I think it will be integrated sorta like this ...

$49.99 gets you Mario Kart 9. You can play on the handheld in 540p.

For $10 more you can "unlock" the home dock version which lets you play at home as well at 1080P.

Games are identical otherwise. It's your choice as the consumer. Kinda like what Nintendo did with the eShop ... you could transfer your VC purchases over but for a small fee you got Wii U VC support. I believe this is how some iPhone/iPad games/apps work ... you pay  a certain price for the iPhone version and then can "upgrade" to the iPad version as well for less than the original app price. 

3 years too late to be relevant to gen 8.

3 years too early to be relevant to gen 9.


...this is how nintendo will ultimately exist the industry as a hardware manufacture.

Late 2017 seems more likely to me.

A Nintendo handheld/home play hybrid would sell 70 million minimum IMO. So I doubt that. People like Nintendo games and even are willing to buy a Nintendo handheld ... Nintendo's problem for 11 of 15 years however has been that only a 1/3 fraction of that audience (at best) was willing to pony up a seperate $200+ for a Nintendo home console too -- this is just getting rid of that hurdle so that Nintendo can sell their big gun projects to all their fans. 

Besides really it's not like PS4/XB1 are anything special hardware wise even if Nintendo won't compete with them.

Mark my words by 2016, Steambox will be all the rage with "hardcore nerd" gamers on message blogs who need the best version of every big title. 

Exactly. We might see a Wi i U successor at the end of 2015, then.

sony introduced cross-buy years ago and hurt things far more than it helped.  there is no point to getting the both devices when either/or has all the same games.  just look at smash brothers and how much wiiU is getting hurt by the 3DS release.

this hybrid approach consolidates nintendo fans onto 1 ecosystem which really means nintendo lost 1 opportunity to sell a product to their fans and lost 1 pillar in their ability to diversify and allow a successful platform get them through the tough times a a unsuccessful platform.  if this device fails it will take all of nintendo with them as they have not fall-back. 

and to be frank, i can already tell nintendo is going to have a massive uphill battle trying to explain to customers what they are actually selling.  it will have massive market confusion (even more so than 3DS, wiiU) that will hurt it.  cutting the wiiU short will hurt it.  the hybrid platform guarentees no third party support too, imo.  nintendo's home console was largely ignored but third parties always supported nintendo's handheld.   say goodbye to that, they won't like the dual platform releases that make nintendo games more costly to develop.

mark my words, this will not end well.

and lol at steambox.  i was onboard for a mintue but every announcement makes it look more and more silly.

I think I said this same thing last year somewhere... I do remember Rol and I having a discussion over it.

But yeah, its definitely a possibility. If not, then 2017 for sure.

Wow! I am loving this idea. Let's see if I get this right ... A handheld device and a console with a unified ecosystem. Nintendo games will be made for both systems, so they no longer have to divide their game devs between handheld and console. The console simply has better textures.

Maybe you could buy the console version, which unlocks the game for both, or you could buy the cheaper handheld version. If Nintendo could make this work then ... Wow!

It would be very interesting to see what happens if Nintendo would come out this early and with Hardware more powerful than PS4/X1. Doesn't have to be much, just running all games 1080p/60fps.