I don't think Nintendo will ever be a major force in the home console business again. They still make great games and they are an industry treasure, but the times have passed them by as a hardware maker, and they're too slow moving and old fashioned of a company to ever really lead in the console side again. I don't think their "us against the entire development community" way of doing things works.

Maybe if they can find another craze, but I doubt it. They have nothing to hang their head in shame about though, they've had a great run and great longevity. Most companies can't hack it in this business for more than 10-15 years, Nintendo is past 30 years as a hardware maker.

They should be able to survive at a more modest level of success based on handhelds, even though that market shrinks every year, they have enough money in the bank to put things on cruise control for a while.

But I don't think they will ever again "lead" this industry, they're just too idiosyncratic in a lot of ways for that to ever happen, and the industry has broadened too much with college aged and adult gamers that Nintendo's "one size fits all" concept of gaming just doesn't work for a lot of people anymore.

You can see the disconnect with a 60+ year old Miyamoto demoing Project Guard and that robot sumo game at E3 last year and what the modern console audience largely is, which is Western males who are into big blockbuster style Western games ... I mean, Nintendo just isn't even in the same horse race. 

Uhm. You definitely should read the OP... end.

So you have nothing? 

However Dreamcast sold over 10m. VGChartz figures must be wrong, or Wii U is severely undertracked if it is to overtake the Dreamcsat next week.

No, it's more something like : it's selling much less than the xbox 1, gamecube, N64, PS3 and less than the dreamcast and any console from the 4 major constructors in the last 20 years. And they are last, not "not first". And overall, even when not comparing to past, even not really comparing, it's not selling well for a product (about 4 millions a years), and it's selling bad in term of market share in its market. It's selling extremely bad.

But I agree their situation is still completely different from Sega. It's not their 2nd console in a row failing (or 4 if you count sega-cd and 32X). They can anticipate profit. They have a handle console that is profitable. They have money in cash. They know how to make profit from their licenses, and they have plenty of licenses very alive. They are in the console business for 30 years (which is about forever). And last, I could be wrong, but I think they don't have this reputation to be a loser company (sorry to say that, I was an hardcore fan of the genesis and still respect them)

Wat? The Wii U has sold considerably slower than the Dreamcast. That was my whole point. The Dreamcast sold better than the Wii U and was still discontinued yet Nintendo are still supporting the Wii U which has been annihilated by the competition. Nintendo haven't a clue as to what they are doing. 

Supposedly Sega shipped a bit more than 10 million units, including those ones that were sold after the discontinuation. I'd like to hear though how many consoles had sold after two years of its launch.

Keeping their user base happy and some time trying to make profit (look last quarter report and this holiday one)!?

The difference is that Wii U is still selling, still being supported and Nintendo are making money. As i said VG chartz now has Wii U about 500k ahead of the Dreamcast, blame VG chartz if those numbers are incorrect.

They should:

- Keep providing top-notch (getting 90+ on Metacritic) games on the Wii-U for the rest of this generation.

- Keep giving us free online play and perfectly polished on release games.

- Keep exploring new ideas like Xenoblade, Captain Toad, Splatoon while putting out beautifully crafted installments of beloved series.

- Keep being whispered among core gamers as having awesome titles.

- Keep saving titles like Bayonetta and Devil's Third while promoting indies with projects like Shovel Knight.

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY

- Keep hoping glitched out AAA third parties represent their rivals as gamers slowly get more and more pissed at that scene... maybe pass some money under the table if needs be.


Then wait and see how the next gen goes.