Obviously Nintendo is facing a difficult time right now, with the Wii U flailing and the 3DS, though doing fairly well, not as well as Nintendo had hoped. You can see this in the cuts to the sales forecast for both devices (though obviously Wii U far more).

So, how would you go about righting the ship if you were in charge? Questions I'd be curious to hear you answer:

1) What would you do to try and turn things around the near term (1-6 months?)

2) Which device would you discontinue first (3DS/Wii U) and what would your timetable be for the transition of both devices?

3) What would be the your strategy for bolstering 3rd party support on the next home console?

Obviously 'near term' fixes will be relatively unsuccessful, especially if you're looking strictly in a software sense. These days most software takes anywhere from 12-36 months to complete, so there's little that can be done short term. However, my strategy would be to emphasize advertising, but not just of first party software for their devices. Nintendo is so proud of, and so many indie developers seem to be vocal about, the eShop, that Nintendo needs to be promoting that. They need to have commercials highlighting indie software on the eShop, to help boost sales of those games. Throw the indie's a little bone, here. Simply putting the game up on the storefront isn't necessarily going to move units. Also, more Nintendo Directs! Use indie games in the Direct's as well! They don't all have to be hosted by Reggie or Mr. Iwata - get a new personality, someone fresh, to do 15-20 minute Directs that drop every two to three weeks, each focusing on a few games that are currently available or will be available soon! Interview the developers....show the indie's some love!!

As for which device I'd discontinue first, at this point it seems the obvious choice would be the Wii U, but I'm not sure that really makes the most sense. The 3DS hit the market first, and although it's doing well overall, I'm not sure it'll have the long-term sales tail that the DS did, so to me I'd say that a new device would be need to be introduced holiday 2017, perhaps? But then the question is to when to transition from the Wii U. Obviously Nintendo doesn't have the resources to prep launch line-ups for both devices at the same time, so either the Wii U successor would have to come a year or so before the 3DS successor, or a year or so after. So, how long do you support the failing Wii U?

It may be premature to be thinking about this, but let's be real here...Wii U has been on the market for a year and a half now, and it's already gotten some amazing games, and people just aren't biting. In the near term, I'd launch Mario Kart (obviously), but I'd also follow it in July/August with another $50-$75 reduction. Mario Kart should provide a good boost for at least a month or so, and the price cut would help keep momentum going until the typical holiday season ramp up begins. (However, the price cut is dependent on what games are released this summer, something we likely won't know until E3). With Smash Bros. this holiday season (if it's early enough - BLACK FRIDAY, NINTENDO!!), I could see the Wii U having a good second half of the year.

Regardless, the question again goes back to when to transition from the Wii U? I'd say given it's current sales climate, they'd have to launch prior to the 3DS successor, like 2016 or 2017 (if the portable gets pushed back to 2018). It's already confirmed that a new 3D Mario game is already underway, but no platform is given. The most sensible choice would be 3DS to get this game, but what if they're already working on new hardware? It's no secret that Nintendo starts prepping new hardware almost immediately after they launch a product, so is it possible a successor to one or both devices has been fasttracked? Discontinuing Wii U support in a year or two would leave a lot of fans angry, but with the 3DS it's possible to argue that it's got a solid, memorable library already, and a couple more years of support could fill in the missing gaps.

In terms of re-attracting 3rd party support, Nintendo is in a tough, tough position. If they refuse to play the raw power game with Sony/Microsoft, Nintendo will likely continued to get gimped versions of most high profile 3rd party games, or not get them at all. The next console has to impress, spec-wise. The casual gamer audience is just too...well, casual to be counted on to return to the gaming fold every generation. If Nintendo is serious about the hardcore gamer, they need to pony up. Nintendo needs to reach out and help develop some exclusive 3rd party games, and not just Sonic ones. Try getting a special, exclusive Assassin's Creed game, or an exclusive Castlevania game for the new console...games that would be partly/co-developed by a Nintendo studio, thus putting some of Nintendo's money on the line, which would also give Nintendo more reason to promote it.

Finally, the launch line-up of the next console in particular is going to be important. They need something killer, day one (the next 3D Mario adventure, perhaps?) ONE big Nintendo game, along with a couple of co-developed exclusive 3rd party titles and some filler stuff, and the console could launch very, very successfully.

Well, at this point I'm just rambling. Share your ideas and speculations below!

Commercials and get 3rd party developer feedback. I wouldn't discontinue the Wii u, due to customer trust. It is really not that complicated but Nintendo makes it complicated for themselves. Also get Mk8 on Ellen, Oprah, or Jimmy Fallon and you are good to go.

1) Make more people try and make IP's to attempt to get a new earthbound for people to love and basically do everything else they're trying to do to save themselves.
2) I'd let both live on until all the flagship games have been developed and shipped. Whether or not that's the Wii U or the 3DS depends on the developers.
3) Buy one company and piss people off by making that series exclusive example SEGA and Atlus for Persona as it's considered a great series and I get the dormant series from Sega also. AND THEN I TAKE A DUECE SO THE WORLD CAN EXPERIENCE GREATNESS.

discontinue the wii u. its a concept nobody wants (like virtual boy) and nothing will really help it. Sur, ther will be major games that will boost sales upon release but nothing which will permanently sustain high sales

That's a tough one; they got the headstart on MS and Sony but failed to do anything meaningful with it. The immediate fix for both platforms is E3; both games are VERY short on forthcoming games, so they'll have to announce a few major gems both platforms, preferably with some of them hitting from the Summer through to Christmas. And for their sake, they'd better not be MORE uninspired almost-clone Mario games. That's clearly just not cutting it anymore, they need to spice it up a bit, and not in th Hyrule Warriors kinda way!

The other problem regarding software, is that the 3DS has had so many games that typically you'd need a console to play; Super Mario 3D Land, MK7, NSMB2, Luigi's Mansion 2, Animal Crossing, Bravely Default, etc. Handheld games used to be totally different to console games, but now there's very little difference in terms of design or scale, and so many people are perfectly content with their 3DS games and have no NEED for a Wii U. Mario 3D World, DKC Tropical Freeze, NSMBU and MK8 are great and all, but they look identical to their 3DS counterparts, there's not nearly enough difference to justify buying a £250 console. And then there's Super Smash, which is on both and yet releasing earlier on the 3DS, so again, there's no reason to buy a Wii U for it. They REALLY need to change their game design strategies to make each platform seem worth having, so that 3DS owners actually have a reason to buy a Wii U.

The Wii U needs a solid £50+ price cut; a bundled £200 premium console would be much better placed to sell against the PS4 and cheaper-every-week Xbox One.

Add better marketing of their biggest releases and they'd likely be in a better situation.

Gotta love the responses. Commercials? Nintendo went all out over christmas. Had a deal with one of the biggst retailers in UK to push it. Announce gems at e3 for this year? so they are going to announce games this year that will release before games they announced last year? Ps4 and xb1 dont have much comming? Thy are releasing tons more than Wii U. Prbably caught up with quantity of Wii U titles already.

I'd make the advertisement budget increase by 100% temporarily and focus on Wii U advertising. Let the world know the wonders of the Wii U!

If I was the one running the ship I would put Max King of the Wild in charge of Nintendo.

What did I write the last few times we had this thread? Pokemon Online? Free taco Tuesday? Just do that.

First party titles that aren't platformers...
I would make those happen...