Sega's issue was they dropped support for their consoles after like a year and a half, lol (in the US anyway) also a host of marketing, pricing, and other issues.
People are fine with 3-4 years of support for a console, the original XBox got that much and the 360 has sold more than triple the units, so no brand loss from XBox to the 360.
The Game Boy Advance also only had roughly a 3 year life span ... but that didn't negatively impact the DS in the long run either.
You guys are still thinking under the ancient 1980s/90s paradigm of "new console = old console is completely obsolete and has no software". That comes from a dated sensibility when there where no online networks/digital distribution nor could chipset architectures scale up or down the way they do today.
Give the Wii U it's full 5 years of software support, nothing needs to change there. Two 3D Marios, 1-2 new Zelda games, a 2D Mario, a Mario Kart, a DKC, a Pikmin, Wii Fit U/Sports Club, Bayonetta 2, Xenoblade 2, a Yoshi platformer, Super Smash Bros. U, Bayonetta 2, some Pokemon titles ... I'd like to see an F-Zero, Star Fox, and Wave Race at some point too. Nothing needs to stop any of that.
It's time to change the way hardware platforms are released, the console business IMO is still way behind, companies like Apple and Samsung are on the right path, though that may be too many hardware upgrades, but the industry is no long a bunch of 12 year old boys who need their parents to buy them everything either. It's grown up as a business.
Cross generational software is the future too IMO, the idea that all old software goes down the toilet once a new console releases or you can't make a game run on two generational platforms is tired and outdated.
