The CPU in these things aren't really all that powerful. It's certainly better than a Raspberry Pi, but then it costs 15x as much. I don't know if they're adequ

The CPU in these things aren't really all that powerful. It's certainly better than a Raspberry Pi, but then it costs 15x as much. I don't know if they're adequate for Dolphin, but when most people talk about gaming on the NUC, they're talking about Steam in-home streaming (which works spectacularly on the NUC, btw). The NUC makes a great HTPC overall though; you can even VESA mount it so instead of sticking it under the TV, you just stick it behind the TV.