Game

[Borys]

`

[brob]

[bork]

They can't force Iwata out?  Get rid of the guy already.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

To be fair, I'm not sure what Nintendo can do to turn things around.  This holiday proved that a new 3D Mario is no longer a big enough draw.  3D Mario is kind of their trump card and now that that doesn't mean shit to Americans and Europeans, I'm not sure what else they have left.  I fully expect more Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon games to get pumped out as a response but they have a significant challenge on their hands.  Saying "please understand" isn't going to work anymore (not that it ever has).  The bullshit and hubris of "Nintendo Magic" and "Nintendo Tax" is done.

[Cerveza mas fina]

But what can Nintendo do?

1. It's too late to start making new games for Wii U that could turn it around, cause games have a 2/4 year dev time at least
2. Dropping the price will bleed them to death due to the stupid pad, even then they are lucky to do GCN numbers
3. 3rd parties have already abandoned the Wii U and have moved to next gen

[magus]

I will buy a Wii U for $99/ E99. Drop the fucking price, Iwata.

please ban borys for price drop begging

[radioheadrule83]

The actual premise of the console isn't bad: a dual screen console, with its own social network, capable of serving genres like art and touch based games, that can also serve as a powerful home-handheld when the TV is in use. Its the balance of components; favouring backwards compatibility and the associated compromises and costs. Its all made Wii U a much more difficult adventure than it should have been. It doesn't help that it was about 2 years late either. If they'd gotten the balance of power right, there'd be more third party content; if they'd gotten the price right, it'd be easier to sell. Having said that, the marketing for what they've actually made could be a shit-tonne better. In some areas it is practically non-existent, and where it DOES exist, the messaging is confused or preaching to the choir. Not all of this is Iwata's fault. There are deficiencies in Nintendo's HW contracting (by which I mean, they're not able to produce their own components like Sony, and don't seem as able to strike good deals), their US and EU subsidiaries' distribution channels are wavering, and they have problems with their advertising agencies. If he's not going to take a bow and exit stage-left himself, he needs to make sure that other people do.

Other companies are using IOS/Android for companion apps, and I think Nintendo should too. If / when PS360 HW numbers begin to drop off they need to treat that like an opportunity. If it means dropping the price again, or coming up with some other novel sales scheme, then they need to do that. Their next key software announcements (NDs) and E3 will be telling as to how far they're prepared to go.

[radioheadrule83]

Nope. The consoles without any of that outsold it in two months and it's coming off one of the best selling consoles of all time, so that argument doesn't work anymore 

The argument I'm making isn't really an argument, its more a statement of fact.

The premise is fine, but in terms of power level and price - its positioned horribly between PS3 and 360 - which are still selling well - and next gen machines, which appear to be viewed as a better investment. They can't fix the power, they have to fix the marketing, the price and what offerings are available. And thanks to fucking it up so badly to begin with, they can't rely on any third parties to help them do that unless they're willing to sign some big cheques.

[bachikarn]

I think I read that after Yamauchi retired they changed their executive structure significantly. The President wouldn't have so much power and most of the decisions would be made by the board of directors. If so, Iwata leaving wouldn't do much. Maybe Oscar can shed light into the situation.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Blaming it on marketing is old and tired.  The fact that Nintendo fans use it unironically is pretty sad to be honest.  It's pretty much the first excuse everyone throws out when their console, handheld, or game of preference doesn't do as well as it hoped.

The bottom line is that consumers don't see Wii U as a good value.  For $100 more, you can get a PS4, which is a huge gulf in terms of power, features, and potential.  Or you can spend $100 less to get a 360 or a PS3, which will let you have access to a huge library for dirt cheap.  Going to amazon.com and entering in "ps3 games", the first page is full of games that are $10-20.  You can get 5-10 good games plus a PS3 for the cost of a Wii U.  Or for $250 you can get a PS3 with THE CITIZEN KANE OF GAMES and 3-5 more cheap games for the cost of a Wii U.  Considering the graphics fidelity and considering that at this point the 2014 PS3 release schedule is pretty decent, the Wii U is a bum deal unless you love Nintendo games.  As you can see by the Top 10 for December, there was nary a Nintendo published game; consumers are moving on, leaving Nintendo behind.

