Sorry, but I just don't see that idea being feasible or beneficial to video gaming in any way.
Ian, you're quick to state that modern video gamers have never lived without the internet, but you underestimate how much of the youthful audience has never had a meaningful connection with that platform. I talk to kids every day that aren't allowed on the internet or even given the ability to use Streetpass because of parental controls. Local multiplayer is a thing, but Nintendo focused too much on complex uses for it rather than simplified ideas. They thought that the Wii userbase would have "grown up" by now and adopted a more complex state of mind, but it turns out, the audience that grew up on the Wii, and every subsequent generation prior, don't care about that stuff. That's where the bad sales come from, not kids.