"I'd get excited about a connected controller glove" It's called a Power Glove. A 6 inch screen would be unlikely, but a 3-4 inch screen? Theoretical designs place the screen in the middle plastic, which would keep it out ot the way and still allow a classic console control design. A lot of people compare this to Dreamcast's VM, but the VM wasn't a touchscreen and was very low bit. What people need to think is the lower half of a DS. DS allows for more innovative devs to utilize some touch controls while still leaving standard controls available. It's worked very well for them, so why not adapt it to their main console? I don't think they'd be fully willing to ditch the WiiMote however, but they could keep that basic functionality by putting the same sensor port on the new system. Like anyone who's ever used a WiiMote, I want a MORE PRECISE WiiMote. It might actually be fun if it worked accurately. They could always do something truly different and just stop bundling controllers with the system. Leave people the option of using a cheap basic controller, a touch screen controller, or a WiiMote, depending on their gaming preference, and save them the price difference.
While I agree that Wii has to support 1080p for it's games, I don't believe it needs to sign any solid deals with providers and become a media player system like XBox/Sony. Nintendo has always stuck by it's "gaming only" style, and it's about the only console that still sticks to this philosophy. We don't need prices being driven up from trying to be a media system, let the others do that. Nintendo's done well just running it's games. I mean, what isn't running Netflix and Hulu+ anymore? I don't really need to pay extra for functions I already have.
A lot of people say that releasing their system earlier than the competition would put them at a disadvantage. Keep in mind though that having the most powerful system on the block, even for a short period, could pull some developers back into their corner. Once they're back, they might realize they'd rather stay. Catching devs is also about creating a platform that's easy to develop for, but this may not happen since easy to dev systems are often easy to hack systems and Nintendo seems to be getting fed up with piracy. I tend to wonder if it's worth bringing them back however, with the increasing low quality that 3rd parties bring. It seems like more of them would prefer to just up their graphics and toss the same garbage out rather than improve their gameplay with the tools given.
I've actually been somewhat surprised that Nintendo HASN'T done more with using the DS and Wii together, historically they've already dabbled in it on previous systems. I wouldn't call it necessary though. The only thing that seems necessary on that front is the same account between systems for their DLC games, those should be shared between the handheld and the console.
One thing you didn't touch on that's on a lot of people's mind is the distribution of games. If they don't put out a media player system, they don't need a bluray player, but they'd likely need a format larger than a normal DL-DVD, a few Wii games do actually push up to 8GB so that won't do for next gen. They could try finding a cheap flash memory source, which would allow them to use cartridges more along DS sizes, or they could switch back to a proprietary format, which would help deter piracy. GC games were pirated much less than Wii games due to the difficulty of getting the proper burner. Really though, I still think the best option for consoles at this point is downloadable games. If they used an account/license method like Steam, they could both make pirating difficult and lower the need for large HDs since you could download and delete as needed. I know that makes people without credit cards and with slow connections cringe, so they would still need a physical format as well, but let's face it, that method has gone very well for the PC industry. It could even help fight off Apple/Android by using the friendly and convenient download and play method.
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