good points.  

I just hope Nintendo doesn't go into "Gamecube" panic mode and try a bunch of weird experiments with their main franchises that repel rather than attract gamers.

They should try new thins with Zelda, Mario et al, but they need to be careful that in doing so they don't make them (A) less accessible and (B) less appealing to their existing fanbase. Because that's what killed them in the 6th gen.

A good "panic" response for the moment would be to give us another Nintendo Direct ASAP, focussing on upcoming Wii U games; tell us when Pikmin 3 and Wonderful 101 are arriving, and show us new footage for games like Bayonetta 2, Yarn Yoshi, and X.

Well of course, but there are no confirmed games using those platforms. The educated consumer would stick to a ps3/360 or their successors. A typical purchaser of a Wii U is buying it for the Nintendo 1st party titles.

Given how early in the lifecycle WindWaker and Sunshine came out, Nintendo probably had those planned out well before anyone could have divined how GameCube would perform (though arguably it was a foregone conclusion. It came out after the PS2 and had nothing to differentiate itself from the PS2 in a positive way), so Sunshine's off-beat status and Wind Waker's major artstyle departure were planned from the getgo

NINTENDO ISN'T GETTING THIRD PARTY SUPPORT

SOMEBODY SOUND THE ALARM

I'd reason that with the N64's defeat and the looming threat of PS2, Nintendo were in a semi-panic mode before the GCN even came out. I just hope their Wii U panic doesn't push them to make unpopular changes to their key franchises.

It's already gone retail, Ghostbusters was using Unity 3 I think.

I think what scares me the most is the idea that Nintendo ISN'T in panic mode.

The worst thing they could do right now would be to remain complacent and do nothing, and that seems to be exactly what the're doing.

Wait until the next Investors Meeting in a few days. We've also got a Nintendo Direct that's entirely dedicated to third parties coming up at some point.

As i said, that was my fear as well, but we can only wait and see. If they don't really pull out the stops in the next three months, then we'll indeed confirm that something's gone terribly wrong.