The best way to turn Wii U around is to make it a better deal.  That means dropping the price AND making more games for it.  Nintendo is going to really have to step it up and getting more games out there.  That probably means farming their IPs out but they do that anyway.  They really should make a Mario 64 HD, they could probably get a couple million sales out of it.  I know Nintendo wants to rest on their laurels and hope Wii Party U accumulates 10 million sales instead of releasing five games that sell two million a piece but they don't have that luxury here.  They're going to need to push more software units by making more games.

[radioheadrule83]

It's dead, move on. The 3DS is awesome so play that.

If Nintendo thought along those lines themselves, the 3DS would still suck.
The Wii U is a better, more enjoyable machine in every way aside from the games library edit: and cost of entry of course. I don't really care if it does sub Gamecube numbers as long as good games come out for it, but it would be nice if they were able to salvage something more.

[ToxicAdam]

It will be interesting to see just what Nintendo does in response to 2013. It's pretty obvious the company was living in a serious state of delusion given their forecasts for that year (100 billion yen profit and 9 million consoles sold).

The best they can hope for is to keep aggressively adding games to their lineup and hope that it will create enough of 'a tipping point' in the consumer's mind that it's a seen as a good value as a second console.

Ditching the Wii U now would be a huge mistake.

[Great Rumbler]

Nintendo should fire Iwata and then hire Steve Ballmer.

[thisismyusername]

The premise is fine, but in terms of power level and price - its positioned horribly between PS3 and 360 - which are still selling well - and next gen machines, which appear to be viewed as a better investment. They can't fix the power, they have to fix the marketing, the price and what offerings are available. And thanks to fucking it up so badly to begin with, they can't rely on any third parties to help them do that unless they're willing to sign some big cheques.

"OH BOY! I CAN'T WAIT TO PLAY MARIO #20599023405834900598308 ON THE WII U!" 

(Radiohead: BUT THIRD PARTIES!)

Okay, let's play that game:

"OH BOY! I CAN'T WAIT TO PLAY BATTLEFIELD 5 ON WII U WITH 16-32 PLAYERS WHEN BATTLEFIELD 5 ON X-BOX U AND PS4 DOES 64!" 

"Fixing offerings" isn't going to help. Mario didn't help. Pumping out more of that/Nintendo first party isn't going to help. And even if they did bring third parties back () Nintendo fans like you won't buy that and anyone with a lick of common sense won't buy the Wii U version when the "next-gen" offering has more players, better textures, etc. going for it.

"Better marketing" is going to amount to the above sarcasm "OH BOYS" because again: Mario didn't help. Nintendo fans were touting that as the second coming of Jesus and the press liked it, but no one wanted to get a dead system for it.

Nintendo needs to admit they fucked up. They need to sack Iwata TODAY and get the R&D team to go to Sony/Microsoft's stores, buy their consoles and play those for a year while coasting on the 3DS's mild "success" and then rebuild their entire console infrastructure to meet the Sony/MS demands. Because, clearly, they didn't do that in the run up to launch (Eurogamer story here).

It's dead, move on. The 3DS is awesome so play that.

If Nintendo thought along those lines themselves, the 3DS would still suck.
The Wii U is a better, more enjoyable machine in every way aside from the games library edit: and cost of entry of course. I don't really care if it does sub Gamecube numbers as long as good games come out for it, but it would be nice if they were able to salvage something more.

3DS at least has "Nintendo dominance of the market" as a shield to hide behind while it floundered, plus it's "gimmick" could be ignored by the masses that didn't like it (see: me) while still having a functional "DS" successor otherwise--I'd buy a 2DS, meanwhile. Still haven't done that... need to do that... but nope. Not yet.-- Plus it doesn't need the online functions a "next-gen" console needs. It's nice, but it's a portable and that means it's going to go into areas where wifi may not be (on a camping trip, for instance) for short-bursts of playing before doing something else in those areas. So the 3DS also has the "not the same market" excuse that the Wii U doesn't in comparison to the PS360/PS4/Xbox.

Wii U doesn't have that excuse or shield. The Wii was a fluke after two luke-warm console generations. The 64 wasn't terrible, the Gamecube was kinda terrible but still sucessful. But the Wii U is tracking far behind that one[/i] to be chugging along on the train-tracks of success. It's derailed. Time to accept that, clean house, and rebuild the company if they want success in the console market.

