3DS is just on a roll.  Plus when you factor things like the 2DS into the mix (which we didn't know about in the beginning of the year), sales only get better.  As for Wii U, if it ends up somewhere in the 7-8 million range by the end of the year, it won't be quite the remarkable comeback, but it'll do.  If the final numbers are in the 5-6 range then going into 2014 is going to be tough.  It's a really solid console overall that should be doing better and maybe it will turn around.

Pretty good results for Nintendo. Despite the high price and no big releases for the Wii U they are managing to slowly improve their financial results.

With a lower price and an impressive lineup of games for the rest of the year (clearly the Wii U and 3DS have the #1 and #2 lineups for this Q) they are surely going to keep improving, which obviously will infuriate a lot of people here.

With some of the biggest system sellers of all time relased or going to be released in this Q (Wii Fit, Wii Sports, Zelda, Pokemon, Mario) future couldn't be better for Nintendo and Nintendo fans.

That's an interesting spin to put on it considering Nintendo's own president says the results are dissapointing.

It's not like saying that at all. I'm saying the approach was the same.  The concept behind Wii wasn't motion controls, it was an interface that non-gamers would find familiar.  The Wii Remote was designed like a TV remote.  The Gamepad, similarily, was designed like a tablet.  Some people say Nintendo got away from what worked, I'm saying they didn't.  I don't know if they will have great success, but I don't think the idea was necesarily a bad one, and so far I think the execution (marketing, key games) has been sub-par compared to Wii.

I, too, think this is the case.

I'm sorry but the Wiimote and Wii U tablet are very, very (verrrrrry) different devices. I think you're reaching by trying to equate them as being similar. 

The Wii had tremendous buzz for it even before TV commercials and the main marketing kicked in. I remember having female friends who never would buy a game console in a million years coming up to me and asking me about it before a single TV ad had aired. On launch day, even before there were a ton of TV spots for it, there were line ups around the store for them. 

The Wii didn't succeed because of marketing, it succeeded because the idea was so incredibly mind blowing to a lot of people at the time and the word of mouth from people using spread like wild fire. Wii U tablet is just another video game controller. It's fun, but no one's dying to tell their friends about it over the water cooler during lunch break at work.

The Wiimote was a very, very rare type of occurance. Nintendo can run TV ads all day and they'll never get the same response, not to mention functionally they are very different devices. The whole point of the Wii Remote was to get you off the couch and up on your feet, moving around. The Wii U tablet brings it back to the sitting on the couch and has like 50 buttons on it. 

In the year 2013, a game controller with a low resolution 6 inch touch panel isn't very interesting at all. It's kind of predictable actually. 

The VB is the most glaring, obviously. But the N64 flopped everywhere but the US and the Gamecube was also a collosal failure WW. GC's failure birthed the Wii. Actually, Nintendo dumping Sony was a wise move. Sony didn't want to partner with Nintendo, they basically wanted to own Nintendo.

All I'm saying is, this party time attitude inside Nintendo with execs and devs dressing like cats, remaking past failed games and devs having free reign to explore their inner picaso is over. Their financials since Wii U released have been in the toilet, changes are needed.

And going further, if they think a 3D Mario, an upressed Wii Sports and another Wii Fit are going to change their fortunes, they will be mistaken.

Soundwave, I highly doubt that by drastic changes, Iwata ment exiting the console business. He more then likely ment a drastic changes in terms of marketing strategy, software appeal and most probably start thinking (like you said) of making an SKU without the gamepad.

I never said they would exit the console business.

These are bad financial results no matter how you spin it. 3ds hardware shipments are down YOY and wiiU is selling very poorly. We can expect a much better 3rd quarter though with the natural holiday boost and with the release of pokemon XY and SM3DW.

Also, they shipped 2.4million copies of animal crossing outside of Japan, vgchartz is undertracking the game by a lot.