Most companies in a strong cash position have a short-term investments account on the balance sheet. This means that a company can afford to invest excess cash in stocks and bonds to earn higher interest than what would be earned from a normal savings account.

This thread will be invalid after E3 2013.

But wouldn't that money still be considered tied up and not cash on hands?

Sure, but the operative words there are "short term"--nobody with excess cash is going to keep it parked in a savings account where it's immediately liquid. Worst case they dump it into a CD that 'locks up' that money for 12-18 months, but you can certainly make it liquid in an emergency if you're willing to pay some penalties, and the same goes for NCL's situation.

(And let's get real: there is *no* scenario where Nintendo torchces 5+ billion dollars and suddenly needs access to an additional 4+ billion.)

Okay, I was just curious cause I kept on hearing 10 billion dollars on hand a few years ago, then 5 billion, in such a short period of time which never made sense to me (Like seriously how can anyone spend 5 billion in a year?) So they just had it invested for short term gain.

I hope so! I've barely touched my Wii U so far. Doesn't help that the 2 games I really wanted in the "launch window" have now both dropped into the 2nd half of 2013 (Pikmin 3 and Rayman Legends). Still that Lego City Undercover just came out so I'll have to take a look at that.

No, you thinking of Playstation not being able to support 2 platforms at once.

The 3DS has got more 3rd party support then PS & MS as shown in this list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_3DS_games

While the PS3 & 360 just get a bunch of PC multi platform games like Resdent evil 6 that are of poor quality.

The Wii U first several months sales are stronger then the 360 first several months sales and PS3 first several months sales.

And the Wii U has already shown that it gets the definitive version of multi platform games (PS3/360/Wii/3DS/PS Vita), like the amazing spider-man definitive version & Lego batman 2 definitive version & mass effect 3 definitive version & batman Arkham city definitive version & Angry Birds definitive version & Ninja Gaiden 3 Definitive version & Monster Hunter 3 definitve version & etc.

So if the PC/PS3/360 are so great, then why come they no longer get definitve version of anything anymore.

And the Wii U has 3rd party exclusives already like ZombiU & Sing Party & ESPN something & Lego City Undercover 1 & the Wonderful 101 & Rhtyhm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure 2 & Shin Megami Fire Emblem cross & Bayonetta 2 & Project Nova (working title) & X & Little Inferno & etc. As shown here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wii_U_games

I think a strategy that the Wii U/3DS should take approach to. Find a way to connect the 3DS to connect to the Wii U, and any games purchased on the Wii U will be playable from the gamepad tablet, as well as open up 2 player support by doing so. It wouldn't help console sales, BUT it would increase flexibility between the systems.

That, or like Ultimate Monster Hunter 3, make more games cross platform, including the Smash Brothers game when it comes out.

When Virtual Console is released for the Wii U, in full effect, not just a game every month, every game should be playable from the gamepad, which will be a huge win for Nintendo.

I think the real issue with the Wii U is the lack of games that stand out. There are a few coming out within the next month but some are multi plats(Injustice Gods Among Us with NO Red Son DLC), Need For Speed Most Wanted(All DLC on disc? Or gutted no dlc?), The Walking Dead.

Dragon Quest X localized would be nice.
Black Ops II DLC would be nice.
Darksiders II DLC would be nice.
Mass Effect III DLC would be nice.

New Super Mario Bros U is an amazing game, the only thing that would make it better is to give it Nintendo Network online support, now THEN you could have fun with your friends, instead of just couch co-op.

There are definatly games coming, the problem is, WHEN?

The Vita has gone through the same rough patch. Yes there are games, but if you are a hardcore Vita player, you could probably platinum the games as they come out.

Of course, if the Vita actually does let you stream PS4 games, it will be much more forgiving to not release many games for the system.

Definitive version of multiplat games, in other words, put in ONE add-on content pack, but have zero DLC for the game?   Yeah, great strategy Nintendo, it's reasons like this why nobody plays Black Ops II on the Wii U.

Darksiders II has Argul's Tomb, but not the other 2 DLC packs, no preorder bonuses

Mass Effect III has a couple add-ons, but not the 5 Multiplayer packs.

Tekken Tag Tournament II has no mp3 support, which to me offsets the extra things they put in.   Nintendo dropped the ball here.

NBA 2K13 has no DLC

Batman Arkham City Armored Edition does have everything included, however the game also came out after all the DLC was released on consoles and also had a game of the year Edition for PS3/Xbox 360.    So hard not to include everything.  (eShop wants $59.99 for it, Toys R us Last week and Best Buy this week have it for $29.99, way to go downloadable content!)

Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge was a big hit, but guess what?   Everyone wanted it on PS3 and Xbox 360, and now they have it.   So it's not exclusive anymore

The three titles that stand out, New Super Mario Bros U, Zombi U, and Nintendoland, anything else is available with trophies on other systems.   If Black Ops II got the DLC the consoles have, it would be very enticing to play full time.

Those 3 titles are only launch titles.

And you still haven't explain how the Wii U got so many 3rd party exclusives for its first 6 months of release compare to the PS3 first 6 months and the 360 first 6 months of 3rd party software.

At the end of the day the Wii U is starting at abnormally much stronger then the XBox 1 & 2 & PS3 across the board from hardware sales to software sales to 3rd party support for the first half year of release.

Plus so far the PS4 has shown a much weaker library of exclusives. Which just leaves E3 2013 on the Home Consoles to show anything else. And the XBox 3 seems like it might do worse then all other 8th Gen systems if you exclude the Ps Vita. But other then these current facts, well that just leaves E3 2013 to show as anything different from what we have currently seen on these systems.

Its like E3 2010 3DS vs. E3 2011 PS Vita, where we saw the 3DS having 2 Resident Evil games & Kingdom Hearts & Mario Kart & Kid Icarus: Uprising & Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon & Dragonball 3DS & Persona 3DS & Batman 3DS & many others. Dragonball has recently been release and Luigi's Mansion/Persona/Batman are on their way. Meanwhile the PS Vita has shown Final Fantasy 10 540p which we have all already played the original on our awesome PS2's and noobs have played thanks to PSN, and the other games shown for PS Vita at E3 weren't home console quality except for Assassin's Creed 3 Liberation.