I hear a lot of people saying Nintendo can't afford to compete with a traditional console...

[Darwinianevolution]

small44 said:

Soundwave said:

They could have beat Microsoft this gen with a similarily speced console and wise use of a year long headstart. 

Besides Nintendo made far more money than MS + Sony combined last generation, in fact I'm pretty sure they made more money last generation than MS + Sony combined in all their years in the business. 

No console can survive without third party support

That statement needs to be more precise: when you mean survive, you mean in terms of sales or in profitability? Because Nintendo has managed to make a profit on consoles that had very poor 3rd party support.