Judging by how dull and forced Miyamoto's Project Guard and Project Giant Robot looked at E3 ... they are already out of ideas.

There won't be another traditional Nintendo console IMO, Wii U is the last one. Their "next console" will simply be a way to play their handheld games on your TV (hence one combined ecosystem). 

So the 3DS successor is in effect the successor to both the 3DS and Wii U. 

Yes, and because ducks like bread so much it needs to be thrown into a lake. There is simply no other bread demographic out there who would enjoy it.

And maybe there are just so many ducks at the lake because there's no bread anywhere else.

everything wrong with that. I'd rather another one...

Sony would never release more than one year after x2.

people will go to a system that has the games they want. Ducks will go to the lake that has bread. 3ds has the bread. NOW Ninty could take a risk and put the bread on a system that isnt doing too hot. BUt people arent ducks and they will probably most likely say screw taht lake. Ask 360

My money is on 2018.

I'm not even sure if there will be an "X2".

To be honest I think it's just as likely that MS kills the idea of a dedicated home console if they lose big against Sony this gen.

What they will do is morph "XBox Live" into a game streaming/cloud based service. This actually makes much more sense within Microsoft's overall company strategy too (they are all about the cloud going forward). You won't need any hardware other than a controller.

I think in the next 5-6 years Nintendo will undergo massive shifts too. Their game hardware will become streamlined under one ecosystem primarily based around a tablet like handheld, which has games that can also be played on the TV (if you purchase their seperate "home variant" of course ... Nintendo still likes their console accessory sales). QoL will be a slow burner for them, what will surprise even Nintendo will be the popularity of amiibo, which will push Nintendo to become more of a toy manufacturer and get into new revenue streams like animated movies (the Pikmin shorts hint at this).

Sony will make a physical PS5, but will also start moving more and more into the digital streaming route like MS. Playstation 5 will be the last physical console they make because by PS6 it won't be neccessary anymore. 

Seeing as how very often software > hardware, I just want Nintendo to focus on making great games with great gameplay. Let Sony and Microsoft duke it out on specs.

I don't even think that whole Sony-MS dynamic has much gas left in the tank. Like I said I think MS could bail out on physical consoles as soon as next-gen. 

They will keep it till it runs out of sales potential or when the next console is ready whichever happens last