Nintendo doesn't need third parties anymore. They will be one of the biggest smart device game providers in a year or two, if not no.1 hands down. They also don't have to worry about casuals or kids anymore, their games being on iOS/Android cover that.

They can do whatever they want with NX. It probably being a fusion platform means they don't even need third parties to have a steady release flow of games anymore.

They won't have to do things like make two different versions of Smash Brothers for each device, they'll be able to easily scale up/down a game like that and put it on all their NX devices.

Screw GTA. They don't need it. My guess is they will be even less communicative with third parties now, especially Western ones. It's just never been a good fit between the two, now they can do as they please. 

I actually think too if their movie licensing/TV licensing works out well, they're going to make a ton of money off of it. They're going to become sort of like LEGO, a brand that's become much bigger than just toy blocks, in the same way Nintendo is going to become bigger than just video games. 

Now that they're not walled in only to their own shrinking propietary hardware they can reach far more kids with things like smartphone games and animated movies. 

There's a fundamental issue with Nintendo and third parties too is that the demographic for third parties games simply doesn't suit the types of games Nintendo floods their platforms with.

Going from the cheery, happy world of Mario into running over prostitutes and shooting cops in GTA just doesn't go together.

Yes, sure, Nintendo tries maybe once or twice a generation to throw at a violent title of their own, but like Bayonetta 2 they usually end up with mediocre/lukewarm sales at best.

Most of the big gun third party IP that even Nintendo fans clamour for (c'mon Ubi Soft give us Watch Dogs, not some stupid Rabbids party game!) simply doesn't fit the demographic of the console.

Sony and MS' who make games like Uncharted, The Last of Us, Halo, Forza, etc. themselves fit the demographics of the types of games third parties go after. They market during the NBA Finals and FIFA World Cup and NFL football games. Nintendo markets on Nickeldeon during cartoon blocks. If you're making a game like Assassin's Creed or Call of Duty, it's fairly obvious which platform is going to be your bread & butter. 

Nintendo will always have problems with third parties. Games like LEGO, Mickey Mouse, Just Dance, are the types of third party games that perform better and that's why third parties stick with that. It's more logical sense to them and the numbers are there to back it up.

The top selling Wii third party games are things like Just Dance, Zumba Fitness, Michael Jackson: The Experience, Deca Sports, Carnival Games, Sonic Colors, various LEGO games, etc. Even once in a blue moon when a more violent third party game sells OK on a Nintendo platform, like say Resident Evil 4, it usually ends up selling even better on either the Playstation and/or XBox, so again, third parties don't really swoon if maybe one of their games does OK. 

I figure we will see a pricing tier like this

Low budget, eShop titles, $10-20

Mid budget, handheld experiences, $30-40

High budget, console experiences, $50-60

So in this case, I would put Mario Kart as a $60 release

I agree that 3rd party support would be nothing but positive for Nintendo

Seems like we two are the only ones with that mindset ^^

Seems like a pretty reasonable pricing order... They could price certain (less well known) series and price them at $40, like Kirby, and that would probably sell more copies than it would otherwise

I did just show you a source, yes they came to the conclusion through EDUCATED speculation but it's worth far more than your or my word alone. If ram wasn't an issue all the consoles would be using 2gb of ram.

This discussion really seems to be pointless however, It's very very clear how different the WiiU is compared to the other two consoles. The bigger the difference between one system and the other the more effort is required to port between. This is UNDISPUTABLE. Not sure why i'm even arguing this, when it's clear as day.

Is it the only reason third parties aren't developing for WiiU?  No.

Is it the main reason? Probably not.

Does it make developing for the WiiU more difficult for third party developers? Of course it does, this is a fact.

Why don't you go a head and adress the other 3rd party games I mentioned then? How could Ubisoft be happy with Red Steel 2 selling 600k? Or No More Heroes? Truth is, mature 3rd party games on Wii didn't do all that well, especially if you compare it with how well they did on PS360

Well really though why wouldn't it be lol Nintendo won't lose anything if the 3rd party stuff doesn't sell well. They can only gain. It's the developers that lose out if sales are unsatisfactory