When I first saw the NS announcement my thoughts were: Cool! That's a great concept for making a gaming convertible tablet.  I was feeling happy for Nintendo.

However thinking some more, I feel like the concept would be good for a game convertible Android tablet or iPad, but now for this to be the future of Nintendo; for Nintendo to place their console and handheld eggs in the NS basket seems bad to me.

First let's talk about NS as a console.  Since the Wii, Nintendo has tried to differentiate from PS and Xbox by introducing unique ways to play.  The success of the Wii game controls concept made Wii a huge success without needing to compete with Sony & MS on specs and network features.  Wii U also tried to focus on unique features rather than competing head-to-head: ability to play without the TV on, use of the tablet as 2nd screen, asymmetric play.  We all know what happened there.  NS in a way feels like the ultimate embodiment of Wii U: you can play on TV, you can play on the tablet, and you can pair up with other local tablets.

That's one thing that concerns me... as a home console it seems positioned very similarly to Wii U.  There aren't more unique ways to play, in fact there might be fewer ways to play since the tablet needs to be docked to play on TV.  Power wise NS seems like it will still be behind PS4/XB1 and may struggle to get some games, and more so when the PS5/XB++ come around.  In conclusion, I'm not sure NS is a good home console, and I hope they have something else planned as their real next-gen console.

Next let's talk about NS as a handheld.  It looks like NS will be very powerful for a handheld; it's a big leap from A Link Between Worlds and Breath of the Wild.  That's great for core gamers like myself.  However power comes at a cost, and raising the price tag of the handheld higher than 3DS seems bad for sales.  Battery time may also a bummer.  In addition, to make NS games work both in docked and tablet modes - it could mean that touch controls are limited or non-existent.  This means some types of games from 3DS won't work on NS (and there's no backwards compat anyway).  In conclusion, I'm not sure NS should replace the 3DS line.

Really the reason to think NS is good for Nintendo is the hope that the sum is greater than it's parts.  As a gamer I hope NS does well, but my hope is that NS is a 3rd line for Nintendo, and they still focus on dedicated handheld and console lines.

Pretty well written post.

I am really hoping Nintendo and Nvidia are on the top of their game with this one cause it is not going to be easy if they don't get the basics right. Nintendo needs a home run and Nvidia certainly wants a home run considering the adoption rate of their Tegra arch is pretty minimal.

Really the main selling point of it will be Nintendo games above everything else so in theory, they will have doubled the output. But theory vs practice always turns out to be different imo but I am hopeful this generation. Because the formula is there, its just the execution that needs to be a success.

I'm happy Nintendo decided to go this route, simply because of the fact that I don't need to buy two consoles to play all Nintendo games, and I can play my handheld games on my tv if I'm at home. I'm sad, however, with the lack of the doublescreen/touchscreen. I understand Nintendo has to separate this from the WiiU, hence the lack of doublescreen, but the lack of touchscreen might hurt some franchises I really like (Picross, Etrian Odyssey, per example). I suppose they will offer the option of playing those games on the tablet or with a touch-less mode when docked to the TV.

With the matter of power, Nintendo and 3rd parties usually don't get along that well. Japanese partners won't care about power because of the handheld aspect. Western devs didn't put that much software on Nintendo's consoles to begin with, so they will try to bring just their less powerful multiplats (Fifas and CoDs instead of GTAs). That would actually be an improvement to the WiiU situation.

Soooooooooo, there is one rumor that has yet to be confirmed that might make alot of sense as far as this "gimmick" goes. Game on the go? Cool, but to us gamers it may not be the real point. There may actually be a hidden result of this device.
Some time ago when the rumor surfaced about the ns being a hybrid device, it was pointed out that there was a merger of nintendo's handheld and console departments. The rumor was that nintendo is poised to deliver 1st party content at intervals not possible before. If that's true that could be huge. Multiple games of the same franchise in the same generation could be amazing. Or, we may be on the verge of an increase in new ip. THIS is what could make the ns so awesome. But god knows it'lll be years before we know that or not.

-snip-

Alt. Removed -RavenXtra

Think of it as the Vita but one step further, I have no idea how it will turn out, and it is very risky, but I generally just get Nintendo consoles for Nintendo games so I'll most likely get it, and I'm most likely not alone in that department.

I think its the perfect concept for Nintendo.

The main selling point of any Nintendo device is and always be Nintendo published games, so a device that allows for the maximum number of Nintendo titles along with less redundant titles is their best bet.

They just need to make sure they have a solid price and strong marketing.

It's no rumor Nintendo announced it a year ago.

I think people will begin to feel better about the Switch once some actual games are announced for it. Sure we saw a few seconds of gameplay in the trailer, but I think once some official games are announced, with standalone trailers, people will begin to feel better about this system and how it could work.

I agree with you on certain things. It does seem even more of a risk putting both their console and handheld space into one console, as if this fails it could mean some serious trouble for Nintendo. There's also the issue that despite this being a cool concept, it will still be too weak to play some of the bigger, popular IPs in the industry, which would also hurt the console.

Though, I think having less varying options of play may be a good thing. No need to worry about a touch screen, asymmetric gaming, and whatever else. Just a controller in hand. Perhaps going the simpler route this time would be the better option.