[radioheadrule83]

You just want to draw more EA hateart.

hatEArt™

Selfishly speaking -- anything coming out on 3DS, I'd just rather have on Wii U now. I grudgingly used 3DS for AC and ALBW, but I'd much rather of played those things with better controls and bigger screen(s). Does anyone here actually travel with their 3DS? Work / bog breaks and commutes I understand, but I can't really do those.

[Tasty]

You were kidding yourself if you thought Iwata would go peacefully into that good night.

Hopefully he has a successor all picked out by now, though.

[Joe Molotov]

Can't wait for Donkey Kong: Frozen Jungle.

[Himu]

I think the best Nintendo can do is ride it out. Drop the price, make a cheap (comparitively) Zelda for it. Make only one as Wii U life cycle needs to be short and sweet. Keep supporting it by releasing new games to franchises.they havent touched in years.

In the mean time, go to the blackboard for new ips to fit the modern gaming fans taste. Release a few games like that (first person shooter, a take on indie games, an exploration RPG)  for their next system along with new 3d Mario, new Zelda at launch or launch window.

The next console should be ready before ps5 and nexbox. But it should be progressive. Go the fuck all out. It needs POWER to survive. More than that, it needs to be a tablet or tablet like. It needs to be touch screen. You should be able to take it anywhere. It should have its own store, or use Android os to have access to third party apps. It should come with usb and be able to install things like external hds and external disc drives. It should have controller support and come with its own controller as well as a dock to to help the system stand upright almost like Surface. It should come with technology that easily broadcasts to ones television. So they can play during the day and continue where they left off when they get home.

It should be both their new portable and new console in the same product. Every title should be digital and Nintendo should include and emulation for gb, gbc, gba, ds, and 3ds as well as nes, snes, n64, gc, and Wii U.

Price it at 300 - 500 dollars in different models and levels of power/hd size.

Desperate measures require desperate and different methods. Nintendo needs tk go balls out with their next system - portable or console. Doesn't matter how.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Nintendo needs to admit they fucked up. They need to sack Iwata TODAY and get the R&D team to go to Sony/Microsoft's stores, buy their consoles and play those for a year while coasting on the 3DS's mild "success" and then rebuild their entire console infrastructure to meet the Sony/MS demands. Because, clearly, they didn't do that in the run up to launch (Eurogamer story here).

 

[Himu]

One thing I hope everyone agrees on? Cool it on the Mario.

Nintendo also needs to expand outside of games like make a theme park some where to keep their brand relevant. The success of Disney is not putting all of their eggs in one basket. There hasn't been a new Mickey Mouse movie in what, decades?

[Eel O'Brian]

I'd imagine they're already hard at work on whatever a Nintendo version of a tablet is. Whether they do the smart thing and build up a curated Android app store ala Kindle, or just toss together another half-assed eShop with a handful of emulated GBA games and a bunch of wacky clock apps, is the question.  And I think everyone already knows the answer to that 

[Tasty]

It's not as simple as enabling Mario to move on a smartphone

Did you even like, read what you posted.

It'll probably be more shit like that official Pokemon app or whatever.

[Eel O'Brian]

it's not gonna be a game, it'll end up being some tamagotchi thing where you feed your mario or some such shit

[Stoney Mason]

The actual premise of the console isn't bad: a dual screen console, with its own social network, capable of serving genres like art and touch based games, that can also serve as a powerful home-handheld when the TV is in use. Its the balance of components; favouring backwards compatibility and the associated compromises and costs. Its all made Wii U a much more difficult adventure than it should have been. It doesn't help that it was about 2 years late either. If they'd gotten the balance of power right, there'd be more third party content; if they'd gotten the price right, it'd be easier to sell. Having said that, the marketing for what they've actually made could be a shit-tonne better. In some areas it is practically non-existent, and where it DOES exist, the messaging is confused or preaching to the choir. Not all of this is Iwata's fault. There are deficiencies in Nintendo's HW contracting (by which I mean, they're not able to produce their own components like Sony, and don't seem as able to strike good deals), their US and EU subsidiaries' distribution channels are wavering, and they have problems with their advertising agencies. If he's not going to take a bow and exit stage-left himself, he needs to make sure that other people do.

Other companies are using IOS/Android for companion apps, and I think Nintendo should too. If / when PS360 HW numbers begin to drop off they need to treat that like an opportunity. If it means dropping the price again, or coming up with some other novel sales scheme, then they need to do that. Their next key software announcements (NDs) and E3 will be telling as to how far they're prepared to go.

