You are right when you say the Ps2 wasn't very powerfull (GC and Xbox were much better, and yes even the Dreamcast in a couple of aspects), but not about DVD playback. Ps2 got popular for its games (and because it came out after the Ps1). DVDs became more popular thanks to the Ps2, not the contrary.

The hardware itself no, but it's library on the other hand made up more than enough, with the debut of God of War, Jack and daxter, Ratchet and Clank, GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas. But the PS2 was indeed the weakest but that's nothing if you compare the Wii to the PS3 or the Wii U tot the PS4. DVD playback did quite a lot for the PS2 and destroyed the potential for many third party games to release on gamecube since some freaking genius at Nintendo tought it would be wise to use minidiscs (moron). So even when the gamecube had sufficient hardware to run games the minidisc made sure it was pretty hard to port open world games in the first place.

With Nintendo's most recent consoles you kind a get neither sure each year there's one or two very good games, but in the meantime there are a lot of draughts and no third party games to fill those up. After that the hardware leaves much to be desired off and many develpers at Nintendo almost don't want to use the consoles full graphical potential (thedevs of mario kart 8, and the devs of mario galaxy 1/2 are an exception though). So there's more than enough reason to be sceptic of this new console.

PS3 did the ame for blu ray movies in a way it sure did end the battle with HD DVD's, yet it never took really off like the PS3 itself which is a shame because it is a great format.

True, Sony spent a lot and delayed the Ps3 because the hoped to repeat what the Ps2 did to DVDs again. Blu-rays are great and I'm still using them but the market now is all about streaming. I also love SACDs and DVD/blu-ray audio, but with mp3 they'll always a be a niche format.

PS4 is more than likely coming out in 2018 btw...... NX will probably be 2017

Just needs to be equivalent to the PS4 really. Nintendo don't need high specs for most of their games. Equivalent power and architecture would be great to win over AAA third parties like EA, Ubisoft, Activision etc etc.
Need to give those guys as easy a platform to port to.

I think GTA was its biggest selling point. DVD is a close second. Maybe not so close.

The i7 alone is more expensive than both the XB1 and the PS4 lol.

They only need to match the PS4, even on the architecture. Nintendo Make your console easy to develop for.

GTA was a far second behind DVDs. There were a lot of people who didn't even know the PS2 was a gaming system. I anecdotally know someone who thought playstation was a disk media brand until recently, with the "play" meaning to "press play" on a DVD player.

Especially with the PS2, I think people vastly underestimate how significant the DVD player was, or how similar its success was to the Wiis.

The ps4 was unproven and people worked on it. The wii u was unproven and almost got zombiu aand rayman legends exclusively. The xbox was unproven and got titanfall exclusivity. Third parties will work on a console if it has promise, not if it has proven itself. Power is a good indicator of a future proof console due to its capabilities for future games

Remeber that a lot of the people that shifted to ps4 are from the wii crowd. In fact, sony admitted to targeting the wii audience. It's safe to say Nintendo can make games that can detract market share from it's competitors.

And yes, Nintendo does have the capability to make blockbuster games. It's a matter of will they invest money to do so.

If mario maker was bundled as a launch title, I gaurantee the wii u would at least double in sales. splatoon is a new ip and is selling itself on a poor console. The legend of zelda and metroid prime are excellent franchises to take a more darker approach to games.

Nintendo regaining people's fascination requires a multitude of things, but power is a safe bet (as is marketing, standard controller, and a solid lineup)