Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime attempted to address concerns that there has been a real lack of third-party titles for the Wii U announced so far this week, but didn't actually mention any third-party titles. During Nintendo's E3 Direct feed yesterday Nintendo didn't highlight one company outside of its own brand that is developing a game for the Wii U or even the 3DS.

Here's a pretty rare occurrence: a game that is not only on the Wii U in the first place but also "only on Wii U." A game being a Wii U exclusive and not a first party title is rarer than catching Bigfoot ordering 12 Big Macs at the McDonald's drive-thru.

Nintendo's Digital E3 Event opened with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime facing off against Nintendo president Satoru Iwata in a fight to promote Super Smash Bros. on the Wii U. The fight then transitioned into a fight in Super Smash Bros. using Miis of both Nintendo executives, but the tide of battle changes when Satoru uses a Mario action figure that brings Mario into the match for a two-on-one fight against Reggie.

Andrew Eisen's latest video offers ten far-out predictions about what Nintendo will announce at its E3-releated Nintendo Direct press event today at 9 AM PT. We won't spoil the video for you, but most of these predictions are way over the top and possibly the bi-product of Andrew's sometimes over-active imagination and a lack of sleep. You can watch the video to your left.

Here's a crazy prediction from us. Nintendo will finally announce that a proper sequel to the SNES version of Earthbound will be coming to Wii U and 3DS in November.

The Electronics Entertainment Expo is next week and kicking it off is a round of press conferences where the biggest publishers will try and dazzle you with game announcements and spectacle in an attempt to win your dollars.

Of course, these presentations rarely go off without a hitch.  Everything from technical failures such as Nintendo's Skyward Sword demo from 2011 or EA's Battlefield 4 false start last year to horrible hosts such as "Mr. Caffeine" from Ubisoft's 2011 presser and Jamie Kennedy who MC'd Activision's show in 2007.

Nintendo announced today that it will consolidate its European operations and lay off 130 employees. The company said in a press release today that it will be closing its headquarters building and a warehouse in Großostheim, Germany and moving its European operations to Frankfurt. These changes mean that an estimated "130 permanent employees" will be laid off.

The popular puzzle game Tetris is 30 years old today. The game became popular when it appeared on a new hand-held system from Nintendo - the GameBoy - and the rest is history.

Bloomberg TV program "Bloomberg West" has a segment on the latest episode of the show featuring Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter discussing the popularity of Tetris and its impact on video games today.

Last week we asked readers, "Is Forcing a Revenue Split With Let's Players in Nintendo's Best Interest?" A majority of the votes cast said that this latest move by Nintendo to get a cut of the revenues Let's Play video creators get from YouTube will bite them in the ass at some point down the road.

Last year, Nintendo pissed off a good chunk of the internet by smacking a bunch of YouTube Let's Play videos with copyright claims, seeking to suck up all the ad revenue generated by videos of fans playing its games.

In the face of angry fans, something a company struggling to sell its new console really doesn't need, Nintendo backed off.

UPDATE: Kotaku wrangled a statement out of Nintendo.

Nintendo has won a patent infringement lawsuit filed back in 2009 by Wall Wireless LLC concerning the DS and DSi handheld gaming systems. In February of 2009, Texas-based Wall Wireless LLC sued Nintendo claiming that its DS and DSi handhelds violated a patent it held related to wireless communication technology.

In the latest edition of HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver that aired last night, the comedian and former correspondent to the Daily Show (who also served as fill-in host earlier this year for John Stewart while he filmed a movie) made fun of the situation surrounding Nintendo's stance on same-sex relationships in Tomodachi Life.

During the show, Oliver pondered what the Nintendo universe would be like if various Nintendo characters were allowed to have same-sex marriages. You can check it out to your left.

Electronics manufacturer Philips claims that the Wii U infringes several of the company's patents and is seeking to have the system banned from being sold in the United States. Philips claims that Nintendo copied technologies that replicate a "user's real-life actions in-game" and that it uses a patent related to "user interfaces designed to be navigated by a pointing device" (such as a Wii Remote).

On this week's show hosts Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight discuss the latest GamePolitics Poll results (should Kickstarter adopt an equity-based investment model?), the web-hosting service that dared to throttle the FCC, the national Reason-Rupe poll about gaming, and the Tomodachi Life controversy. Download Episode 98 now: SuperPAC Episode 98 (1 hour, 8 minutes) 78 MB.

Taking a page from GameSpot (apparently) Nintendo's online store is offering a refurbished Wii U 32GB Deluxe Edition (black) for right around $200. According to the store page for the unit, it comes with the Wii U console (Black/32GB Internal Storage), one Wii U GamePad (Black), a Nintendo Land game disc, the Wii U AC adapter, Wii U GamePad AC Adapter, a high speed HDMI cable, and the Sensor Bar.

