They need people in their ranks who are REALLY good at how to leverage their considerable assets (they clearly don’t know how to run their Virtural Console or other online services) and to give the company a better idea on what markets have a demand for which titles (*cough*Xenoblade*cough*).

Nintendo is like an amazingly potent weapon manned by a blind person. That’s not to put all the blame on Iwata (most, perhaps, not all). I think Nintendo’s failures in this capacity are systemic and what ever CEO the board members put in line after Iwata (regardless of when/why he leaves) is not enough. It’s either this or continue to slowly slowly chip away at their cash reserves.

However, I think Nintendo may have espied an alternative that I’m not thrilled with. I think they’re considering moving away from core titles and even MORE into the realm of things like “fitness” and “health” titles, coming from the assumption that what they traditionally produce is waning in popularity. This would be a TRAGIC miscalculation because not only would it put a potential stop to great games that I’d love, but great games that actually ARE in demand. It’s the delivery of these games that needs fixing and mostly NOT the games Nintendo produces. It’s the implementation, too, of the Wii U that’s stifling software and not the idea of its gamepad or online services or even its hardware prowess.

And finally, since it might seem relevant here, I don’t know that going third party would suddenly make things great. I have a feeling that Nintendo wouldn’t work well in those conditions (i.e., whatever restrictions Sony or MS may put on development time or how the hardware wouldn’t be to their exacting specifications). Nintendo doesn’t develop games like other companies, it’s all done in a rather fickle and picky process. Turn this into the more traditional processes like those of other third parties and I think you’d find a disaster. When they say it’s first party or bust, I believe them.

Exactly. If I wanted to fight with game controls, I would bust out my Wii Remotes and old Wii titles. There’s a reason I don’t play those games.