Things are not nearly as bad for Nintendo as they are for Sony, but this is obviously not good:

Nintendo will report on Thursday its first ever operating loss, after estimating a 45 billion yen deficit for the business year just ended.

I will always have a soft spot for Nintendo. In my opinion, they have by far the best game IP ever created. It’s not even close. And that’s why, as much as it pains me to say it, I think Nintendo will eventually have to head down the Sega path and move on from hardware to focus solely on software.

It’s well known that Mario/Zelda/etc creator Shigeru Miyamoto has no intention of letting this happen — like Apple, he strives to set the entire user experience through hardware and software — but it’s hard to see Nintendo focusing on gaming hardware and continuing on. Maybe they pull and Apple and fully reinvent the company, but there’s a reason why such transformations don’t happen often.

On the flipside, maybe I’m letting my dreams blind me a bit. I really, really, really want Mario and Zelda and Donkey Kong and all the other great Nintendo properties on iOS devices.

If Nintendo were to do this, their hardware business would effectively be done. 

BUT, the software sales would be beyond massive. How many copies of Mario and Zelda would Nintendo sell on the iPhone? What about the iPad? What about Apple TV?

Nintendo is in the unique position where they could certainly have leverage to strike a special deal with Apple here. The end result could be game-changing. 

1 Up.

Interesting that consoles are now transforming into handheld systems with TV-viewing optional. I welcome this change. I play games on my iPhone all the time. The Wii? I haven’t used it in over two years.

But can this hybrid model compete with the iPhone? It’s apparently very powerful, but the iPhone will continue to get more powerful — and it will do so every year, unlike consoles which are upgraded every 5 years or so. Soon, the iPhone will be more powerful than this.

And you have the iPhone in your pocket all the time no matter where you are. This? It has a 6.2-inch screen. If you’re going to go big, wouldn’t you rather have a 9.7-inch screen? 

And if we’re comparing it to the iPad, Wii U also has no multi-touch, a mediocre touch screen, and a freaking stylus!? 

But they do have Zelda. And Mario. Those are strong cards. I hope Nintendo plays them well. 

As for “Wii U”? Awful name.