[axian]

Same was said about Sega. Controlling hardware consoles and nurturing brand new ecosystems is no longer a winning proposition in today's market. There's too much competition and title lifespans are shorter. By the time Nintendo releases a new gaming console it's already obsolete. They need to ship games, not cling to outdated models.

[ansy]

Are you saying Sega is a model for success? The same Sega that was so bankrupt after going software only that it was bought by a pachinko machine company (Sammy) that eventually gutted the game development teams to right the sinking ship? That Sega? I can't tell if your comment is meant to be sarcastic.

Nintendo needs to be an Apple (which it arguably already is), not a Sega. Keep the hardware software vertical integration. It's Nintendo's most valuable asset.

This is a Michael Dell "sell Apple and return the money to the investors" moment. Nintendo isn't the most profitable company in the world for a quarter and it's time to give up and start share cropping? Ridiculous.

[sandGorgon]

this is a solved problem - the PCIe interconnect for desktop graphics and MxM for laptop graphics give an extremely tested and viable way to upgrade graphics cards. Hell, even the latest Sony Vaio Z comes with an external graphics card (http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/sony-vaio-z-with-external-graph...)

It is completely viable to create an upgradable platform that does not obsolete itself by the time it is released - the problem is not technology itself, it is the console manufacturer management notion that it is a good idea to have planned obsoletion every 3 years or so to get people to buy new hardware.

Give me an upgradeable PS3 with an SSD and Steam (rather than the 10 times slower Bluray) - and tell me that it wont kill desktop gaming.

Nintendo, MS and Sony will be killed by mobile gaming - the latest Kal El pre-production silicon has a 12-core GPU and a 4-core CPU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBvaDtshLY8&feature=playe...

Just a matter of time before Crysis 2 works on your big screen TV through mini HDMI - what remains to be figured out are the controllers

[illumin8]

It won't kill desktop gaming. Upgradeable consoles have been tried before and they don't work. When only a percentage of your customers upgrade you just fragmented your market. Can you imagine how difficult it would be to buy PS3 games if you had to check the box to see which of 3 different graphics cards were supported?

[sandGorgon]

this is accepted practice. All games come with an indication of minimum system recommendations ("nvidia 9800 or greater").

Customers already accept that they cannot play certain games (Crysis?) if their system is not upto mark. Windows 7 has the notion of a graphics "score" as well to figure out whether to turn on Aero.

The only reason why this is not done is forced obsoletion - the customer behavior has existed for a decade or more.

[etha]

Actually, Nintendo's old cartridge-based games already did this to some extent. You were simply plugging in a circuit board, which could, and often did have additional processors, memory, etc on it.

[illumin8]

Usually they didn't. Zelda was the first NES cartridge with battery backed memory for save games, which was unique at the time, but all games still had to run on the 6502 processor.

[foobarbazetc]

Well, that's total crap.

The Wii, X360 and the PS3 have been around for 5+ years, and will be around for at least 1-2 more. They've all sold a crapload of units. Remember all those articles about Nintendo selling a bazillion Wiis? They made truckloads of money.

Obsolete in 5-7 years is a pretty good product life time.