The actual console always seemed like a baffling and bad idea to me. It was a confusing mess of trying to leverage the original Wii but in the most confusing and lazy way possible. There was no real expansion on the original Wii idea. And the gamepad while I think its actually kind of cool is certainly not a mainstream solution in America. We have massive HDTV's that people play consoles on. The idea of suddenly playing on a gimped handheld tablet is not an appealing idea to the core gamer demo.

So that's the problem. The market has been changing for 20 years and Nintendo has always seemed to pretend they are impervious to these changes. So now they have a horrible reputation among the core demographic that currently constitutes gaming above the age of 15. They are viewed as baby's first console and then something you ditch. And the one really great idea they had with the original Wii has completely been usurped by the mobile/tablet market. And unlike the Wii they have proven they aren't a fluke and aren't going away.

They need a whole shitload of fresh thinking because what they are currently doing has no future.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Iwata is just repeating what Nintendo has been saying for a while now, that they want to drive consumer to their premium devices through mobile, not that they want to make mobile games.

This plan is fucking bonkers stupid, Wii U level stupid, never gonna work. No one will fucking buy a 299/199 console after playing some ios teaser, they will just play the next ios shit.

[radioheadrule83]

Unless they made actual saleable, marketable games out of their companion apps, it wouldn't really bring in any money and as you say it'd be difficult to transition people over from $1 apps into paying big money for a console. Maybe even impossible.

I don't think that's how other companies are leveraging mobile though... Sony allow PS classics on their own mobiles, both manufacturers have official apps that link to their online networks. Companion apps from third party publishers usually have some sort of 'hook', something to play, but they also unlock rewards or points that can only be used on the full product. If its that kind of stuff they're talking about, its not really a bad idea -- but I agree, its not something that will reverse a consoles fortunes or anything. Nobody buys an Xbox because they can look at their Live account on a phone. Games like Splinter Cell Blacklist (awesome) sold like shit despite having companion apps and decent marketing.

I think he's talking about beyond Wii U and 3DS personally, and rethinking the value proposition. The devices that are eating into home consoles and portables, chiefly the Nintendo devices, are expensive in terms of what they actually are -- but they're perceptually cheap to Joe Public, because its simply accepted that everyone has a phone or a tablet. People consider taking a contract for one of them to be a natural thing; they happily buy them for their kids, and its as though they believe their kids 'need' them.

I don't think Nintendo are really in a place where they can, say, offer people the hardware in exchange for subscription to a contract -- or even in a place where people would buy a Nintendo branded smart-device. However, if all of this is making them reconsider the licensing and pricing structure that they have presided over of their own volition since the 80s, then that might actually be a good thing. The AAA market is a shark tank of insane budgets and ridiculous expectations - I believe people will still buy fun, as long as it comes at the right price -- and unfortunately, price has been a barrier of entry to games for a long time. If it means they might find the idea of streaming services or Nintendo licensed third party devices more attractive, then maybe that would be good too. IF it means they are just wholly evaluating whether they can continue to be a hardware manufacturer that takes in royalties, then I think that really portends quite seriously that software quality and quantity from Nintendo is going to be in serious jeopardy from now on. Which as a fan, is worrying.

[Bebpo]

Don't really care either way if Nintendo reforms or fails, they're always going to be doing their own thing and eventually I'll always pick up their systems for their handful of good games.

But it's too bad he's staying because the internet drama if he left/got kicked would've been great to watch unfold.

[Huff]

I dont think nintendo can get out of this downward spiral, so it really doesn't matter who is in charge of the ship

[ToxicAdam]

Nintendo's game is cashing in on people's nostalgia.

Nintendo could easily cobble together a CCG with all their properties and clean up on the mobile side. Very little in the way of investment and instantly profitable.

But they will never do it, because they still have some weird 'pride' that prohibits them from properly licensing/using their properties in an effective way.  They've left billions of yen 'on the table' by not creating their own sandbox game or pushing for a Pokemon MMO. The ship has probably sailed on those ideas.

 

[Himu]

The lack of sandbox game and pokemon mmo were just utter waste of opportunities.

[Stoney Mason]

Nintendo's game is cashing in on people's nostalgia.

