I've tried asking this on another thread, but can someone please characterize Japanes business culture for me?  I really have little to no knowledge on this subject, and since I'm investing in a Japanese company I'd better find this out.

I agree with you on all fronts.

The 3DS is on its path for WW dominance in 2013 with solid releases so I'm very much happy with the software releases on that front.

Wii U on the other hand is so mysterious and frustrating. Having no solid release dates is simply insane. 

If they are not profitable this quarter with the yen on their side, 3DS selling at profitability I am going to lose it.

I'm gonna lose my mind, and my money as well if that happens.  

For the Annual profitability - it's gonna be too close to call.

But for Q3???!!!  If Nintendo isn't profitable in Q3 then it's time to sell 100% of your stock and run for the hills.  They lost money in Q3 of last year but as we've said a few times, here's the differences:

These are the main things I think that will make it nearly impossible for Nintendo to not turn a profit in Q3.  It's going to be a very stressful report to look at though.

Q3 was actually profitable last year :) So I'm optimistic and on the fence at the same time.

I'd at that 100 EUR to now 114 ;) But yes you are right, this stock needs positive news and their silence is killing it atm.

well, as soon as you guys decipher the Q3 results, please post your thought immediately, because I don't want to take any more hits on this stock. I'm afraid to open my stock app nowadays I could almost punch myself in the face when I was going to invest heavy in sprint

Yep - you're right Q3 2011 was profitable.  I was interpreting their Q3 report incorrectly.  The way Nintendo reports Q3 is for the full 9 months of the fiscal year, and they don't break down Q3 numbers in isolation, from what I see.  

I should have said, Q3 2011 was profitable but didn't bring them out of the Red for the first 2 quarters last year.

Given they were profitable for Q3 last year it's a total no brainer for this Q3...but will it put them in the Black??!  Question of the day.

I sure hope so will all those gains they are having with exchange rates in their favour. They claimed they would be profitable by fiscal year with 73 million at exchange rates of 80 US and 100 EUR. If it is not, I'm calling bad management and I will get a lawyer (no joke).

First Reggie claims that it only takes 1 game to be sold for a profitable equation - not true, misleading investors, against the law.

Poor Marketing on both US and EUR fronts

Well unfortunately as Nintendo investors in America if you've purchased their NTDOY ADR's, there is little recourse as the stock is traded on the Pink sheets. Nintendo is so insular and independent they can't even bother to answer to the SEC.  The SEC's regulation of the Pink Sheets is minimal and Pink Sheet companies - typically Penny Stocks, carry great risk because of it.  So I don't know what a lawyer would be able to do in this case.

But what Reggie said is definitely material to the value of Nintendo shares, and negatively impacted shareholders.

It would be relatively cheap for Nintendo to trade on one of the major exchanges, and the choice to not do so - is a very interesting one in and of itself.  I'd like to know what their reasoning is.

I also wanted to add that Nintendo fired their PR firm I believe in August of 2012 - that firm was called "Good Relations" out of the U.K..  I believe they depend heavily on Western PR/Marketing firms to design their advertising strategy in Europe and the U.S..  So, whoever took over the Nintendo account for Good Relations, had very little time to create Ads & Marketing for the Wii U.  And Nintendo surely didn't design the commercials we've seen so far in the West. Whoever made them clearly didn't know what they were doing.  

Hence the pure crap we've seen.  Who knows...maybe the marketing silence is due to Nintendo canning the PR Firm they hired just a few months ago...maybe they're scrambling for a new strategy behind closed doors?

The sad sad thing is, all the Commericals & Marketing strategy Nintendo needs can be found right here on VGchartz threads.  There've been more good ideas posted here than any firm could come up with.  It would just take a couple hours of Nintendo doing some reading to come up with the exactly correct marketing strategy.  But Nintendo is so closed off from listening to anyone, there's a snowball's chance in hell of them condescending to listen to their fans, gamers, or investors.

I was taking another look at these numbers I posted earlier and reconsidered my estimates.

To Nintendo a console shipped to retail is a console sold.  That's what they project in their reports, 5.5 million U's shipped to retail.

With 2.45 m Wii U's sold at retail - there was 500k on store shelves on 12/29, so Nintendo's actually closer to 3 million on the 3rd quarter - and my little original chart is wrong. 

If that's right - retail sales should be 5m by 3/31, for Ninty to be at 5.5m on the Fiscal Year.  That's 166,666 consoles a week to reach 5.5m and hit Annual goal, totally doable.

Does this sound right?  Did I completely F' up my chart & estimates for Wii U hardware...and if I did, did I also F' up the 3DS, Wii, & DS estimates???