The next nintendo console will be backwards compatible with the wii u.

Some people we crying for 5 year life in their systems.  Looks like they might get it for Wii U :/

As long as Nintendo keeps putting out games and churning a profit to make another system, it's all good.

That being said, I see another 3 solid years of support before the bottom falls out.  I see the system being sold for cheap beyond that timeframe, I just don't see Nintendo supporting it with games beyond 2017 end of year.

I still can't believe people are talking about the Wii U successor being weaker than the PS4. It's never going to happen; never in history has a successful home console been weaker than the previous gen's strongest console. Ever. Nintendo is not stupid; producing such a home console would basically be like burning money in an oven for all the money they would make off it. As for unified architecture and OS, I could see that but the "every game being cross platform," I highly doubt that. The demographics on home and handheld are different; it wouldn't benefit much. There will be some perhaps. The similar architecture and OS would just help a lot with dev teams being familiar and therefore easier to work with.

Wii u is hardly more powerful than ps3 or 360. It's basically a more efficient 360 with more modern features.

You think Nintendo will still be launching original Wii U titles until 2018?

I'm betting the last big Wii U title by Nintendo will come out late 2017 with one or two smaller titles coming out during the 1st half of 2018 and the Wii U successors coming out late that year. So 3-3 and half more years of games.

It will not last much longer than 1 year from now, 2015 or 2016 Nintendo Fusion will arrive.

2015 is way too soon imo. I think 2017 is more reasonable.

Nintendo can't support two platforms like that anyway anymore, so it's a fairly easy choice with the Wii U flopping like it is. 

People don't realize, but Nintendo is a pretty small company, only about 5500 employees total, even companies like EA are 9000 and they wouldn't be able to support a console on their own, let alone a handheld as well. And the "well they can just hire more people" thing doesn't work either. Nintendo *doesn't* want to expand to be any bigger than they are. They like being this size, they've had many oppurtunities to expand much larger and refused. Iwata has even said that Nintendo would lose its culture if it grew any larger. 

And you guys expect ever increasing tech, so next-gen you want something better than a PS4 for the console, and PS3 level for the handheld? 

Nah. That was never a sustainable formula, from the moment their handhelds started using 3D graphics and requiring just as many resources as the console side, something was going to give. 

I think the hard thing for people to accept is that the Wii U is basically I think their last traditional console. There just isn't any room for three consoles that do the same thing and there isn't room for one odd-ball console either, not unless it has a miracle gimmick and those types of things simply don't come around very often (Wiimote was probably a once-every-25 years-type phenomenon). 

What Fusion will be IMO will be mainly a portable centric platform. BUT they will offer a way for people to enjoy those games on a television too, but the audience for that version will probably be small (15-20 million I would guess). 

This job listing Nintendo made for a next-gen graphics architect basically hints very strongly at this:

http://nintendoeverything.com/nintendo-hiring-lead-graphics-architect-for-next-gen-console/

Note they are looking for someone with experience with SoC (system on chip) and low power consumption chips ... that basically means mobile tech (like what's in the iPhone/iPad/etc.). 

First, it is more powerful than the PS3 that "hardly."  It is notably more powerful.  The law of diminishing returns has just eroded the effects.  Most people forget that the really good looking games on PS3 often ran either at sub-720p native or 30fps (regularly not met) target or even both.  Meanwhile Nintendo hasn't pulled those shenanigans yet so comparisons aren't entirely fair if you are going to only stare at texture resolutions or poly counts.

Second, it is *still* more powerful.  If the Wii U had been, say, 40% more powerful than the Wii or some nonsense, it would have done even worse than it has.  FAR worse. 

And besides, the PS4 will be an easy mark to pass in 2018 or even 2017.  Tech prices are falling and PS4 uses the less efficient (although admitedly more convenient) x86 architecture.  So Nintendo should be able to surpass PS4 then easily while still offering the console at a competitive price.