This is just a silly POV. 

How? Because I bought a Wii U and want to get my money's worth out of it before they move on to the next one? 2017 is acceptable, 2016 is not

It doesn't give you superpowers but it does reduce game development time because you don't need to relearn the OS/Api when making games for handheld or console... The programming for both will be the same, just the hardware will be different...

I don't get what a ps3 game has to do with anything

That is exactly what Iwata is talking about... He said zero things about both platforms having the same games yet he said: "various form factors one after another because there is one way of programming adopted by all platforms"

I don't get how any of what he said ment same software on both platforms...

You do realize that 90% of NES sales came after August 1987, heck the system wasn't even stocked nationally in the US until '87. Most people didn't get one until 1988. That means when Nintendo introduced the Super NES in August 1991, mostp people in the West had only had their NES for 3 years or so. 

Did we cry about it back then? Hell no. Me and my friends couldn't wait to get an SNES, in fact I remember waiting for the SNES to come out seemed almost painful. 

Of the four major hardware manufacturers, three of them (Sega, Nintendo, Microsoft) have had their most successful game system come after a shortened previous platform too. The Genesis/Mega Drive (best selling Sega console) came after the Sega Master System which was only supported primarily for 3 years. The DS (best selling Nintendo platform) came 3 1/2 year after the GBA. The XBox 360 (best selling Microsoft platform) came 4 years after the original XBox. 

You want your money's worth from Wii U? Play Bayonetta 2. Captain Toad. Wonderful 101. Pikmin 3. Get Splatoon. Devil's Third. Xenoblade X. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze was overlooked big time. 

Also the magical 5th year of support for Nintendo consoles. Ah yes ... who doesn't remember the magical period of Nov 2000-Nov 2001 for the N64 where we got ... uh Paper Mario and uh ..... Conker. And who can forget the gaming oasis that was Nov.2005-Nov.2006 on the GameCube where we were graced with the awesome must have .... Mario Party 294848. Or those lovely last two years of Wii support where Nintendo managed to release a whopping TWO games worth buying (Zelda and Kirby). 

Real talk: Nintendo actually only supports their consoles for 4 years. The 5th year is just a crock, they don't actually really support their consoles for that final year, so I say why not just skip that traditional "dead" period? Do you get a cookie or something if Wii U hits its 5th birthday? 

Are you missing your 480p Wii graphics these days? Have you ever played Mario Kart 8 and thought "gee I wish I could play this on my crappy outdated Wii"?New hardware is *better* for the consumer. You get a better experience with your games. 

This could be very possible.

Who said having more powerful tech was special? I'm just saying that cross generational Zelda U won't be as simple as it was for Twilight Princess.

The iOS ecosystem only works because you can share apps between platforms, that means the iPad never has an "app drought" because there's thousands of apps that already worked for it before it even released. 

Apple is apparently now going to put iOS and the same A8 processor in the iPhone/iPad into the next Apple TV ... which will then have hundreds of apps available for it quickly too. 

Apple could in this formula make 10 different devices.

The whole point is this type of setup only works if you can share the apps. It doesn't mean shit if it was just an API that made programming a little more streamlined but developers still had to code specific apps for each platform every single time they wanted to make one app for the other. 

If Apple had done that, they wouldn't be as successful as they are now. Nintendo's current model of doing things is actually fairly insane ... they are trying to support two seperate hardware platforms with little/no third party support and are smaller than even companies like EA and Activision in work force. They can't continue to operate that way. And it's not even working, you have angry Wii U owners who aren't getting enough content, and even 3DS owners are pissed off because they're not getting treated great either. 

Nintendo fans just can't see around that formula because they figure "well that's how its always been". Yeah that worked ... when games could be made by a staff of 12 people, and monster sized games like Mario 64 had maybe 40 person staff, and handheld market was nothing but cheap/watered down NES-SNES port jobs. Today even 3DS games have staff sizes of 80-100+ people and the 3DS is going to need replacing by something more in line with the Wii U/PS3 in power in short order. 

Again... None of what you have said really countered what I have said and what I gave as proof which always seems to be the issue everytime we talk... Iwata specifically said and gave those examples because having a common platform with various hardware on Apple and Android allows developers to program with common code... I even quoted him saying that... None of what he said on the other hand had anything to do with same games on both platforms

Do developers on Android/Apple have to specifically reprogram their games to work on different Apple/Android devices? 

There is no Apple/Android ecosystem without that, that is the whole crux of it. It's like saying you're opening a pizza shop, but you're not going to sell pizza. 

I'm sure there will be some platform specific titles on NX ... there are even a few platform specific iOS apps ... but not many. IMO it will be a shared platform with shared games. The whole concept that Iwata is speaking about doesn't work without functionality. 

And it will be better for the gamers in the end. So I'm not even sure why there's so much resistance to the idea. Quite frankly the way Nintendo operates now is borderline retarded and no one is happy ... are Wii U owners happy? 3DS owners are griping about a lack of content too. In this day and age the old system doesn't work, like I said it's not the 90s anymore when you could make a blockbuster game like GoldenEye with like 15 people and could treat handhelds like a port machine. 

They do if the game requires the hardware... A "high graphiced" game that can run on an iphone 6 cannot be played on an iphone 4 as an example...