Sources:
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/
http://neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=701
Based on this data, we can see that Nintendo has been very consistant in terms of hardware/software sales per generation in every region.
In each of Nintendo's first 4 generations they sold roughly 100 million units of hardware and 500 million units of software globally. Per region it's roughly Japan-25 million, Americas-50 million, Others-25 million.
The Wii/DS era was a huge leap in terms of sales, selling over 250 million units of hardware and close to 2 billion units of software.
This generation, we are seeing Japan/Others normalize and will each be back to their 25 million +/- baseline by the time 3DS/Wii U stop selling. Americas on the other hand will be down by quite a bit. From selling around 50 million in the first 4 generations, it will be below 30 million this time.
When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.
