And here is the thing. Super Mario Bros games have always been massive system sellers. When New Super Mario Bros was released on the DS, it ensured that the PSP would never stand a bloody chance of surpassing it, because both the game and the handheld rose straight up to heaven. It was pretty funny reading news of the DS Lite being constantly out of stock in Japan. :P

As for New Super Mario Bros Wii., it also resulted in making the American Wii stock to run out by December 2009.

The same things cannot be said unfortunately about the 3DS and Wii U Mario games. They sold alright, but they didn't bring too many customers. Even up till today, Iwata still bemoans the fact that 3DS sales in the western territories are weaker than they want.

But that's what I like about Nintendo, that it's willing to try things that nobody else is trying. Was the second screen and touch ability worth it in the DS? Was the motion control worth it in the Wii? These certainly opened up gaming in some ways. 3D and a tablet controller may be less successful experiments, but I see the trend as a whole, the attempt to see how gaming can evolve, as positive.

It all revolves around one thing: Expectations.

Nintendo customers expect their consoles to be cheap and their games to be expensive. It was quite a surprise to hear that the price of the 3DS would be over 250 bucks (More expensive than the Wii, for Christ's sake!) Compare that to the DS, which had a price of 150 bucks, and the expectations were crushed.

Same case about the Wii U. At least 300 bucks for the basic model and 350 for the Premium which contained a game. Compare that to the Wii which had a price of 250 bucks that also included Wii Sports and it definitely seems like a ripoff.

Add to all that a staggeringly crappy battery life (as opposed to the great battery life of previous consoles) and you have two consoles which proved to be disappointments, especially when compared to the previous generations.

The GBA kept Nintendo afloat which the GameCube tanked and the 3DS is just about holding them together while people are being apathetic towards Wii U but its taking a bashing from Smart phones and tablet gaming - maybe they should make a 3DS that you can make calls on and stores all your MP3s?

If the whole 'active gaming' thing turns out to have been a fad though, killed as much by the Kinect and that ridiculous PS3 wand thingy as much as anything else, what direction will Nintendo even go with their next full console, assuming they survive long enough to make one?

Price is one aspect of it. I think that also in general owners of existing consoles just want the same experience, but better. For me the Xbox 360 + Kinect is a better Wii. It can provide full body games without making me hold a controller, as well as provide classic (hardcore) HD games. The Wii U is also a better Wii, but it's going in another direction, which doesn't immediately appeal to me. New features can get a new crowd, I certainly wasn't a console gamer before the Wii, and though I'm not much of a gamer now on any platform, I do have both a Wii and a 360. The 3DS did make me want to check out handheld gaming, though I didn't get one eventually.

I don't want nintendo to die. Because they offer something different, even if it's not always good.
One thing I think Nintendo should really work on beside creating new franchises, is better online functionality and services overall. They could do a lot better in that area without breaking the bank and it would help a lot.

Also I like Nintendo because they are making games that don't cost a ton of money and they don't throw away the money they get from their customers.
They don't invest 20 millions into a game and before release restart the game almost from scratch because the latest flavor is open world, and then blame piracy for lack of profitability.

I meant the entire Zelda collection or as close to it, up to current gen :) Same with Mario and Metroid. I'd be willing to shell out to have those on the PC :D

You speak as if the 3D is intended for watching films with... the reason for the 3D has always been games. Not only that, but if you turn the 3D off, the battery lasts longer so I don't understand your problem with it. If you don't like it, turn it off and then you have the battery life the 3DS would have had if it wasn't 3D. And by circle pad I assume you mean the circle pad pro. The circle pad is something that every 3DS has built in...

Except that the 3DS has now sold MORE than the DS in the same timeframe, after it got its price slashed (the original price was bullshit, the new price is more in line to expectations!). The battery life of the 3DS was lesser thant it should have been, but it was still considerably better than the vita's. So, the 3DS is anything but a disappointment. Original price + underwhelming library caused a slow start, but a lower price point and a very strong (seriously, the thing has some great things out now) library have caused it to perform considerably better.

OK. The whole movies thing is a deal with the Hollywood. And Hollywood ain't cheap you know.

Indeed, you can turn the slider off, but the graphics chip used to power the 3DS continues to put a big strain on the battery. A graphics chip without 3D capabilities wouldn't put that much strain on it. Just to prove my point, the 3DS duration for DS games is at max 8 hours, whereas the DS Lite and DSi XL could reach double that amount.

And yes, I do meant Circle Pad Pro. For a moment I thought that Circle Pad Pro was referring to the XL edition, but then I found out it's called Circle Pad Pro XL. Damn, it reminds of a Street Fighter game.
Sorry, but not anymore. Nintendo used to happily claim that the 3DS indeed outsold the DS, but that's no longer the case. Check the NPD numbers if you don't believe me. Also, comparing it to the Vita doesn't do it any favours. It's like comparing whichever of those two is a lesser disappointment. (It's the 3DS but you get my drift)

How do you know how much of that is down to the 3D and how much is down to it just being superior? More processing power = more power consumption and the 3DS is massively more powerful than the DS.

Well exactly, to me that shows that it's just the generally more powerful hardware that's to blame for the battery life.

I dunno. That just doesn't seem like an entirely fair price considering how many games that'd be.

I was using that as a rough example, not a set-in-stone number. What I'd pay would be relevant to how many games I get. Keep in mind you can get a Nintendo Game Cube + Zelda collection for the GC for $20 if you know where to look ;)