They did it to me with the DS, which all but destroyed the glory that was the GBA, a handheld I bought and supported from launch. So if I wasn't angry then, I wouldn't be angry now.

I'd much rather have a healthy Nintendo than an unhealthy Nintendo.

totally

I would be fine with this. If Nintendo can roll this out well and get it off on the right foot it would be alright...

However, this is of utmost fantasy. The thing people aren't getting is that Nintendo won't get third party support, no matter how many pixels, polygons, GPU's, etc. they put in their console. To think they could actually get third party support is kidding yourself. Let alone Nintendo being able to support three different systems.

Seems like most people here are OK with the "quality of life" platform Nintendo seems to be planning for late 2015.

So how much would the console cost? I assume if its a good deal more powerful than either of them that would also make it more expensive, PS4/X1 will likely be around $299-349 by fall 2015 so would Nintendo's new console be $399 or more?

And u didnt answer my other question, why would the core demographic that plays sports/racing/shooters/sandbox/western RPG choose Nintendo over the others? Call of Duty, Destiny, Battlefield, Assassin's Creed, Watch Dogs, The Crew, Need For Speed, EA Sports, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Far Cry, The Witcher, Grand Theft Auto among others will have established fanbases on PS4/X1 by the end of 2015 with established online communities. There is literally no reason to believe that just because Nintendo releases a powerful console that it will all of a sudden start to sell well and have great 3rd party sales.

I wouldn't mind but then I usually buy lots of different consoles cos I'm not poor.

Assuming there is no expensive gimmick controller to weight the price of the console down, I'd say Nintendo could sell such a console in the $349.99 launch price range at cost/modest profit in time for late 2015. Nintendo would have to compromise on the heavily customized aspects of the chipset though and simply use a more off-the-shelf part (which means ridiculously low power consumption or tiny console design, it would have to be the size of an NES at least). 

Why would the core demographic chose a Nintendo console? Well a lot of them wouldn't, but that's a bit besides the point, Nintendo's goal there wouldn't be to beat the PS4, just to ensure themselves a decent slice of the pie and I think there is enough weakness in what Microsoft has done that a door could open for Nintendo. 

Something 3x more powerful than an X1 + free online play + the bonus of a few core Nintendo IP that players may still have a soft spot for (ie: Zelda or Metroid) could make for a more attractive proposition than an X1. If they could sell 30-35 million of this 'high end' variant and another 18 million Wii Us ... suddenly that's almost 50 million consoles that Nintendo has to sell a game like Zelda U to ... which sure beats the grim scenario they're looking at right now. 

It would flop, I'm talking sub-Ouya sales. Only the Niche, Niche Audience would buy it, and it would euthanize the Wii U.

I doubt it. It would have the best multi-plat versions of a lot of games, especially as developers start pushing the better PC cards, they'll find that the PS4/X1 can't do a lot of those games justice without compromise. The Wii U would be the one with a niche audience. 

I think it would actually probably extend the software life of the Wii U too, because Nintendo could then afford to continue making games with Wii U as the base version and just up-porting them to the new platform for a longer time. Whereas now, lets be honest, Nintendo is likely to drop the Wii U like bad habit after 2015. 

I think it's a bad idea. Just wait until late 2016, or early 2017, and release a new console.