Things have been on the decline for the gaming industry over the last couple years, and one need look no further than industry veteran Nintendo's recent financial results for proof of this. Indeed, the company reported a loss of $366 million for the 2012 fiscal year yesterday — Nintendo's second consecutive year reporting negative operating income.

Nintendo fell short of its predicted loss of $220 million for the year, largely due to weak sales of its new next-generation console, the Wii U. Indeed, the console has sold only 3.45 million units since its November 2012 launch, missing the goal of 4 million that the company had hoped to hit and failing to match the number of original Wii units sold, 3.98 million, during the year.

While not the most disastrous launch in console history, the Wii U did suffer some issues in its first few months on the market that may explain its sales performance. Namely, the console suffered from firmware issues, and delays in software development pushed back a number of game releases.

Nintendo seems confident, however, that it can turn this situation around, as the company also revealed a list of upcoming titles for both the Wii U and its handheld 3DS system yesterday. In typical Nintendo fashion, many of these releases turn to fan-favorite series in order to capture consumer interest. For example, the 3DS will see a new Legend of Zelda release before the end of the year, which is a direct continuation of the classic Super NES title, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

Likewise, EarthBound will return to North America for the first time in 20 years, being released through the Wii U Virtual Console service.

While many see the Wii U's performance as a sign of mobile gaming toppling the console market, it's worth noting that Nintendo has a history of releasing consoles that perform poorly initially but pickup in sales down the line, often following a price cut, as was the case with the 3DS. The Wii U is also the first next-generation console to be released and it seems that developers aren't keen to make next-generation games until Microsoft (News - Alert) and Sony get their new consoles on the market.