It certain felt like it when they slapped on 2D/3D environment as well as by playing with our nostalgia by bringing us back the Tanooki Suit. In addition, It's 3D feature is more damaging on the gameplay.

Okay, I see what you mean now and it makes sense.

Now that I actually understand what you mean I'll disagree, and always respectfully.

What we know about the 3DS is that it needed to gain the confidence of Japanese developers first and foremost in order to succeed. With a close looming Vita launch, the 3DS only had so much time to fend off the powerful playstation brand while it was the sole gen8 player in the market, hence the price drop. Of course Nintendo wanted it to succeed, and I don't think it had much to do with the home console brother.

In the meantime I believe Nintendo has high hopes for the WiiU to even surpass its handheld business, and as such I don't think they see the 3DS as the backup plan anymore. Add to that the fact that the initial price drop cause many financial losses on the short-term, it's hard to warrant such an expensive back-up plan, wouldn't you agree? Imho there was another motivation behind that, and I believe it to be Nintendo fearing the competition from Mobile markets, and the inability to fend that threat off unless they are truly the #1 handheld maker, with enough leverage to counter that threat. In 2nd place they wouldn't be in a position to do anything about it.

I try to make sense out of it but my thoughts are in shambles. It's antagonizing

i agree, people are more attention deficit regarding technology (which include gaming console.)   I think they will put all the announcement a few months before the actual release of the wii u.  They don't want to fizzle-out the excitement before the actual release and with what I'm seeing that is the case.  It is very similar to the new 3ds xl when they released it after a month it was announced.  I think nintendo's strategy works perfectly with the current attitude of the current mass in gaming industry.

I couldn't agree more.

Definitely don't agree with you there, it was the best use of 3D to date and really made it integral to the gameplay.  Fortunately most people enjoyed it.

January (calendar year). Of course August will be big, but I'm not expecting that much this holiday season because of Wii U launch and NSMBU taking some sales to NSMB2.

Also, last year there were 3 big factors for the high sales: price cut, 3D Land and Mario Kart. I'm not expecting those games to push the same sales as last year; XL is more expensive than regular 3DS and as mentioned before, NSMB2 sales could be good, but not that great because of the U iteration.

And honestly, Paper Mario and Luigi Mansion are not big sellers, like for example Animal Crossing.

That's talking about western markets, Japan on the other hand will be very big with both NSMB and Animal Crossing.

They abandoned the Wii because they are making a new console, and because maybe they are out of ideas.

NSMBU is not confirmed for launch simultaneous with the Wii U yet. I doubt that there will be interfenerence on the console side with the handheld side when it comes to buying NSMB. The console and handheld are two different experiences from the same franchise but they work in tandem. 2D Mario is one of the rare franchises that can coexist that way. I have previously spoken in length about how COD and Assassins Creed on the Vita cannot.

Your second part I'm a little confused about. Animal Crossing DS was a big seller, that is true. However, the Wii version was awful and lazy. In this case despite its sales, the negative feedback (along with...Wii Music?) destroyed Wii momentum forever. Luigis Mansion & Paper Mario will probably only sell 2m each, but they are not so bad that it turns people off from buying a 3DS. These two games simply sustain momentum and strengthen the library.

Correct me if I am wrong, but Pokemon Black and White 2 is coming mid-December. That will also help a little. I agree, selling in the West will be harder but I got a good hunch about the 3DS making it work somehow this year.

What...?