3rd Party ports that the XBone and PS4 are getting won't save the console either. People who want to play those games probably already have those systems. Nintendo needs a system devs are willing to make exclusives for; good exclusives, not the crap we got on Wii. It's gotta have a hook that makes people want to try it and that games can deliver on.
That is a very narrow minded view, seriously. Nintendo NEEDS those games in addition to any true exclusives they can get or else they are not going to make it. Sure a lot of people already have those machines, but a console generation can last up to ten years, there is nothing that says every single person that is going to buy an Xbox One or a PS4 already has or that every single person planning on it won't change their mind if Nintendo actually offers a true, viable, alternative. Seriously your way of thinking is the utter nonsense that has gotten Nintendo into this mess of trying too hard to be too different.
Nintendo has not made a console truly on even footing with their competition and given it the support it needs since the SNES, there is nothing to say if they did it again they couldn't be that successful especially with a sea of people buying PS4 just because they know Nintendo won't do just that. Also coming a year or two behind won't be the end of the world especially if it is B/C because that gives it a little bit to tide some people over while they make the transition and a HUGE Zelda at launch could be just the game to sway people if the console is actually capable of running the exact same games, with enhancements in some cases hopefully, in addition to exclusives.
Nintendo doesn't have the mindshare that it used to. It's past two consoles are looked at as a casual machine and a failure, respectively. Buying a new Nintendo console is almost a risk to the consumer at this point. I'm not saying Nintendo
shouldn't get those ports, but those games coupled with another New Super Mario Bros, a barely iterative Mario Kart, and the mere promise of a new Zelda isn't going to win people over. Especially if those games that really make the system (Splatoon, Smash, XCX) are few and far between. Now, if Nintendo had a system where those ports could play or look better and sit alongside great Nintendo games, then they'd have something.
The console generation has already started and sales are slowing. If you think tonnes of people will buy a Nintendo system just for the first party exclusives, then you're wrong. The Wii U shows that. If you think people who don't own an XBone or PS4 could be easily swayed, you'd also have another thing coming. Those systems already have install bases, the NX would be starting from scratch. Those systems will already have the 3rd party games (both released and in development). Further, those systems are also going to be cheaper than a new-to-the-market console. It's gotta have something that makes it stand out, whether it's a controller or just software design that addresses the short comings of the other consoles
The 3rd party ports are minimum requirement, sure. But I don't think Nintendo gets away with a by-the-books console on the same level as the PS4. That console already exists. It's the PS4.
I don't know why we're arguing about power and ports when we all know the NX is a handheld.
Good point.