Laugh all you want. A console with nintendo's exlcusives and all/most multiplats would be the market leader.

I don't really recall any major PS2/XBox game that wasn't ported to the GCN because of the disc issue. To be honest, so what if a game needs an extra disc? It's a 25 cent charge, it's not like printing an extra disc was some huge deal.

Not having DVD playback probably hurt Nintendo more than gen, because even though the GCN was $99.99, the PS2/XBox were $179.99, and people basically said "well this one I can use as a secondary DVD player for a little extra" on top of the library differences.

Well, this thread has derailed completely it seems.

Maybe you want that. All "gamers" do not want the same thing. Personally, I want an inexpensive console with free online multiplayer that I can use to play great games. I don't care about the controller. I don't care about the online features and furthermore I don't expect them to be on-par with subscription-based services. I have reasonable expectations about the power of the console, which basically means Wii U is fine at the moment.

Not everyone wants the same thing, but there are already two consoles like the one you describe. Isn't it good for there to be an option for gamers like me who have different preferences?

IGN editors tackled a similar question on last week's Game Scoop -- would they rather see new Nintendo hardware, or have Nintendo games on PS4/XBO? The answers were a lot more split than you suggest they ought to be.

Jared: "I want a Nintendo console, and I want it to be wrapped up in all their weirdness. [...] The Wii U has maybe a quarter of the power of the PS4 or the XBO, but Mario Kart 8 for my mind is the best-looking game of the current generation. [...] I really appreciate the fact that Nintendo is kind of bonkers and sees things through this strange lense."

Sam: "In darker times, I would have much rather had Nintendo games on an HD console. [...] 'Anything would be better than this [referring to the Wii].' I don't feel that way anymore though, because I want Nintendo to make new hardware to make our lives interesting, and the industry interesting, and to keep everybody on their toes. If they have another hit like the DS or the Wii, it just turns everybody on their head, and everybody copies them."

Justin:"I'm kind of of two minds. [...] I like sort of that Nintendo crazy. [...] When you can really, really marry innovative, progressive, forward-thinking hardware with software that fully takes advantage of that hardware, you get something that you've never seen or experienced before, and Nintendo is really the only company that seems that interested in delivering on that vision. But I'm a bigger fan of Nintendo software than their hardware [...] maybe the hardware is kind of a distraction, maybe just focus on software. I could go either way on it."

Daemon: "Crazy Nintendo consoles definitely make the industry more interesting to cover. When it comes to me, just playing games, and my preferences, the PS4 is a pretty traditional gaming console and that's what I'm happy with. I would be super happy if I could sit down at my PS4 and play Super Mario 3D World and Mario Galaxy 2 in 1080p."

The question is a bit different, so you have to read between the lines on some of the answers. But only Daemon expresses a clear desire to play Nintendo games on the sort of console you describe. Even Justin, who wants to play Nintendo games on more powerful hardware (joking with Jared that Mario Kart 8 would look even better on PS4/XBO), has an appreciation for their innovative hardware and the way they use it to deliver new -- surprising? -- experiences.

Nintendo's games on Wii U already look pretty great to be honest.

If they can find a way to get Wii U level hardware performance from a mobile chip, I'd be fairly content with 3x the performance of the Wii U (meaning just throw three of those processors into a small box and call it a day).

That's a nice sized upgrade.

Nintendo doesn't want to compete with Sony or MS, so making some expensive uber-console is not happening, something cheap that still looks great and probably has a few (cheaper) gimmicks thrown into the box .... I mean if its coming in 2017 .... wouldn't be the worst thing in the world IMO.

The GameCube to Wii jump sucked because there was like literally little/no hardware upgrade, if the next NX console version punches in at the 750-800 GFLOP range even, that will be a nice upgrade over the Wii U.

pardon if the perception of my post was generalize 'all' gamers.  agree on your post. there would be gamers that wanted to have a console to accommodate nintendo ips and multiplats on a single console. i've also watched game scoop and the vote is somewhat divided. and it is true, gamers wanted to save money to buy games rather than another console.  someone said also that if you wanted games offered only for a particular console, you might need to buy that console.

if NX is a handheld or home console, Nintendo should atleast try to get the likes of Final Fantasy, GTA, other 3rd party big IPs which they should really have tried to get and discuss with 3rd party publishers/developers on those things and how a nintendo console can work with them to finish a product. a sub par of graphics but not that much is fine with others but just not a total crap of a game. which some 3rd party have done. There was a post about the use of 3d glasses for certain gaming. a good gimmick, but most people doesn't want to use 3d glasses for 3DTV as i'm aware of. not sure if there are stats about those things though.  if nintendo played their cards right, and add those gimmicks on top of it. they can be force to reckon with. 

You sounds surprised. Should read through it now and check, really.

That would be almost no upgrade over wii u. much less than half of the upgrade between GC and wii

How much GFLOPs does the Wii U have?

It sounded that way at first, but I can see how you meant it differently. Bolded was kind of Justin's point -- he basically said that the fewer consoles he has to buy, the better, because he would have more cash to spend on games. For him, who will buy all of the consoles anyway, it's a moot point in this discussion because either way we're talking about what Nintendo's next hardware will (or should) be like, not whether they should drop hardware entirely and move to another console. For others, who have to choose between consoles due to a more limited budget, that is the be-all, end-all of the discussion.

Which console gives the best bang for my buck? Is it worth buying the Nintendo console for what few games it gets, considering it won't get most of the high-profile third-party games? Is it worth buying a Wii U as a second console, considering it costs as much as 5 brand-new full-priced games, or about a hundred games during a Steam sale?

Ultimately when it comes to products like these, each person's choice is their own. It's tough to choose between two different things that appeal to you when you know you can't afford both, but it's a choice people have to be able to make daily on everything from what to buy for dinner to which pair of shoes you want more.

It would be great to have a console that meets both our desires, and such a thing is theoretically possible as none of them contradict each other, but it is unreasonable to expect such a thing. Even partnering with DeNA (and I don't doubt that there are some great improvements coming to Nintendo's online network this year and in the future thanks to that), I wouldn't ask Nintendo to provide the same level of support Sony and Microsoft provide without adopting their subscription model, and given the choice between the two I'd take the comparatively bare-bones, free version.

I think NX is a handheld, so I absolutely don't expect main series Final Fantasy and GTA games to be on it. Not sure how you think that could happen.