Murmurs of approval from the gaming press suggest that Nintendo's E3 showing was well received, but I stand by my assertion that they simply haven't and aren't doing enough to reverse the fortunes of the Wii U, which is fast approaching a point of titanic-level catastrophe.
It's easy to see where the company went wrong. The Wii U's asking price at launch was simply too high at a time when vastly more powerful hardware was just around the corner. Maybe Nintendo thought the presence of the touchscreen GamePad as a pack-in would add enough value to justify such an approach, but whatever the reason for it, the high price of entry has lead to sluggish sales and a minuscule userbase for which it's unprofitable for third parties to develop games. Furthermore, the aforementioned GamePad is still yet to justify its existence, as Nintendo and the few others that remain struggle to find worthwhile applications for it.
Microsoft and Sony both know their target audience pretty well, hence the differences between the Xbox One and Playstation 4 are arguably fairly minimal. The pad 'n TV experience is here to stay, and will continue relegating such curiosities such as Kinect, VR and motion controls to gaming's bleeding edge peripheries for the foreseeable future. Nintendo may have a winner on their hands next generation if they acknowledge this, refrain from forcing alternative input methods on a reluctant fanbase and commit fully to last generation fundamentals such as voice chat, achievements and the digital economy.
Going for a Gamecube-style purity of form with a console that does not deviate too heavily from the newly established industry standards in terms of architecture, network infrastructure and input method would allow Nintendo to go truly toe-to-toe with Microsoft and Sony. In a three way battle for the living room in which the only real differentiation between consoles is first party exclusives, Nintendo are likely to do well. If next time around the company can offer gamers big name multi-platform releases on equal terms to their competitors in addition to beloved in-house franchises, they'll be in a very strong position indeed.
Of course, tempting back disenfranchised mega-publishers such as EA, Activision or Ubisoft while any such console is in its planning stages will be key. At that point, the company will only have suppositions and projections to use as persuasive tools, but I think prospective supporters would quickly see that a Nintendo take on the Xbox/Playstation paradigm has enormous potential, given that it would play host to possibly the most valuable IP portfolio in gaming. The Wii U squandered that advantage, but a more competitive console, in specifications and pricing terms, could turn it into a real deal breaker.
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