Nintendo of America held an analyst briefing yesterday, during which the company discussed four key objectives to improve its current market position. First and foremost the company aims to maintain its dominating position in the handheld market. Further objectives include the launch of a new generation of Pokémon titles, an increase in the GameCube's installed hardware base and the two consoles' tie-in ratio. To achieve the latter aim, Nintendo has lowered the royalty fees for its console to fall in line with the competition's rates. In the future some characters might be licensed to outside developers.

In the short-term, Nintendo will try to bank on the popularity of its recently released Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, which will be available as part of a GameCube bundle for $150 USD. The bundle will be available at Wal-Mart stores this month and at retail stores across the nation by next month.

Earlier this week, Nintendo of America's Japanese parent company announced that the company has only shipped 5.6 million GameCube units during the last fiscal year, a mere 56% of the originally expected figure of 10 million. As a result, Nintendo's consolidated net profit and sales were down by 38% and 10% respectively for the fiscal year ending on March 31st, 2003, compared to the previous term.