Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata is convinced the future of gaming still centers on handheld and TV-based machines. He'll get his answer by Christmas, in the number of new Wii U consoles that get bought.
Iwata can't afford to be wrong. Nintendo, the world's biggest maker of video game machines, last year cut prices on its 3DS handheld device after shipments missed forecasts, handing the company its first annual loss.
Like a character in one of Nintendo's "Super Mario Bros." games, Iwata is battling a storm of life-sapping obstacles: shrinking hardware sales, more people playing on smartphones and the Internet, and uncompetitive costs.