They were discussing what Nintendo should/can do in light of recent news on Weekend Confirmed podcast, and it got me thinking, about some few months old ideas I had.

The ideas the podcast guys centered around, ditch the Wii U tablet because nobody is using it in innovative ways. Slash the price of Wii U to maybe 199. They agreed third party support is gone, so Nintendo must pump out even more 1st party blockbusters. They kept reiterating this idea that Nintendo software sells Nintendo.

Wrong, wrong, and wrong! I believe I represent the core market pretty well, and  I have no interest in buying the Wii U at $199, or even $99. There's literally pretty much not a price low enough (within reason, course I'd buy if it was $1) Nintendo could get me interested at. i just dont care.

The idea that "Nintendo software is enough to make Nintendo consoles succesful" was proven wrong WAY BACK WITH GAMECUBE. In 2001. Gamecube was a reasonably powered system, with Nintendo software, and it did average to poor. It was the proof forever more that Nintendo software is not enough.

So, in my mind the Wii U cannot be saved. Again, there is no reasonable price I would buy a Wii U at. It's already recently been on sale for 199-249, still doesn't matter.

So what are the options mentioned? Continue on with Wii U, which we've ruled out. #2: Make a "powerful" system and ditch Wii U.

The problem with this is making consoles and software takes time. YEARS. The absolute fastest I could see Nintendo  getting out a new console would be late 2015. By then it's already too late. XBO and PS4 will already have milllions of consoles in homes, and not only that but PS5 and XB3 will be just 3-4 years away, trumping whatever Nintendo has before it gets momentum. The other problems are many, powerful consoles are expensive and tend to lose money (PS4 is losing some) which cannot/will not afford. Nintendo software doesn't fit a powerful system (Mario Kart doesn't need Teraflops), and they dont have the years of skill to develop for them either (they are still struggling with the transition to HD). They also long ago lost touch and burned bridges with third parties. Also, it just isn't in Nintendo's DNA to build powerful hardware anymore.

So continuing on with Wii U is out, and trying to match/exceed PS4/XBO in power with a new console is also out imo. So what now?

My idea is Ouya like hardware.

Now many of you will jump without thinking and say "but the Ouya was a flop"! But here's why Nintendo could be different. Besides the fact Nintendo has the money to market, polish, and brand power Ouya didn't.

First, mobile tech moves fast, Ouya uses a Tegra 3, already aged. The newest mobile chipsets already equal or exceed the Ps3 in power. An example is Nvidia's Tegra K1. Which they have boasted runs Unreal engine 4, and is easily more powerful than PS3.

So for example, build a console around Tegra K1 or equivilant. This would likely, even maxed in a non thermal constrained environment, use just a few watts of power. Pack in at least 2GB of Ram, perhaps even 3 or 4GB if you can do it within budget. You could build a tiny, "cute" console like Ouya. And it could be cheap. Real cheap. This is key. Price it at, I think $149 is both plausible and doable. $99 would even be nice if possible, like Ouya. Also, ditch the disc drive. Digital only. This could be the forward looking, Nintendo touch, Nintendo needs. Something different from the other guys. It also cuts the cost of the system significantly, and the size. Again think Ouya.

Slap Nintendo brand on the side. Make a nice, high quality, traditional controller as Nintendo can. Now this console would be built around two core pillars.

Pillar one: Emulation. That's right, just as Ouya has emulators, Nintendo can obviously have official, legal, perfect quality, SNES and NES emulation. They have a HUGE library of fun-packed, nostalgia driven, 2D classic games they can make available for a cheap price, maybe 4.99-9.99 each for the countless old SNES and NES classics. This alone would make me buy the system. It would probably be powerful enough to do N64 and maybe even Gamecube emulation too. Personally I'm not interested in those, but it's an idea. Sure, the likes of Ouya already have SNES emulation available, but it's not official, not the highest quality, lacks a high quality controler (many reviews complained about the Ouya controller), is in a legal gray area at best, requires expertise to find ROMs, etc etc. In other words it's not something Grandma and Grandpa would use. Coming straight from Nintendo solves those problems.

Pillar two: Traditional Nintendo triple A 3D productions. Again, consider this system will have more grunt than a PS3 and by extension, a Wii U. So Nintendo can put out it's 3D Zelda's, Mario Kart's, Mario's, and all the rest. They'll look great, in HD, and better than on Wii U.

