Nintendo had a shaky Q1 and Q2, but Q3 was the third most successful quarter in the company's history and 3DS has turned around and become the industry's fastest selling hardware from launch to 15 million - essentially, it has been out for 9 months here and is already on the heels of Gamecube's all time sales.

Wasn't the Wii U just "announced"? I don't remember a Press Conference for it... until E3 of course, but no Nintendo Press Conference...
Anywhooo, didn't the 3DS have the highest opening sales for a console? I don't see how that could be a down fall. It's true though with the other stuff they said. Hoping that Nintendo won't let what happened to the 3DS happen to the Wii U though. I really am starting to like it. :)
As Miz said: All's well that ends well.

14 million sold. What a flop!
/s

Agree. Not a very good year for Nintendo. Let's hope next year 3DS continues selling well nd Wii U starts like the Wii.

Of course, holiday sales are very good, and I hope 3DS continue selling well with the games coming.

Indeed. One wonders just how far the 3DS could go with a 2D Mario and some Touch Generations-esque breakout hits. Pokemon is another biggie, but that is inevitable, whereas the other two i mentioned certainly are not.

I entirely agree with the WiiU, I was heavily disappointed with how Nintendo not only presented it at E3, but also some of what little we know about it at the moment.

However, I disagree greatly with their view on the 3DS. While it was off to a very shaky start, the final 3 months of the year more than make up for it. MH4 Bombshell, SM3DL/MK7/MH3G fuelled boom as of late, ambassador GBA games, mega firmware update. I would even go as far to say that these months have been phenominal for the 3DS.

Yup, it's disappointment is tantamount that it's 1 year early on the disappointment list.

It may be a better year for them than they expected. I don't think they anticipated 3DS skyrocketing the way it did with the price-cut, and I know they didn't anticipate already having two essential first-party 5m sellers for the system (though I know they expected both MK7 and SM3DL would do marvelously).