The Ball Broke! Wild Sales Ran Away!- Nintendo Continues to Grow

Video game company Nintendo, creator of the biggest-selling video game franchise, Mario, has new plans for the future. Whereas some companies release smartphone apps (see Minecraft), Nintendo is trying to increase sales of the WiiU with more "active" video games and "boosting your life." An average video game fanatic will think "boosting your life" is getting mushrooms in Mario or catching a shiny in Pokémon, but Nintendo is thinking of games similar to their Wii Fit systems.

However, the WiiU has very slow sales, at only 2.5 million systems sold. If anything, the 3DS has more sales, because their most popular franchises have more 3DS-available titles for fans (Luigi Mansion remade, X and Y, Ocarina of Time). Nintendo, unlike Microsoft and Sony, is trying to branch out with more "lifestyle" activities, which causes negative backlash since most video gamers prefer to sit around all day trying to hit the prestige in COD.

To compare, Nintendo has been more "family-friendly" compared to Sony and Microsoft. Where Microsoft releases most games with "M" and Sony has "T-17" and "M," Nintendo aims on more "E" series.

-Catherine Cober