Every Nintendo console, except the Wii, has been a powerhouse. The Wii was designed to be less power because Nintendo didn't have the money the blow on a powerhouse console this gen. Now that they're making money like crazy again, I see no reason for it to be so much weaker than the other consoles of next gen.

Before this generation started. Nintendo was a 30 billion doller company. I doubt the didn't have the money

A mistake??  Staying SD was one of the best decisions Nintendo made this gen, that and motion controls.  Sony is the company that needs to learn from their mistakes of making their system too expensive.  Obviously Nintendo will go HD, but that's because it is cost efficient now not because they were wrong this gen. 

@fazz

I think Sony will push it to the limit again. Sony is also a TV Producer. They forced Bluray on the Ps3 to dominate the market with their own format.

They will make the PS4 as poweful as possible. Because of 3d this will drive bravia sales also. And not only this also 3d movies-Bluray sales. They make actually movies sell cameras and so on.

They will make the PS4 the most powerful console on the market. Because they profit from it they will sell it again at loss. But this time they will make a lower entry price bluray drive will be cheaper then last gen. plus another architecture no cell saves costs and no XDRAM. Which is also costly.

They will make the console powerful to make 3d in 1080p possible and they will keep bluray. But nothing else will be added. entry Price 399-449 Dollar/Euro.

MS knows that.

That is an excellent point.  Microsoft is probably going to be much more careful, especially given their whole RROD fiasco-- they lost billions on that deal.  Sony will probably also be slightly more conservative as their whole company is a lot more careful about spending in times of recession.  Sony took an enormous risk with the PS3-- if they hadn't gambled on the Blueray the way they did, then the PS3 probably wouldn't be doing nearly as well as it is right now.  However, there  probably won't be a new disc format war when the PS4 comes out.  Bluerays haven't even been widely adopted by consumers yet-- it may take another 3-5 years for that to happen. 

As I also mentioned above, there is a limit to how far graphics can be pushed.  Developers can only spend so much money making a game.  The whole industry right now is suffering due to the enormous development cost of games and the inherent risk.  I can only imagine how much more expensive it will get once games are made in 1080p with full 3D support, ect. 

Ahh, so a notable step up.

Nintendo acknowledged that the Wii was not perfect.  It has definitely been an enormous success, but it has also lost the support of the 3rd party developers and hard-core gamers.  How many 3rd party AAA titles have there been on the Wii?  Nintendo hasn't had the equivalent of Goldeneye or GC's Resident evil yet.

Nintendo has an uphill battle to climb in order to retain their casual audience while also reclaiming 3rd party support and hard-core gamer support.

@bolded: No it doesn't.

@Netyaroze

Sony could actually deliver the most powerful console again, but without pushing it to the limit like they did with the PS3... and actually, what made the PS3 expensive was the Bluray, Cell, etc. like you said. My guess is that they will go for something that it's a bit above current highest end PC hardware... that will allow them to achieve 3d on 1080p, but now that Bluray is cheaper, they will go for a more reasonable price tag, something in the likes of $350... and now that I think about it, Nintendo may want 3d in their next console too.

... Sad thing I resort to any VGCs thread to avoid my homework >_>

Yes the wii isn't perfect, but it wouldn't have sold half as much as it did if it was HD.  It would be too expensive for casuals, and the motion controls wouldn't appeal to the hardcore well enough to make it a big hit.  It would get ports of many 3rd party games, but so did the gamecube.  The low cost of the wii is a huge part of the reason for its success, and the high price of the PS3 is a huge reason for the financial failure and loss of market share.  Nintendo is gonna do their plan with or without 3rd parties.  It is not Nintendo's fault they can't seem to sell games to the Nintendo audience, people aren't brainwashed to buy Nintendo games.  Hell Nintendo went out of their way to not advertise wii using the Nintendo name even though all of their previous systems did.

The way I see it is that they did have the money to make a powerhouse console but they weren't even sure if people would accept the motion controls in the first place.  Doing that was pretty risky enough.  If they went all out on the Wii and made it powerful with motion controls and it wasn't a success, it could have been a HUGE blow to Nintendo.