Nintendo could easily cobble together a CCG with all their properties and clean up on the mobile side. Very little in the way of investment and instantly profitable.

But they will never do it, because they still have some weird 'pride' that inhibits them from properly licensing/using their properties in an effective way.  They've left billions of yen 'on the table' by not creating their own sandbox game or pushing for a Pokemon MMO. The ship has probably sailed on those ideas.

 

I agree with you but I also think there is some danger in just being a nostalgia company. It was mentioned in the other thread but Disney is regarded as a nostalgia company that still comes up with (or buys) new shit to stay relevant. Nintendo has failed at that piece of the puzzle.

The lack of sandbox game and pokemon mmo were just utter waste of opportunities.

Minecraft always struck me as the type of game that looks like it should be on a Nintendo console but never was. The fact that they were never able to examine that and say this is something we should be doing is the type of thing that is missing. They have no real American (Western) insight into gaming that is able to influence the company in any real way it appears.

[Himu]

Disney is always cranking out new shit. This is something Nintendo does not understand.

[radioheadrule83]

Minecraft always struck me as the type of game that looks like it should be on a Nintendo console but never was. The fact that they were never able to examine that and say this is something we should be doing is the type of thing that is missing. They have no real American (Western) insight into gaming that is able to influence the company in any real way it appears.

Definitely agree with this. Minecraft 360 came out 6 months before Wii U's launch... Imagine if they'd had the foresight to get themselves a port with proper touchscreen UI. It'd have been the best non-PC way to play the game. And yeah, its not just about missing that particular title, its about not really knowing what's going on and what people are excited about. Dan Adelman has done alright getting some of the smaller things brought over to eShop, but I think they need a team dedicated to performing those kind of feats and tapping into things from the wider development community. I'd personally like to see them put out a public SDK that turns every console into a dev kit. Make the build&test system in such a way that the console has to be online to work, virtualise or wall off the test environment from eShop, prevent it from doing permanent NAND writes and stuff, and have devs sign up for a key that they can sign their test-binaries with. That way they can blacklist / ban any software that tries to do anything naughty. If they did something like this, people *would* play with it.

[SantaC]

Iwata is a stubborn man. He still believes in cheap hardware and quick cashins.

[CatsCatsCats]

Time for them to make a blood sacrifice and release a Pokemon MMO on the Wii U

With microtransactions


Profit

[CatsCatsCats]

Purchase Master Ball for $0.99? Or a pack of 3 for $2.74? Best value, pack of 100 for $79.99

[MCD]

Well, he won't resign.

He will be fired.

[Tasty]

Time for them to make a blood sacrifice and release a Pokemon MMO on the Wii U

With microtransactions


Profit

Because DQX Wii worked out so well.

[CatsCatsCats]

Oh, my bad, didn't mean to make it seem like I actually know or care about what Nintendo is currently doing outside of the 3DS

Let them die, the invisible hand will provide us with new whimsy

[Raban]

Oh, my bad, didn't mean to make it seem like I actually know or care about what Nintendo is currently doing outside of the 3DS

Let them die, the invisible hand will provide us with new whimsy

It already did

[magus]

honestly i'd like to see nintendo try something from the bottom side of gaming,the ouya (and i guess indie games and kickstarter too) has showed people have an interess in a cheap console with cheap retro games and that was done by a bunch of hobo's who fucked it up so i'd think if nintendo made something like that and maybe... i don't know,convince konami to make gradius vi? and called it the "ULTRA FAMICOM" it could garner some traction

of course i guess the 3DS already sort of fills "nintendo cheap console" role anyway huh...

[Yeti]

it's not gonna be a game, it'll end up being some tamagotchi thing where you feed your mario or some such shit

Nah, it'll be an endless runner. Although a Mario styled cow clicker would be interesting.

[cool breeze]

hey, NES Remix already turns Mario into a runner for some challenges making it like the Rayman iOS games.
 

[recursivelyenumerable]

I actually really liked the Wii U controller-screen-thingy when I played around with it a couple times at stores. It just evoked good feelings in me. But it didn't get me to buy one, so.

[MCD]

Wii U is fun.

But I always end up buying some other shit during the month and forget about it.

[Bebpo]

Wii U is fun.

But I always end up buying some other shit during the month and forget about it.

