I hate to say it, N5 will be backwards compatible

[gekko]

From EGM:

"Holy hot tamales - have you seen the new Legend of Zelda for GameCube yet? This baby looks good enough for the next wave of consoles. I can assure you it ain't but that doesn't necessarily mean you can't play the game on Nintendo's future system. That's right, dudes and dudettes; I've gotten wind that the company's next console will also run GameCube software. Remember that you read it here first..."

Bad choice. Very bad choice. Here's why:

Storage medium
The mini-discs are cool and all, but it's about time they take a dump. Sure you can make a disc that size with a larger storage medium, but you can also take an already existing storage medium (like HD-DVDs) and it'll be cheaper, since it's massed produced. On top of that, no DVD playback again? Fine with me, it's not DVDs I think they should add, but HD-DVD support. High licensing costs for a technology that hasn't been adopted, I agree. If I were Nintendo, I'd include a HD-DVD lens that's backwards compatible, allowing developers to put games on regular DVDs, but they don't hesitate to use more room and put it on an HD-DVD. More importantly, it allows Nintendo to include DVD playback, and in a few years, when HD-DVD begins to start popping out, you can sell an upgrade which include the licensing costs (like Xbox's DVD kit). Now your 2-3 year old system is playing the latest and greatest technology has to offer. Plus, some people love custom soundtracks. The option is always nice.

Saved games
I'd rather not see the same memory cards used, not because of the cards themselves, but because I hate the way the games are saved. I like what Microsoft did, where all the files for the game were grouped together. This way I don't see 30 different files for the same game. I have a memory card full of Monkey Ball replays, and it makes up a million files. I have a ****load of Crazy Taxi 3 replays too, and it's all one file and nicely organized. As for the storage, I'd like to see an easily removable HD, like one where you can slide it in from the back. That way when your system breaks, you can keep the saved games. I am also praying for small memory card slots, like SD cards. Something hidden and out of the way.

Universal Settings
Anyone who plays games on a widescreen HDTV with 5.1 setup can come to love Xbox's universal settings. With Gamecube, I need to go into each game and select 16:9, select progressive scan, and select Dolby. With Xbox, it knows I use 16:9, 480p, 720p, 1080i, and I have Dolby Digital and DTS. I just turn on the game and go. And on a side note, I'm against forcing developers to do things, but if next generation someone like Microsoft forced developers to have 16:9 support, I would be all for it.