There's absolutely nothing they can do now ...

Victors are determined just before the start of a new generation, MS are just gonna have to deal with the fact that they lost and the same especially applies to the Nintendo with the WII U ...

No matter how hard Microsoft realistically tries, nothing will change the result ...

As for Nintendo's new attempt with the NX they will be starting from scratch at an all time low when it comes to consumer trust and the chances of beating Sony in the console space is also low too ...

. 

Do the cellphone thing. Sell for $50 up front and a 2-year online subscription at $X per month above the base online subscription rate (which is $0 as the base rate for Nintendo right?)

I would seriously consider getting a Wii U with that sort of deal, so long as the monthly payment rate amounted to no more than the actual MSRP. So basically interest-free hire-purchase. I've done interest free hire-purchase with laptops, TVs, and other major home appliances. I don't know why consoles don't go down that road. They'd basically never need to drop from the launch price, ever, because no one would bat an eye over paying off $350 / $300 over a 2-year period ($12.50 - $14.50 per month). And the only specials they ever need to run are short term $0 down. With a 2-year payment term a console never needs to launch at a loss.

Of course if Sony started doing it with PS4 too they'd still be just as screwed as they are now.

It suffrered a major drop in market reputation, and a huge drop in sales relative to PS2, and relative to expectations leading up to the price tag announcement. It was heading towards a sub-50 million LTD and a relatively short generation until the 2009 slim-price cut gave it a huge shot in the arm. 360 sales in the early gen were relatively poop given it started from a low base anyway, so the fact that PS3 was not maissvely outselling 360 early gen, and never outsold it by a large margin in any given year. does make 360 a reasonable point of reference before PS3 sales really took off.

PS3 didn't sell as badly as some people make out, but it did need to make a mid-gen comeback in order to both extend the lifetime of the 7th gen and reach 50% of the PS2 LTD.

In MS case, the only thing they can do is to pray for another Sony mistake, otherwise nothing will change. In nintendo case, they just need to create something different and compelling, this way they can be successful regardless of how well sony do

Well Nintendo cant comeback but MS can but the cost to come back will make them lsoe lots of money and it might not be worth it.

Well there is one way they could but....

And they were never seen from again =P.

I think the X1 DID make a come back, all things considered.

As for the Wii U...    well, I think Nintendo would need to invest money. A LOT OF MONEY.  

1) Drop the price of the Splatoon-Smash bundle to at least $225.00  

2) Hire as many developers and studios as possible to ensure that Zelda U, Pokken Tournament and Metroid will be on the streets next year.

3) Do whatever they have to (and by that I mean WHATEVER THEY HAVE TO) to ensure all next high profiles multiplats will be on Wii U.

I'm gonna go off topic and say the obvious: that show was amazing. And I really wish Netflix would just put the rest of the episodes on. For convenience sake