Nintendo faced its first annual losses ever last year due to feeling forced to drop prices on the Nintendo 3DS. The Wii U, with an assumed release for Q4 2012, might help to pull the video game company out of its problems with an intuitive tablet-like control system, but will it be able to compete with legitimate tablets and a growing market for cell phone games?
Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata is convinced the future of gaming still centers on handheld and TV-based machines. He’ll get his answer by Christmas, in the number of new Wii U consoles that get bought.
Iwata can’t afford to be wrong. Nintendo, the world’s biggest maker of video-game machines, last year cut prices on its 3DS handheld device after shipments missed forecasts, handing the company its first annual loss. Like a character in one of Nintendo’s “Super Mario Bros.” games, Iwata is battling a storm of life-sapping obstacles: shrinking hardware sales, more people playing on smartphones and the Internet, and uncompetitive costs. Continue Reading
