost always" statement perfectly true.

don't care if the game is on disk or cartridge but i'd really like to have a "buy digital now and get a physical copy delivered later" option when i buy games on psn and other digital distribution services.

But what you aren't factoring in is how much money Nintendo can save and make buy developing games once for multiple devices. This could never happen with one being disc based and the other using some type of flash/Rom card format.

Like I've stated, why compare stuff you found on Amazon if we don't know the true wholesale price that Nintendo would pay... I understand that there are cons to having a gaming ecosystem that uses a card format, but this maybe more of a plus to Nintendo than negative if their initiative is to unite a game production library. Nintendo should definitely try there hardest to get back as much 3rd party support as possible, but they would be fools to put all of their eggs in that basket. 3rd party developers can be fickle at best and at this stage in gaming they wish for the console manufacturers to provide them with some failsafe of paying for exclusive content. 

I'm beginning to think its more like some just dont like that phrase and less that the phrase actually doesnt apply to nintendos plight.

Look at it how you want to look at it. Call it copy, do what they are doing or just do good business. Call it catch lightning in a bottle or not but the facts are simple.

History has shown, and nintendo has 3 failed consoles to show for it, that first party alone is not enough to make a successful platform.

The onky exception to this was the Wii in the last four consoles they have released. And that was becauss of motion gaming and the game changer it became. 

Such a phenomenon is what is referred to as catching lightning in a bottle. To do something that isnt only different and no one thinks will work but that goes on to become more successful than anyone could have imagined. 

If nintendo are again ignoring all the the things sony and ms are doing or do to be successful, then it must mean they feel they are going to do something that not only differemtiates them but is better. Unless u feel they are in this to sell sub 20M consoles with the NX too. 

As I've stated it wasn't 3rd party software that made the Wii or DS a massive success, it was Nintendo's 1st party games that you seem so easy to dismiss. It's never been an issue about whether Nintendo software will sell, it's about whether the software and hardware provide something unique and different from the other console manufacturers. The term catching lightening in a bottle is just disrespectful to a company that's been around for so long. Apple was on the brink of bankruptcy, do we say that they catch lightening in a bottle with every iPhone and iPad they release? Nintendo is a company that has never made any real efforts to capitalize on the branding of their IP, which they are probably only 2nd to Disney when it comes to worldwide character brand recognition. But people seem to talk as if they will always be relegated to a boutique software maker if they don't fork over all their cash to secure 3rd party games. Out of the gate no one ever looked at the WiiU in the same light as they did the Wii. So it's not about Nintendo catching lightening in a bottle, it's about them creating hardware that for its price has value and the ability to inspire their developers to create amazing games that are unique to that hardware. There are many Nintendo fans that never wanted a WiiU because it didn't feel like that much of a jump from the initial Wii console. Most just chose to buy a 3ds instead and played all of their favorite Nintendo games on that instead.

Which is still pretty irrelevant because now consoles only use the disc to install the game to the HDD. IF you have notabley different noise levels when comparing a game running off the HDD to another game.... also running off the HDD, then you have a problem.

So no, you won't save anything on cooling in modern game systems.

But to say catching lightening in a bottle is no different than saying Nintendo threw a hail Mary with the Wii and prayed for the best(which people seem to forget that the DS came first and inspired the Wii concept). The market and software that they had out of the gate proved that they knew it was going to be successful and how the system inspired them to make games. The same can't be said for the WiiU, it not only had horrible marketing but the software really didn't use the system to its potential until late in the systems life. Also Nintendo has had a number of consoles that were deemed sells failures by them because they didn't meet or surpass the previous generation of Nintendo console, but went on to being extremely profitable for the company overall. The GC and WiiU are probably the worst offenders of being categorized as such, because the hardware sells don't match up to the amount of money Nintendo put into making the consoles.

Semantics. How you choose to look at the phrase doesn't change what the phrase means. Contextually, the phrase literally means "to accomplish a difficult feat". 

That's it. Now I say to make hardware that isn't as powerful as what else is out there, to ignore third parties and miss out on the biggest selling franchises, to not have a well developed online structure, to not try and secure third party deals......etc and yet make a console that sells as well the Wii, or even the PS3/360, or even the XB1, make a console that a lot more than the absolute die hard Nintendo faithful want..... is a very very very difficult feat.

If you don't agree with that assessment that's another matter. But is that better now? Is using difficult feat kr challenging situation better for you?

and it really doesn't  matter if over all they are profitable or what not. That's not what we are talking about, but even at that.... if you think Nintendo isn't worried about their current state or doesmt have a lot riding on the NX, then I really don't know what to say. 

That was in the context of Micro SDHC, MMC cards, saving costs by going small. Cards that barely cover the tip of your finger.
Vita cards are pretty small already though, I guess kids are better at not losing those cards than me :)

Anyway doesn't matter how small, it's still far more expensive to produce than pressing a disc.
Plus the physical box the games come in aren't that much smaller than a blu-ray, not a lot of savings on size.