http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303465004579325760899958956

In a snap news conference called in Osaka, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata admitted he had misread the markets and hadn't issued "the appropriate instructions.'' He said the company needed to change and "propose something that surprises our customers."

"The way people use their time, their lifestyles, who they are—have changed," Mr. Iwata said. "If we stay in one place, we will become outdated."

- I think this is a clear acknowledgement from Nintendo that cell phones/tablets have changed people's lives when it comes to how they get their entertainment and Nintendo can no longer deny it. 

"I hate to say this, but Nintendo is out of touch," said Yoshihisa Toyosaki, president of Tokyo-based IT consultancy Architect Grand Design Inc. "It has a chance to change course, but I doubt it's going to take it."

Still, Mr. Iwata noted that Nintendo's sales in Japan were better than they were in the U.S. and Europe, and said the company needed a better way of keeping in touch with trends abroad.

"In Japan, I can be my own antenna, but abroad, that doesn't work," he said.

- Pretty interesting that Iwata finally acknowledges that he isn't very good at navigating the Western market. Should he really be president of NOA if this is the case? Or will we see a real change? Lots of skepticism on Nintendo from investment consultants, lol.

It's what I've said for a while ... Iwata is pretty good at reading the Japanese market but is far out of touch with the Western markets.

Sounds like from the article Iwata will be taking a pay cut once again this year. 

*raises eyebrows*

how seperate? how much influence does Ninty have over Pokemon, if any? im asing cause i really dont know how it works i always thought it was another Ninty property like Mario or Zelda

They have there own profits as a company. I'm sure they make 10-20% profit from games but pokemon has been making lots of money. You find reports of them making profits every year. Nintendo doesn't include them in there worker list. That means the pokemon company pays for everything and gets most of the money. They made more money than last just on toys,cards, tv, and games than nintendo. It's been said Nintendo has no influence on Pokemon at all. That's probably why do a lot of things nintendo doesn't.

I agree with a lot of your points (other than not needing 3rd party).

It is clear from Wii performance that it's not Nintendo core games that sold best - it's the casual garbage that core gamers would be ashamed to admit.

However now that casual interest seems to have dried up.  When Wii Fit was announced in 2007 I thought "wow, that's going to sell a ton" and it did.  I think it was a master stroke, just the kind of thing that would appeal to people around that year.  Now Wii Fit on Wii U is not even a blip.  Those times are gone.  People have different interests now like tablets, and streaming music.  Android has like 800,000,000 active devices and people are spending an ever increasing time in Apps.

Wii U is a smart device.  The remote play is a big hit at my house.  It's just lacking any *WOW* feature that would make casuals spontaneously buy it.  For Sony & MS, FIFA, Madden, NBA2K are there to hook sports fans with gorgeous graphics and smooth realistic looking animation, and COD, GTA, etc. are there to attract existing gamers.

No.  Nintendo owns Pokemon.  It belongs to them completely, as do all the licensing rights.  Nintendo also owns controlling interest in Media Create, the company that develops Pokemon for Nintendo.  It would depend upon the terms of the contract, of course, but it's most likely that Nintendo receives the vast majority of the profit from the games.