Yeah, I bought the system in November but still haven't played more than an hour of any game.  3D World isn't very motivating, and good stuff keeps coming out on other systems so I never turn the thing on.

[Joe Molotov]

I bought Lego City Story today.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q?s=NTDOY

Nintendo's stock took a 17% hit today due to their readjustment.

Iwata may say he's going to stay but who knows at this point.

Edit: Holy shit, looks like if you count the start of this week, Nintendo's stock dropped about 25% from 19.09 to 14.90

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

Best Buy took a 29% stock hit also after underwhelming 4Q sales.

not really related, but kinda.

[ToxicAdam]

Rented Nintendoland and .... It's actually really fun?!

What ...

[DCharlieJP]

I bought Lego City Story today

son finished the Japanese version - it looks pretty awesome.

[Tasty]

How did the crazy amount of US pop culture references translate?

[tiesto]

WiiU has about 10x as many games as I'd be interested in on it at this moment in time than either PS4 (none) or Xbone (one), so I can't say I'm entirely disappointed with my purchase. Sure, Nintendo fucked up pretty bad but I'm sure they'll find some way to weather it and turn a very miniscule profit until they can readjust their strategy or until the market drastically changes again. They should take a look at what Sony is doing with PSNow and totally cash in on their Virtual Console. Once the 3DS and WiiU's times are up, create a handheld ($150) and a tablet ($250) that could stream games to the TV. Go the Gamecube route - no bullshit gimmicks, just really efficient for a low price.

Also, Nintendo should have continued on what the original Wii did. Or at least have the pointer functionality back - seriously, while everyone was going crazy over waggle, this was the best thing about the original Wii controller (especially for rail shooters/light gun games/point 'n' clicks).

[Damian79]

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q?s=NTDOY

Nintendo's stock took a 17% hit today due to their readjustment.

Iwata may say he's going to stay but who knows at this point.

Edit: Holy shit, looks like if you count the start of this week, Nintendo's stock dropped about 25% from 19.09 to 14.90

They were priced to high.  They were worth more than Sony before that.

[Himu]

Holy shit.

http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303465004579325760899958956?mobile=y

You guys see this shit? Holy CRAP. Nintendo CEO actually SAID THAT. Holy SHIT.

[radioheadrule83]

"In Japan, I can be my own antenna, but abroad, that doesn't work," he said.

Isn't that what Reggie and Shibata are for? He needs to beef up the managerial capability of NOE and NOA and start pleasing western publishers. He should install one of his antennas in the UK as well, until the horror of it actually makes him cry.

Good comments... If he means to act on them

[Diunx]

I'm definitely getting an used Weeeeoooo for 100 in the future when it can run emus and pirated games, it's gonna be glorious.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

"In Japan, I can be my own antenna, but abroad, that doesn't work," he said.

Isn't that what Reggie and Shibata are for? He needs to beef up the managerial capability of NOE and NOA and start pleasing western publishers. He should install one of his antennas in the UK as well, until the horror of it actually makes him cry.

Good comments... If he means to act on them

Except the problem is that the Wii U is selling like shit in Japan as well.  So his antenna in general is busted.

Wii U doesn't have that excuse or shield. The Wii was a fluke after two luke-warm console generations. The 64 wasn't terrible, the Gamecube was kinda terrible but still sucessful. But the Wii U is tracking far behind that one[/i] to be chugging along on the train-tracks of success. It's derailed. Time to accept that, clean house, and rebuild the company if they want success in the console market.

The PS3 got a strong second wind in mid-late 2009 with the PS3 slim + price drop.  It was one of those fabled relaunches that Nintards are always expecting when the latest Nintendo game comes out.  Sony had to pretty much start from the ground up though: new advertising campaign, new look, new price, PS Plus (although that came later), etc.  Nintendo is going to have to do the same I suspect.  However I doubt Nintendo has the wherewithal to do such a thing.  As much as Iwata is apologizing and saying "please understand", Nintendo's solution will probably be to bank on Mario Kart 8 and Smash Brothers lighting up the charts.  It's what Iwata has been doing for a long time (and Emily Rogers wrote another spergy essay about Iwata's ineffectiveness last year; him apologizing and talking about changing isn't anything new).

[Positive Touch]

remember when nintendo tried to rekindle interest in the n64 by ripping off apple and making systems with bright colored plastic cases

[Positive Touch]