Topic: What hardware innovation do you want to see in Nintendo's next home console?

Im not sure a handheld will be the new controller, i think it will be linked in some way but im sure the new console will have its own new unique control pad. The cost of it will be ridiculous if we are made to by a system that comes with a seperate handheld! Not everyone wants to play on the go so it would make it a bad choice.
Just make it a powerful console we can all play the very best 3rd and 1st party games and the machines a winner. Simple.

I didn't say the handheld should be the controller, just that it could have the same uses the current gamepad has (off-tv, second screen, touch controls, camera...), when paired to the home console. There should be no gamepad by default, it should be an option, and for what it costs, almost as much as a 3DS if I'm not wrong, then it makes sense that the handheld becomes the gamepad. Again, only as an option. I believe the home console should be packed with a "normal" Pro controller (hopefully a little "more pro" this time, with analog triggers) and be cheaper (or cost the same but be more powerful).

Well firstly nothing's "future proof", so getting that well out of the way. Also the PS4 and XBOne can barely manage 1080p 60fps with what are effectively ports of 360/PS3 games. They'll look positively aneimic towards the end of this console generation or when people start getting 4K sets. There is no gaming machine on that market that will serve you until the end of time.

You can't "win" the power race and if you try all but the most dedicated will run screaming when they see the price. The best you can do is push it to a point where people are happy with the inevitable compromise. For the games Nintendo is making? They've chosen the right level of power IMO. My suspicion is that even if it was the most powerful platform on the market they'd still have the same "image problem".... and to make things worse their games wouldn't be that much better for it.

Well yeah, both extremes are off the mark. Chasing horsepower and thinking that'll solve everything will only get you so far but there's also a point where you need to be at least that powerful. I reckon at this point that window of "this is acceptable" is being able to produce interesting ideas with a decent level of fidelity at least at 720p 30fps and ideally upto 1080p 60fps. All three platforms can do that.

In five years time? The world will have moved on, tech will have moved on. Someone will be able to make a machine that run games at 1080p 60fps and upto 4K fairly reliably and at a price and form that people are happy to put under their TV. At that point maybe Nintendo comes out with something "just above PS4" level that can do their ideas at 1080p reliably, at a lower price and in a tiny footprint. And I suspect there'll still be a market for that.

I would love the see a handheld and homeconsole fused together. Though it should be possible to own only one of them.

@skywake

I really don't think your argument about profits is enough to justify digital over physical media. People sell cars, houses, laptops, shoes, books, all of them used, and manufacturers don't get any profits from that. Why should games be any different? The inconvenience of not being able to return a game that you don't like trumps any potential benefits. iKhan pretty much covered all of the cons, and the only real pro that I can see is that you don't have to change the disc if you want to play a different game. But if you're too lazy to get up and change a disc, I think you have bigger problems than digital v physical

As far as the topic, I really want Nintendo to at least get in the ball park of what the other consoles are doing, in terms of hardware performance. They don't have to be the most powerful, in fact, they can be the least, but at least be close enough that games can be ported with more ease.

Also, get with the online integration program. First, I should be able to access the exact same Nintendo Network account on my 3DS as my Wii U. Miiverse, my VC account, everything should be integrated. If I download a NES game on 4DS, I should be able to get it on my Wii 3. The fact that I have Super Mario Kart on my Wii, but I have to readownload it and PAY for it again, if I want it on my Wii U is unacceptable.

We should have groups, akin to XBL Parties, where I can join up with my friends and form a group that goes on Mario Kart and plays together. I shouldn't have to "get lucky" to join my friend's game. I should be able to join games straight from the home screen as well. And chatting ... just because Nintendo wants to make an experience people of all ages can enjoy (something I understand and support) shouldn't mean older, more mature, gamers should be punished. If I want to, I should be able to chat with my friends online, period. If parents don't want their kids chatting, that's what parental controls are for. But I shouldn't have my experience hampered because of it.

Finally, this is something extra, that isn't necessary, but would be nice: make a deal with Apple to allow FaceTime on the console. With Microsoft owning Skype, there isn't a universal video chat service that Nintendo has, and it would be cool to be able to chat with my parents, sister, or friends on FaceTime straight from the comfort of my living room on my big TV.

As far as the controllers, I'm on the fence. On the one hand, the Wii Remote was great, but it was also awful. Games like FPSs and certain sports games really benefited from it, but games like Skyward Sword were awful. The technology wasn't there for 1:1 control, and the game suffered a lot because of it. Motion controls ruined that game, especially flying. Whoever thought that tilting the controller to fly was the best, most innovative and immersive way to control the bird is an idiot.

On the other other hand, I've been playing Deus Ex: HR for Wii U, and that game does Gamepad right. That's exactly how the Gamepad should be used. No other game that I own has done the Gamepad right. I think the Gamepad is a good idea, but no one uses it right, and so it has become a pain and a hassle instead of a cool new way to play. Because it can be, as evidenced by Deus Ex. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind having a traditional controller that has motion built in.

4 gamepads running at 60fps. Get a good FPS and it's goldeneye fun all over again, but without the screen watching

Well my counter argument would be with the things you mentioned only books are even close to being in the same category as games. And like it or not books are not only moving in that direction but they have always been either something you keep on display or something that's a free public service. The only exception is text books and as an ex-UNI student frankly I wouldn't be at all upset if the physical model that exists now was completely torn a new one. So as the only comparable thing you brought up its not a very good counter-example.

As for the other things well shoes and laptops aren't very good used at all. By the time they get to the stage where people are willing to sell them they're effectively valueless. So that in no-way kills the market in the same way that used games do. Because nobody wants them used even when they're available. The houses and cars thing? Well cars maybe but even then it's still in the manufacturer's interest to keep it on the roads. They make cash from parts and servicing AND it's often their own dealers re-selling it anyways.

As for houses well, not at all in the same league. Paying the original builder is only a fraction of it, most of the cost is in the land. Odds are when you buy the house you pay some tax on that purchase and then you pay rates. Even more damning for this argument that "it's the same as games" is the fact that more often than not the previous owner heavily contributed to maintaining the value of the property. So the used property market isn't analogous at all, you're literally paying the equivalent of "the developers" when you buy used.