Suck that the online is garbage.
Nintendo needs to make a decision. Either they need to be a kid-friendly console manufacturer or they need to go up against Playstation and Xbox. You can't have both. So they have neither. Nintendos systems have been vastly inferior technology and power-wise and they really haven't had a lot of really great games either. So why buy their systems?
Nintendo doesn't want to compete. That's why they released their "next gen" console earlier than Sony and Microsoft. In fact, Reggie Fils Aime implied that they cared not to. Let's be honest, I don't think they can compete anymore because they want to remain family friendly and refuse to sell consoles at the price of their competitors. I don't understand what the market is like in Japan, but in my opinion, people end up paying hundreds of dollars for PS and Xbox anyway. Why not for a great Nintendo console?Nintendo needs to make a decision. Either they need to be a kid-friendly console manufacturer or they need to go up against Playstation and Xbox. You can't have both. So they have neither. Nintendos systems have been vastly inferior technology and power-wise and they really haven't had a lot of really great games either. So why buy their systems?
Because Nintendo also makes Games and they're usually pretty awesome.
Anything more powerful than the Xbox or the Playstation already exists and it's called a computer.
Despite what I think of their "innovations", Nintendo always takes risks; it's kinda their thing at this point. That explains the Wii, WiiU, and now the Switch, but I don't think it's so much a matter of "risks for risk sake" but whether or not it works. It's too early to say what will come of the Switch but, lately, I think they just lack a positive direction for them to move in. The Switch is an amalgam of something that worked, the Wii, and something that didn't work, the WiiU, and it's Nintendo looking to tap into that zeitgeist that the Wii managed to tap in to but, again, I feel that it's missing that focus that drove the success behind the Wii (which was due solely to one man) and it was that everybody should be able to play it, "Moms should like it". I don't think I can say it as well as this video though, which was a tribute to Satoru Iwata.
From a market standpoint, it isn't wise to go after just the hardcore niche because that's not enough to keep the business afloat. They're good for the support but all hardcore gamers started off as casual gamers at one point and that makes the casual crowd a lot more appealing. I don't think that means to give up that hardcore crowd completely, there should be games that challenge and satiate that crowd and to help bring some of the casual crowd further up the food chain, but whether or not hitting that balance with the Switch remains to be seen.