Here Ill explain it as good as possible. Nintendo had taken a steady decline in market share pursuing power they could have easily launched a Wii/60 it would have likely retailed around the price of the 360 and Nintendo probably would have taken a slight loss if they matched 360's power.
In the end would Nintendo have had the success they had with bringing in non gamers? Probably not if you look at Kinect the bundles go for like 299$ and PS3/Move bundle costs under 400$. Nintendo would likely miss out on at least ten to twenty million in sales. The cheap hardware was a massive feature. Parents saw the 250$ price tag and opted to buy it over 360 for the holidays. Nintendo's marketing strategy and word of mouth spread the Wii like wild fire.
Nintendo wouldn't have had as much success with 360 visuals. GameCube didn't beat Xbox, N64 lost to PSOne. Nintendo decided to completely change course it was a gutsy gamble that paid off. Nintendo was desperate to buck the decline trend and they did. Nintendo knew if Wii failed GBA and DS would keep the company afloat. Nintendo also had a backup I remember reading Nintendo had a piece of hardware in development already to jump in and save them though it probably would have backfired on Nintendo.
But Nintendo was not satisfied with profits without market share. Nintendo wanted market share. Also Nintendo turned a healthy profit on each Wii day one something Nintendo absolutely needed. See if Wii's turn a profit on each unit and it fails. Nintendo would have likely broken even and could take the hit with ease launching their back up plan if need be. Much like how Nintendo survived VB.
You don't become the market leader without taking risks!
-JC7
"In God We Trust - In Games We Play " - Joel Reimer