Nintendo has issued a new statement on the controversial decision not to include same sex relationships in its Mii-based life simulator, Tomodachi Life.

The company apologized for disappointing many of its fans, and attempted to explain why same sex relationships were not possible in the European and North American versions of the game releasing June 6.

The short answer: it was not possible for Nintendo to change the design of the game or to provide a post-release patch, calling such an endeavor a "significant development change."

GLAAD (an advocacy group for people in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender [LGBT] community) issued a statement yesterday lambasting Nintendo for not including a same-sex relationship option in its 3DS game, Tomodachi Life. Nintendo's Mii-based "life simulator" for 3DS releases on June 6 in the United States.

Nintendo plans to launch new console platforms in emerging markets beginning next year, according to this Bloomberg report.

"We want to make new things, with new thinking rather than a cheaper version of what we currently have," President Satoru Iwata told Bloomberg this week. "The product and price balance must be made from scratch."

Nintendo will not add same-sex relationships to Tomodachi Life's western releases, despite vocal and strong support amongst fans in the United States and Europe. Tomodachi Life is a 3DS game that lets players take control of their Mii avatars as they go through everyday events, like moving into a new apartment, meeting new friends, doing chores, and more.

It's not a good time at Nintendo HQ this week. Today the maker of Wii U and 3DS revealed a 46.4 billion yen ($457 million) loss for its fiscal year ending March 31. This is the third year of annual operating losses in a row for the company.

The Wii U sold 2.72 million units over the last 12 months. Lifetime sales stand at 6.17 million units. That number is pretty disappointing for Nintendo if you consider how much longer it has been on the market. Sony's PS4, for example, has sold 7 million units since its released in Q4 2013.

Nintendo's very first hand-held gaming system, the Game Boy, turns 25 years old today. Nintendo's original Game Boy hand-held was launched on April 21, 1989 and has sold over 118 million units to-date. Nintendo has sold over 118.69 million units - if you include Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Color sales numbers - to date, along with 501.11 million pieces of game software. The first game to be bundled with the Game Boy was Tetris, a juggernaut in its own right.

Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance in 2001, which went on to sell over 81.5 million units worldwide.

Nintendo announced today that it will eliminate some Wi-Fi Connection services worldwide in a few months. Certain online services across the Nintendo DS, DSi and Wii consoles will no longer be available after May 20, including online play, leaderboards and matchmaking. The shutdown is set to take place on May 20, and will affect all regions.

Nintendo announced today that it has prevailed in a patent infringement case at the International Trade Commission brought by Technology Properties Limited LLC, Phoenix Digital Solutions LLC and Patriot Scientific Corporation. All three of the plaintiffs in the case are patent-licensing companies (companies who hold rights to patents, but do not actually use them to produce products or services). The commission sided with Nintendo, ruling that that the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DSi systems do not infringe the companies' patents.

Following Nintendo's less-than-stellar fiscal report last month and the company's investor briefing (which laid out plans that not everyone thought were all that clear cut), the company has revealed a 114.2 billion-yen ($1.1 billion) share buyback plan set to launch tomorrow.

One of the things that might have been missed in Nintendo's investor briefing last week (as Kotaku points out) is the fact that the company is really down on the idea of free-to-play and micro-transactions.

During an investor briefing Wednesday night Nintendo president Satoru Iwata laid out the company's plans for 2014, which he hopes will turn things around for the company. Iwata laid out plans for the Wii U in 2014 including new marketing initiatives, new game releases and technology, and a focus on making sure that consumers understand that the Wii U's Gamepad is not just an add-on to the original Wii.

As it released financial results for the nine-month period ending Dec. 31, and sales figures for the Wii U and 3DS (and associated software), Nintendo also announced that its key executives would take pay cuts from February to June of this year. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced that he will take a 50 percent pay cut in response to the company's continued financial problems, while Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda will both take a 30 percent cut in pay. Seven other members of the company's board will also take a 20 percent pay cut.

After announcing that the company had lowered its fiscal year forecast dramatically, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata apologized to investors for the expected third consecutive annual loss, but said he would not resign or initiate any kind of "immediate management restructuring."

According to Reuters, Iwata told reporters that "There will be no major management shake-up in the short term."

Nintendo has revised its forecasts for the fiscal year to a net loss of $240 million (25 billion yen) due to weak sales of the Wii U during the holiday shopping season, according to a syndicated Bloomberg report. The company described its year-end sales of Wii U consoles and software as "far below expectations."

Last week we asked our readers, "Will Nintendo try to quash the work-around for the 3DS region lock?" The voting was almost evenly split between two trains of thought: that Nintendo would patch out its region lock in a firmware update or that Nintendo would find some way to kill the work-around devised by the 3DS community because it doesn't like to make money.