I feel like no one really thinks of this. I wonder if this is where the mobile game hate comes from.
It's the faux enthusiast perspective of chasing the norm as established by the old pattern of ever increasing hardware specifications and iterations of console generations. It's what most "gamers" are used to, and also to a certain extent what they like: evolving processing technology for fancy graphics and bigger games. And I mean, I'm one of them too, otherwise I wouldn't be ever chasing those new GPUs and monitor tech for my PC.
But it's an outdated, short sighted perspective of a broad industry that hasn't exclusively operated on this wavelength for a long time now. It's a perspective that is somewhat tainted by the cynical, exclusionary attitude towards "non-games" and "mobile games" as if they don't fit under the same umbrella as your Akrhams, GTAs, Elder Scrolls, Halos, and whatnot.
Fact of the matter is that there are no and have never been any rules to software and hardware and what constitutes as a market and success within those markets. There are obviously lessons to be learned and established patterns of market viability that shouldn't be ignored (the Wii U is an excellent example of a colossal fuckup in this area).
But the fact of the matter is that many people mistaken their
wants for what
should be. People here, and elsewhere, want a Nintendo platform that follows the rules and patterns of Sony and Microsoft, and the Nintendo circa GameCube, where a predicable leap in hardware power is presented identical to competitors while approaching the exact same market with little difference other than banking on Nintendo branded software to differentiate. Reality:
Nintendo bowed out of this race ten years ago and have routinely expressed no interest of rejoining.
As someone who fucking loves cutting edge tech and what it can do for software I wouldn't personally say no to a Nintendo console that competes with Sony/Microsoft, and what that would mean for the Nintendo software I love. But it's
not going to happen and just because
I want it does not mean
it has to happen. Video gaming software as a market and industry cannot and will not survive on being a niche, one dimensional hardware race where everybody runs the same race. Apple/Android have already proven this isn't necessary. Hell
Nintendo proved this with the Wii. Ya'll may not like it and it may not be the product you want. It may not herald in success for Nintendo because what matters most is the specifics not just simple descriptions of a vague direction. But it is what it is, and it's been long time to get the fuck over it. Doubly so if you're interested in Nintendo software but keep
waiting for them to return to a hardware race they abandoned a decade ago.