O hay it's me.

Nintendo operate on a 5-6 year cycle on consoles. If you look back this has been their strategy for some time so that would mean a "Wii U 2" would probably be released in either 2017-2018 and announced at E3 the year before release.
What's interesting about this is that Sony/Microsoft seem keen to have a 6-7 year cycle of their hardware which makes a PS5/Xbone 2 release likely in 2019-2020. This will mean there will be a 2-3 year period where Nintendo have released new hardware and if they can innovate like they have in the past and come to the table with superior specs that combination could see them dominate the market once more...

If Zelda xeno and smash come out and then nothing for 2 years I would still not want the next system to come out before 2017.

I dont want a 3 year life cycle and and even less than a 3 year life cycle I want shit like the PS360 8year crap. 5 is the best choice.


I dont buy anual games (or sequels that come out within 2 years. or iphones or movies that get a new "version" within 2 years) because they come out to early after the last one so I always think "that one will be cheap in no time" or "the better version is almost out I wait for that one" and in the end I end up buying nothing. And If WiIu would just be a 3 year console I guess I would feel the same. (I also dont want more than 2 similar mario games on 1 system or more than 2 zelda games on 1 system in 5 years)

i hope the next Nintendo console will be retrocompatible, so many gems

Just as an interesting comparision, I looked at 1st/2nd party output on Nintendo consoles for the N64, GCN, and Wii U era (Wii is a bit different because it was a longer gen). 

I factored all Wii U titles we know about today, but added in just a few extra -- Mario Galaxy 1 + 2 HD Collection and Diddy Kong Racing U. I think it's fair to give the Wii U the benefit of the doubt of a couple of unnanounced titles yet to come. Still I get:

U: Super Mario 3D World, Super Mario Galaxy HD 1 + 2, New Super Mario Bros. U, Mario Kart 8, Hyrule Warriors, Zelda U, Zelda: Wind Waker HD, Super Smash Bros. U, Kirby Rainbow Curse, Splatoon, Mario Party 10, Bayonetta 1/2, Devil’s Third, Xenoblade X, LEGO City, Pikmin 3, Diddy Kong Racing U, DKC: Tropical Freeze, The Wonderful 101, Mario Maker, Star Fox U, Game & Wario, Nintendo Land, Wii Fit U, Wii Sports Club, Wii Party U, Yoshi’s Wooly World, Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem, Fatal Frame V, Mario & Sonic Sochi Olympics, Pokken Fighters, Captain Toad, NES Remix 1/2 = 34 titles

GCN: Super Mario Sunshine, Mario Kart: Double Dash, Smash Bros. Melee, F-Zero GX, Star Fox Adventures, Animal Crossing, Eternal Darkness, Pikmin 1/2, Zelda: Wind Waker, Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 1/2, Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, Donkey Konga, Kirby, Mario Party 4-7, Mario Tennis, Mario Baseball, Geist, Kirby’s Air Ride, Star Fox Assualt, Battallion Wars 1/2, Wave Race: Blue Storm, 1080 Avalanche, Fire Emblem, Wario Ware Inc., Zelda: Four Swords Adventure, Paper Mario, Mario Golf, NBA Courtside 02, Pokemon Colosseum, Pokemon XD = 35 titles

N64: Mario 64, Zelda: OoT, Zelda: Majora’s Mask, Wave Race 64, Killer Instinct Gold, Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie, Jet Force Gemini, GoldenEye, Tetrisphere, Mario Kart 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Yoshi’s Story, Star Fox 64, 1080, Ken Griffey Jr. Slugfest, NBA Courtside 1/2, Mario Tennis, Super Smash Bros., Paper Mario, F-Zero X, Mario Golf, Starcraft 64, Conker’s BFD, Mickey Speedway, Pilotwings 64, Excitebike 64, Mario Party 1-3, Perfect Dark, Pokemon Stadium 1/2, Pokemon Snap, Kirby 64 = 35 games

Basically this is a wash, N64 and GCN lists are buoyed by having multiple Mario Party games where I only factored in 1 Mario Party for the Wii U. It's not exact, but it's more or less an illustration that the Wii U as is will pretty much be assured the same amount of Nintendo support as the GameCube and N64 got. In other words -- Nintendo fans have no right to complain IMO. 

