While it would be kinda said if Nintendo left the console business,
their games will surely be played on my next box or ps4!

I remember when the GC was Nintendos last console

Nintendo has too much money in the bank (11 billion I think) for this to be there last console. If Nintendo really wanted to that amount of money is safely good enough for at least 2 maybe 3 more generations.

I almost spit my drink out when I got to the "SEGA is crushing it as a software-only company" part.

Says pretty much all you need to know about this article.

Smartphne Apps and Social Media Apps hurt traditional gaming companies only in the short term as clueless journalists and analysts alike categorize the gaming revenue as somehow outside of the gaming pie. The ironic thing is, as far as dedicated console maker goes, Nintendo was always the only one left standing. Sony and MSFT aren't gaming companies, they are conglomerates with gaming revenue. MSFT and Apple are nearly on each other's turf most of the time, why isnt Appl's apps video gaming?

These small bite sized games are the perfect feeder market for potential handheld or console gaming. Even if they do not take the next step, parents that are in happy farms or angry birds ought to be much more understanding of their kids desire to play Scribblenauts or Pikmin. Even the smart TV movement is training a whole generation to interact with a screen, vs just passively read stuff off of it. Tablets are controllers, and millions will grab a Gamepad type device and not feel a bit awkward.

The awesome PC market was severely limited due to extreme high cost, super high barrier of entry (WASD plus Mouse is old school, even your typical COD guys wont play like Half Life guys any more). Console market of the future ought to have a much wider audience to draw from. And console makers themselves, though reluctant ought to embrace the Apps market as entry evel gaming, as well as effective marketing of various IPs. Pokemon is already trying to grab some of that delicious eyeballs stuck to smartphones during the silent dinners.

And let's not forget Steam. Wasn't cloud going to just obliterate physical console makers? And what are they working now? Oh, a CONSOLE!!!

In a tread that was active during the end of 2011, beginning of 2012 when it appeared that Nintendo was going post its first loss in decades. Some one pointed out that Nintendo could stand to lose for decades without going out of business. I think they claimed Nintendo could last until sometime after 2070 with the losses they sustained last business year. It was so long ago I didn't even feel up to digging it up.

No need for that tread now.  2nd and 3rd Qtr, Nintendo net losses comprised nearly 75% and 100% currency translation losses.  The numb nuts that think Nintendo is in trouble simply don't understand how Nintendo's $10 billion Dollars and Euros have dragged down their performance.  Even during the worst of the last few years, Nintendo gross profit margin declined from about 45% to 20%, that meant they still made profits.  The enormous appraisal loss led to what is known as unrealized losses, or in plain language, paper losses.

What Nintendo does, or actually doesn't do, is once they've made their US Dollars or Euros, wire any of it back.  So none of the fluctuations in currency has any real impact until the day Nintendo repatriots that huge cadh reserve.  Nintendo's policy is simply, no thanks, we wont pay commercial banks the transaction fees to convert any of that back to Yen (where the country is ..deflationary and some banks charge you to deposit with them).  The huge reserves are themselves the perfect hedge, so they don't need to pay for expensive forward contracts or options for hedging.  Also, their money is parked in higher yielding accounts.  See how that works?  Conservative and solid, just like their core marketing strategy of selling to the greatest common denominator using the most optimally priced technology. 

Now that the Yen is weakening precipitously, the same hit Nintendo absorbed will turn around and help them book upwards of $100 million a year in traslation gains.  Nintendo holds a unique long term view to how they manage their currency, they make stuff that either sells at a profit or very darn near will with just an extra game sold.  With 3DSkickng in Real profits, Wii And DS found money profits, Wii U already exceeding Reggie's one software and we are profitable proclamation, AND the reversal of those paper losses?

I seriously need help embedding that 3DS prints money thingy here.

Sega SHOULD be crushing it, Condemned 1 & 2 were awesome!

Sometimes I wish all forums had a "rep" system.   Well done in explaining in part why some people run a business and some do not.

I expect Nintendo to cut the price on the Wii U as soon as ps3 and 720 launch. I suspect are using the same strategy they used with the 3DS- launch at $250, when Vita comes out cut the price. Nintendo is just trying to bank as much as it can with the current price with the early adopters/nintendo fanboys. By this time next year will probably be seeing the Wii U sell for $249.99.

In short I really do think Nintendo knows what it is doing and it may actually be a good time to buy their stock while it is still pretty cheap or close to cash value.