It's sad, really Sad! >_<

[zorg1000]

Nuvendil said:

It's entirely different to from the Wii!  The Wii was more powerful than the 6th gen consoles in practical performance, including the original Xbox.  What you are suggesting would be more like if Nintendo had released something like a slightly more powerful Dreamcast to compete with the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.  And that would have been bad.  Never in the history of home consoles has  console launched and been successful that was weaker in practical performance than the previous gen's offerings.  Ever.

And you were suggesting very rapid itterations.  The 3DS has been out for a while and this is the very first itteration to provide any noteworthy improvements in hardware.  I have no doubt there will always be the equivalent of your XL, Lite, SP, etc etc, but it is highly unlikely you will have multiple New 3DS-type upgrades in a generation. 

And just because their franchises have seen success does not mean that the games are the exact same.  Super Mario 3D Land is a handheld game through and through, it is not the same as Super Mario 3D World because - wait for it - it is designed for the handheld demographic not the home console one.  I'm not saying none of their franchises can be moved between the two.  2D platformers are more flexible in this regard and games that are easier by nature, like Kirby, can be.  But most handheld experiences are by their very design more vapid than home console counterparts because they cater to a specfiic set of expectations. 

I am not saying there won't be any cross-platform games.  I could see Smash and Kart being cross platform as handhelds increase in power.  But the devices will remain separate.  And Iwata's most recent statements discussed specifically a shared development envirnment that will make programming for each platform easier, allowing for greater flexibility in delegation of development resources.  I fully expect that.  And of course, the advancement of handheld technology is going to make this easier, that's just common sense. 

But we clearly don't agree on this so let's just agree to disagree. 

But who cares that Wii was more powerful than Xbox? It had like 1/20th the power of PS3/360 and it still outsold them, nobody and I literally mean nobody bought a Wii because it was ever so slightly more powerful than Xbox. Saying something has never happened is not a legitimate reason for why it can't happen. Before Wii, there had never been a successful console that launched at such a small increase in power over the previous generation, yet it happened. Don't rule out things because they haven't happened yet, nothing new would ever happen if that rule was true.

U have to take into account that Iwata said they plan to redefine gaming in the next 2 years, they clearly are going for something rather unconventional. U need to think outside the box a bit, doing more frequent upgrades that change our perception of generations and unifying the handheld and console markets could fall into that philosophy. Think back to 2003, before Nintendo had announced DS or Wii, did u ever for a second think Nintendo was going to try and implement dual-screen/touch-screen gameplay into the GBA successor or motion controls and small power upgrade over Gamecube after making a powerful console or that NIntendo would find huge success in education and fitness games?

Yes, 3D Land and 3D World are different games but is the gameplay any different? 3D World is just a natural expansion of 3D Land due to having more powerful hardware, but 3D World is still a 100% suitable handheld game, their is literally nothing about it that wouldn't work on the go. There is not a single Nintendo series that I can think of that would be unplayable on either device as long as they shared similar control inputs.