Someone plz explain Nintendo Fusion? Sounds like failure.

[zorg1000]

Mummelmann said:
This is not about the consoles themselves being an integral part of one another, it is more a software-based middle ground that allows for shared assets and development efforts on two platforms of different formats simultaneously, this is a step to ensure that they don't get bogged down with long development cycles on two fronts seeing as how they're practically supporting their home consoles all by themselves and 1st party software is still paramount to moving handhelds and keeping them vital.

It's a smart move by a company that has been cornered by market conditions and poor developer relations. The biggest challenge I see is making a handheld that has specs similar enough that it doesn't require vast amounts of scaling; this could mean that they will either make a powerful handheld and an "underpowered" home console, much the same as they do now or that they will or they will opt to do that scaling at a higher level. A handheld that keeps up with home consoles spec wise would likely be quite costly, both for the manufacturer and the consumers so I think that that option is out.

We're already seeing something similar now with the shared games between the 3DS and the Wii U, Smash is an example of such thinking so you could say that they have already started testing the waters with this strategy. Expect even more shared games between the two as the 8th gen moves on; this is really the best solution for them given the current circumstances.

In terms of power I don't think either will be graphical beasts, Nintendo probably wants to sell these at a reasonably low cost ($199.99 each).

My guess for the handheld would be somewhere between Vita & Wii U in terms of power, similar to how 3DS is between PSP & Wii, in other words it will essentially be a handheld PS3/360.

For the console I think it will basically be a souped-up Wii U similar to the jump from GC to Wii (faster CPU & more RAM).

So the console will be a fair bit more powerful in order to display games at a higher resolution/framerate  (720p/30fps vs 1080p/60fps).

Since next-gen is likely to be their handheld plus a home version, Nintendo should keep handheld game prices, $29.99-$39.99 and it should be feasible to have devices at these specs to release at $199.99 without taking a loss.