This model doesn't rely on ANY third party support. But it WILL be more powerful than Wii U, and as such could hope to at least get a few late PS360 ports, and if it sells well enough, who knows what could happen in terms of third party support. You could also port COUNTLESS mobile/phone games too, maybe even start to draw in tons of casuals with this. Who knows?

So there you go. And the key to all this? The console priced at $99, or at least $149. Who WOULDNT buy this just for sh*ts and giggles? It's practically a disposable purchase!

It certainly COULD NOT do worse than Wii U. And imo, it could do a whole lot better. I think it's worth a try, at least.

Just no

So... Basically what you are suggesting is a cpu/gpu that is still worse than a ps4/x1 but slightly better than the wiiU? And instead of buying SoC for a cheaper price with IBM and Amd, they should pay more to go for Nvidia? I say pay more cause Nvidia wants more which is the main reason why none of the big 3 went with Nvidia GPU...

And Emulation is a big selling point? LOL.... They can do that on the wiiU right now if they want to, they just don't want to for what ever reason...

Also, you do know that getting such a New SoC on hardware costs a ton of money right? The OUYA costed $100 with the Tegra 3 was because it launched over a year after when the Tegra 3 originally launched, the asking price that Nvidia will ask of Nintendo would be so high that the console, by default, will have to be $200+ since the new SoC isn't even out yet

And no, it will do worse than the wiiU for 100s of reasons, one important one is by the time the even start manufacturing the console, the technology will be old... Do you really think the tablets that will use the new Nvidia SoC havn't already made deals with Nvidia? And no it is not worth a try cause if it fails, they lose even more money

Your Idea is horrible, Do some research please

Heck, you want an example? Look at the vita, its basically an OUYA... It emulates psp and ps1 games and there is a vita TV version for $100... Shits not selling

Half of your ideas are simply terrible.

This is like saying the Vita is a dead end, so Sony should make something more like the Virtual Boy.

The other half are just regularly terrible

That sounds like a terrible console.

So, just because you have no interest at all in buying a Wii U, you surely say that the console CAN'T be saved.? Even that I hate what nintendo did with the Wii U market , I still think in a hope.

''Nintendo software is not enough.'' DONE! That's ( one, not the only) factor that people want to buy a nintendo console, for their software, and this could be enough to move them for more years.. Their problem, is with the Advertisement division, they are a fail with this.

As everyone said, your ideas are horrible, '' fallen'' ideas I could say. Lol even the '' Nintendo has to go 3rd party'' was better than this...

No

Actually I think something similar to PSVita TV (with newer hardware) could work for Nintendo. Whit that I mean an home console that plays the same libary of their handled console with bonus features (like improved graphics, local multiplayer, motion controls), plus some exclusive games.

PSVita TV it's failing just because it's just a dumbed down version of a Ps3, Sony and 3rd parties aren't investing anything on it, so there's no reason why anyone should choose it over the latter. Nintendo, on the other hand has the right software to make competitive a console of that kind.

I'd don't know how expansive is Tegra or similar mobile architectures, but I will use it just as an example. If Nintendo will build their next home console as a "sister" of their next handled, they could solve imo, a lot of their problems. Think about an handled with Tegra 4 and an home console with Tegra K1 (or since we are talking off future console K1 for the handled and K2 for the homeconsole). Games would be released on one single support (cartdiges) that works on both consoles, it would be the same code optimized for 2 different hardware builds (just like a PC game is one single code that works on an infinite number of hardware builds, this would be the same code optimized for just 2 different hardware settings).

This could make Nintendo save a lot of time and resources, since they wouldn't have to build 2 different games (and codes) to make handled and console versions of the same games.

Examples:

Rather than developing Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart 8, they could make a single game that has single player and online mode on handled, plus split screen mutliplayer, better graphics, optional motion controls on the home console; same goes for many other games NSMB, Mario3DWorld, MarioParty, Aniaml Crossing, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Smash Bros, etc. Just think about how much time they would save, how much resources they could move to other projects and games (including dormant and new IPs).

Also objectively a lot of 3DS could be played on an home console as well; think about Luigi's Mansion 2, Kid Icarus, Zelda LBW, Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, etc.

The home console would than have still some exlcusive games, like Zelda adventures, 3D Metroid games, fast paced action games and shooters in general.