nintendo has not always provided a new innovation (gimmick) every generation, that is more so a recent trend. the SNES, GBC, N64, GameCube, and GBA were all basically graphical and QoL upgrades over their predecessors. all of them sold well without something "new," for the most part, with the exception of the GCN.

i expect the NS2 to largely be a graphical and slight QoL upgrade. i also think nintendo might bring back something akin to miiverse and expand more upon the social aspect of the OS as that was severely lacking in the NS. they could also do minor things like make the controllers even better or the form factor more adaptable.

the VR thought is an interesting one, though. it definitely seems like nintendo was interested in the idea and seems like a logical next step for introducing another way to play. however, i doubt (and hope) it's not something nintendo thinks they need to heavily focus on. i fear that'll alienate the majority demographic too much.

This, please. It is not rocket science, a more powerful switch would work well enough.

Its been rumored to be about as powerful as a regular PS4. I wouldnt hold my breath for anything more than that.

I see gimmick as something that is cool and novel to draw immediate attention in a cheap way but ultimately fail to produce lasting impact. I don't think Switch being a hybrid is a gimmick. But those are just semantics I guess... 

Sure PS5 games are now just PS4 games however PS4 stopped selling for a while, the system is backwards compatible meaning ou can care all your games, they are offering free games to all early adopters. 

And the most important: The upcoming games guaranteed to come in few years. Unless something really odd happens (like MS buying major publishers) Playstation is bound to keep getting everything from EA, Activision, Ubisoft, and many japanese games from Capcom and Square. Third party support being so strong for Playstation, added with strong first party line up is what keep Playstation sales so consistent. If it was the graphics people would just buy PCs

If Switch 2 have Mario, Pokemon, Smash, Animal Crossing, Zelda, Splatoon, etc it will sell well. I mean, Pokémon NEVER sold less than 15 million copies with a mainline entry. It's a powerful system seller.

I was stating my desires, I don't follow rumors. Based PS4 is fine, but I would prefer PS4 Pro to make PS5 games port easier 

The 3D was an issue. It made the system more expensive and with a worse battery for no real gain. Nintendo addressed that and released the 2DS. It was a gimmick that backfired 

They could just take the Labo idea and make a cheap plastic holder instead of a cardboard one. If the Switch 2 has a 1080p screen, it will be a considerably better experience than the Switch 1 Labo VR. PS4 VR from last gen was only 1080p, but it gave you a good enough idea of what VR could do. 

It's more like a bonus, something Nintendo may encourage for 15 minute bursts.

Like are people likely to pay $250+ for a Switch VR headset ... probably not. But if it was a plastic holder thing that was $99.99 with a VR Nintendo game included (mini-games? Pilotwings VR? Metroid Prime 4 VR demo?) that also works with Mario Kart, Metroid Prime, Mario 3D platformer, etc. etc. etc. .... I could see that selling several million units potentially.

Thing of it more as something that can give people who won't pay money for an expensive VR headset a chance to experience VR for cheap. It might not even be a "strap to your head" thing, it may be just like Labo VR is where you have to hold it up to your face.

Probably spicy mayo.

I can’t see Nintendo investing heavily in VR, I recall a few years ago they talked about how they felt gaming should be a social thing that people can enjoy together and that VR was too isolated.

If they do VR it will probably be more like Samsung Gear VR rather than PS VR or Meta Quest.

I don't think so.

One of the key reasons for the Wii and DS innovations was a distinction to Nintendo's competition that was banking on simply outspending Nintendo by selling powerful hardware at a loss. These innovations allowed Nintendo to stand out with the additional benefit of high profitability. Switch is the same thing, only even harder for Sony and Microsoft to put out similar products, hence why they can't and won't do it. That's why there's no reason for Nintendo to pursue a major innovation, because a straight-forward Switch successor is already assured to have a unique position in the console market and roll in the money.

Nintendo's current position is most similar to the transition from the GB to the GBA. Back then Nintendo had almost a monopoly in the handheld market, today they absolutely do have a monopoly. The GBA was nothing more than a better GB: Increased the amount of buttons from four to six, more powerful hardware. The GBA sold faster than the GB and the only reason it couldn't clear 100m in lifetime sales is Sony's strategic choice to launch a premature next gen with the PSP which forced Nintendo's hand to launch a new system as well, because otherwise the PS1 vs. N64 situation could have repeated where Sony got a 18 month headstart on Nintendo.

The stage is set for Switch's successor to be nothing more than a more powerful version with some refinements in other areas than the chipset itself. Such as more comfortable and more reliable Joy-Con controllers, or a better organized digital storefront, to give a couple of examples. Nintendo can leverage their monopoly on the handheld side to once again greatly bolster the variety and quantity of their home console side.

I wouldn't be that stunned if Microsoft introduces an XBox branded portable PC.

Steam Deck is clearly not a one off product, now you can see other PC manufacturers getting in on the act like ASUS with the ROG Ally, and this unlike the Steam Deck is even available at normal retail like Best Buy.

It wouldn't really take a whole lot for Microsoft to make something like that, they could get the same or better APU from AMD and they already make Surface tablets. It wouldn't even be some huge hardware investment, they'd just be using a standard AMD APU.

The big knock on Sony/MS having to release a portable was it would split their dev resources, but with the way MS' ecosystem is set up, a ROG or Steam Deck device from XBox would automatically basically run all of MS' games anyway because they are all designed to work on a PC so that whole problem of "yeah but if you make a device like this it means you can't support your home console as much because dev resources are split!" kinda goes out the window.

So I wouldn't necessarily say Nintendo is guaranteed to be the only one of the big 3 to ever have a hybrid device forever and ever. That could change in next couple of years.