I don't think it's just a matter of an unspecified number of games, but also (very much) a period of time. If they stopped supporting Wii U by the end of 2015 and revealed a successor around that time, I'm pretty sure a LOT of people wouldn't be satisfied, no matter if they'd released a truckload of AAA games in the meantime. That would mean a 3-year lifetime (at the most, since it would be even less for everyone who bought a Wii U after launch). I don't think that's acceptable.

Imo Q4 2016 is the absolute earliest they could possibly stop supporting Wii U and unveil a successor, ad even that would be pushing it.
Then again, I don't expect Nintendo to release a follow-up to Wii U until Q4 2017, at the earliest. 3DS will likely see a redesign sometime next year, and a successor in 2016.

Hope they don't until 2018 or later. Too many games to get to already on my WiiU.

Once Nintendo announces a handheld successor, it's pretty much over for Wii U development IMO. 

They will have to shift most of their resources to support the handheld, which will likely have Wii U level graphics itself. 

The only upside to that is they might be able to port some of the handheld and Wii U titles back and forth. 

But it will probably be a lot like what happened to the GameCube after the DS launched -- Nintendo's internal support for the GameCube fell off a cliff.

IMO the 3DS successor IS both the successor to the 3DS/Wii U also ... it's one and the same thing. Unified.  You'll just be able to buy it in different hardware flavors (ie: a handheld, a VitaTV like box that lets you play the handheld games on a TV, etc.), but it will be one platform for most intents and purposes. 

When the next handheld launches, Nintendo's next-generation (home and portable play both) effectively launches IMO. That will be basically the end of major Wii U development and they will throw all their resources into this new platform and Quality of Life. 

There are a few very interesting articles out there about interviews with Iwata, in which he actually very clearly says there will be separate handheld and home systems after 3DS/Wii U.

Also, that they will share a very similar architecture/OS, and porting of games and assets will be very easy and streamlined between the two. He's cited Nintendo need to move toward a business like Apple/Android, where there's a single OS and apps/games can work on a 'family of systems'. He even went on to say there might me multiple (as in more than 2) systems, but that that would remain to be seen (like how smartphones and tablets get new versions every year, but old apps/games still work). He mentioned such a strategy will be needed to be abe to produce enough games from launch, and shorten development cycles, thus avoiding droughts.

I linked to said articles a few times in the past on these forums - I'm too lazy to go look them up now, but they should be very easy to find on Google.

A handheld + home VitaTV like box are "seperate" devices but still linked. 

Just like iPod Touch + iPhone + iPad are seperate but have the same OS and similar chipset architecture and the same app ecosystem. 

So what Iwata has said doesn't really go against what I've said, in fact if you read his overall comments more carefully, they're much in line with what I'm suggesting. 

Miyamoto has also commented in the future they'll make one game but it'll work on multiple hardware. Iwata has also said Nintendo needs to adopt the iPad/iPhone style format, where you have one ecosystem just playable over different form factors. 

IMO you'll have a "Nintendo handheld" launch in spring 2016 or thereabouts. This effectively IS the next generation Nintendo format launch. 

Then in the later months you'll probably see a Vita TV like home device which lets you play the games on your TV if you wish. But same library, I think even same chip components, it'll just be scaled a little bit so that the handheld plays Wii U quality graphics at 960x540 30 fps (for example) whereas the TV version has dual/triple chip so that it can run the same game at 1080p 60 fps. But even that isn't very different from the iPhone/iPad, where the iPad apps run at a higher resolution and it has a slightly better chip.