I agree. Third Party support is important and AAA western games need to be at least technically feasible.
I´ve been thinking a lot about this recently. At first I asked myself why did Nintendo chose the hybrid route?
The simple answer is because they are not able to support their handheld and home consoles at the time. But they could have build 2 distinct devices (NX console and NX handheld) that use the same architecture and all Nintendo first party games would be available on both systems.
Now let´s go one step further. Why is the rumored handheld part of the hybrid so powerful? Why is there a clear departure from the usual pattern? Nintendo always used cheap parts and the handheld was never about strong hardware power but this time it´s the most ambitious hardware Nintendo has ever used in a handheld by far.
The reason is the NX hybrid does everything what a traditional console does (at a lower console performance level). It will not only run Nintendo console games but AAA western games aswell. Nintendo knows they stil have a huge console audience and therefore the NX has to be an appealing console aswell. I doubt they will abandon their console userbase.
IMO they decided to make a hybrid because they were able to fulfill the following goals.
1) Console games run on the handheld at a respectable performance.
2) Console part of the NX is not too limited because it has mobile parts and stil appeals to the console audience.
3) Third party games run on the handheld and while docked.
I was too late to say something similar.
I'm trying to remember from the 3DS and Wii U gen if Iwata said anything about what anyone should have observed about these two hardware.
They would have noticed that their software was converging on the same path. You have Mario Kart 7 and 8, Super Mario 3D Land and World, New Super Mario Bros 2 and U, Super Smash Bros for 3DS and Wii U.
What's the point of making two of the same game? 3DS pretty much ended up cannibalising Wii U sales because people were content with the 3DS library.
So in that sense, why are they making a hybrid? Well, think about it. If they decided to make a handheld that can be as powerful as a Wii U, they wouldn't go ahead and make a home console as powerful as a PS4 Neo. They would just end up with the same trouble as before.
Why make a hybrid instead of handheld and home console? If they engineer something that can do both, then they can release cheaper handhelds and cheaper consoles down the line for multiple form factors using the hybrid as a base for those people that don't want a hybrid.
Why would they do that? Because it was the easiest solution to go with when you want to converge your software lineup. Why engineer a seperate handheld and console that will probably have say... an ARM CPU/DMP GPU in the handheld and a AMD x86 CPU and GPU in the home console? That just means more expenses for having to do R&D, engineering the design, having to make multiple contracts for internals, having to manufacture 2 completely different devices with nothing in common.
Seriously, who would think to do that, instead of just doing a hybrid first, then make multiple form factors later that are based off the same thing?