Look DCK i dont want to sound like i am flaming here cause i am not. also i respect you for your honesty.
but firstly you say nintendo were against online play last gen. they were right. Nintendo said that it was the wrong time for console online. how long has it taken for live to really take off. i would say only in the last year, the end of the current gen. and the penetration rate of Live is not that high even now. defo not as high as WIFI.
The Disc thing. maybe nintendo were a bit late on that boat but there were an unhealthy number of PSones that were chiped playing pirated games. (i beleive that is the real reason sony are the number 1 today but i digress).
for all those "failures" look at the sucesses. Shoulder buttons, analog true 3D gaming. nintendo know what they are doing and lets face it these specs are hardly "official" let alone trustworthy.
lets wait and see we will all be pleasently surprised i am sure.