Here's a question for you, would actually like everyone in this thread to chime in if they feel like it:
Bearing in mind that Nintendo's entire existence is video games and they'd be insane to do what MS and Sony did with the last generation (600 dollar consoles with a monster operating loss)
What do YOU think they should be aiming for, cost and performance wise?
Personally the best case scenario I foresee is a .5X generation leapfrog at a $350 price point, and a slight loss(say 40-50 dollars at most.)
If hardware makers went with what gaffers seem to be expecting, they would end up bankrupting the entire industry and/or turning studios into slave labor camps. The games themselves wouldn't be any better for it either, just prettier. Publishers, who are already extremely risk-averse as it is, would avoid unique, genre-defying games like the plague.
Knowing that Nintendo is the only purely gaming company left making consoles, it seems quite obvious that they should only do what is good for the industry as a whole. Forcing studios to raise the bar much higher than it already is would be akin to assisted suicide, as revenues would not be able to match budgets for the vast majority of projects. They would have to raise game prices to NeoGeo levels, and we all know how well that went.
This obsession with graphics is like the movie industry's obsession with CGI effects. The movies aren't any better because of CGI, just more expensive and prettier. In fact, since studios are plunking down so much cash for these blockbusters, they need to make sure the scripts are as dumbed-down as possible to reach the largest audience so they can at least break even. With few exceptions (ie, previously established franchises and Pixar), the average IQ required to appreciate a particular blockbuster tends to go down with to the budget.
The same thing is happening with games - it's more of the same big titles year after year, and they've traded challenge for graphics. The industry is stagnating because of this; just a cursory glance of NPD figures for the past 3 years makes it evident. Even as the economy has gotten better, game sales are declining. People are moving on to other forms of entertainment/time-wasting.
So as far as what Nintendo should do, they should release a console that can play 3rd party games and has a built-in way to make them all feel fresh again. That's what they did. Beyond that, I really don't give a rat's ass. I'm a 3D artist and heaps of polygons and textures do nothing for me. Games do. When it comes down to it, and I'm in the "zone" playing a game, I'm not counting pixels or examining textures. I'm playing the game. Minecraft is popular for a reason.
