I wonder who wins in annoyingness, Patcher or that feminine gamer.....

Nintendo will support the Wii U through the end of 2015 and then phase it out as 2016 moves along. The next handheld (Fusion) will launch in 2016 and that will take the majority of their software development.

I think the ease the transition, Nintendo will give Wii U owners some kind of "thank you" bonus when they buy a Fusion, like a free game from the eShop. 

Nintendo really doesn't support their consoles for 5 full years anyway, it's usually 4 years of "real" support, the 5th year is usually a write off. They basically ditched the GameCube after early 2005. 

Soundwave do you really think nintendo will ditch the wii U so early? They've already said they will stick with the hardware for a long time to come. 2016 is far too early for them to launch. Everytime I see someone saying a launch before 2018 for nintendo's 9th gen console I just think how stupid it is.

Nintendo needs to continue to support the wii U. Nintendo is not going to screw over their fans by dropping support for the Wii U early. Its gonna be 5+ years. I'm saying about a 6-8 years for wii U. The console just started selling for a profit so why ditch it for something else that will sell at a loss first so quickly? Nintendo will stick with the Wii U for a while.

5 years is a long time in a modern world. people change mobiles every 6-12months. I do not see a reason why people can't upgrade their consoles earlier.

What I would like to see with the next gen console since it will definetly launch much sooner than the competition is a modular approach. Where you can swap out or add additiona; parts (i.e ram, video card and cpu). This way they could provide a console that is cheap and reasonably powerful for the launch and when the competition launches simply offer a module addon. For example a ram expansion could be bundled and sold with few of your popular franchises like Mario Kart or Mario Brothers, etc.. That way people will feel like they getting a cheap upgrade. NOTE: by addon I don't mean expansion packs that are slower but rather provide a slot to stick this thing in which would run at the same speed.

The best part with this approach is that game engines will be even more scalable and upgrading would be purely your choice. 

Call me crazy but some mobile manufacturers are already looking at modular approaches for future solutions. 

I don't really have an opinion on what you want for the next gen system I just mainly care about the games.However when it comes to the 5 year thing its not neccessarily true. Technology isn't advancing as fast as it was during the Nes-Wii era. While it is still moving fast it isn't going through the leaps and bounds it was which is going to lead to longer generations. At this point in time I think it should be a mimimum of 6 years on the market before you start talking about next gen. This gen isn't even 2 years old yet and people are already saying nintendo needs to jump into the 9th gen? That makes no sense. None. This isn't the mobile industry.

Well I don't think there will be a traditional 9th generation "brick sized" console from Nintendo period. 

I think Fusion will launch in 2016 first as a handheld/portable/quasi-tablet type thing. The 3DS will need to be replaced by 2016 and that's Nintendo's no.1 priority. 

Then later on they will introduce a home version of Fusion that lets you play the same games on your TV with a controller if you want. This will basically have the same tech/chipset as the portable Fusion, just perhaps scaled up a tad for 1080p viewing. 

But Fusion will effectively replace both the 3DS and Wii U IMO. It won't be like one replacement for the DS and another completely seperate one for the Wii spread out by years. 

I think they need to move quickly on this too because they are suffering heavy losses at the hands of the tablet/smartphone business and the 3DS cannot hold that front, it's losing momentum and the "New" 3DS won't help that much outside of Japan (you need more than a Monster Hunter analog nub + faceplates to excite Western consumers). 

They will give the Wii U a good send off though I think. 2015 will be a good year and I think they will make sure Zelda U, whether that releases in 2015 or 2016 is a really good Zelda game that will make people happy. The GBA and XBox both had life cycles of 3-4 years and their successors are both their companies' best selling hardware, so a slightly shorter lifecycle doesn't neccessary upset as many people. 

Sega CD, 32X, Saturn angered people because they were never supported well in the first place (32X, Sega CD in particular). I never hear people complain that they're dissapointed with their XBox (original) or GBA purchases. 

it's not what I want it is what devs want and cored gamers. They want fast latest hardware so it is easy to port without spending effort. If they going to enter the market early and keep costs down to the consumer and not have a totally obsolete console when Sony and Microsoft launch then they a future that has a modular approach is worth looking at. 

Their alternate is to wait it out longer and longer till 2018-20202 when PS4/ONE are ready to be repleaced and become totally irrelivant and dead. Look at what happened to Wii in thelast few years. That console at least had SOME support from 3rd parties. WIi U has blue moons everywhere coming from 3rd party devs which shock us when they annouce a game for Wii U. 

I agree with him that Nintendo should kill Wii U ASAP. November 2015 - a new home console, a truely next-gen one. They can still fight back, but they have to stop these shenanigans and go with a regular, good console that 3rd parties could develop for. Add all the 1st party games already released and being prepared for next year and they could finally have a strong hand and not look like the red-headed step-child.

I want to tell you something, but I would get banned, let me just leave it as saying that would not be wise in the slightest.

The core nintendo fans are the ones that have adopted early. You're screwing them over with a 3 year cycle?! REALLY?! no. Just no.

If they did what you said do you know what would happen? Nintendo would lose a lot of fans who bought the wii U out the gate. Its launch would be the worst launch in the history of video game launches and you guys will say the exact same thing you are saying now. "Kil; the console launch a better one as soon as possible". Do you know which company basically did this which left the console part of the industry? Sega. You guys are asking nintendo to pull a sega which is a dumbass move!

They support the wii U, satisfy their fans for a 5-8 year cycle then jump into next gen using the momentum from the wii U. That's what nintendo needs to do. I'm sorry but if you ran nintendo they wouldn't be around right now that's for sure.

8 year cycle, lol keep dreaming. 

Nintendo will support it for the same amount of time Microsoft supported the first XBox IMO and longer than they supported the Game Boy Advance. 

That's good enough and all they're obligated to do. 

A nice bonus like giving Wii U owners a free game when they purchase the future Fusion platform will also go a long way in easing any tensions. 

Zelda will be a nice send off for the Wii U especially if it is the real deal in terms of being better than TP and Skyward Sword. More than a set amount of time I think Nintendo just needs to ensure their 1st/2nd party games deliver. If Mario 3D World, Smash U, Mario Kart 8, Zelda U, and things like Bayonetta and Xenoblade are all AAA experiences, that's more important than having X years of support. 

Lets be honest too Nintendo bailed the f*ck outta the GameCube largely after 2005. The only game from any of Nintendo's internal major studios for the GameCube released after March 2005 was Zelda: TP which was moved to the Wii and released later on the GCN (to add insult to injury). The "big" holiday game for the GameCube in November 2005 was freaking Mario Party 6, lol.