Nintendo has reported its results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, and they weren't pretty. The company reported an annual operating loss of 37.3 billion yen (approximately $460 million), the first time in the company's history of reporting such a loss. This is a slight improvement from its adjusted forecast from January, which predicted a 45 billion yen loss.

Read more: 3DS selling at a loss, Wii U sales predictions »

Nintendo recently released its financial figures, along with software charts that span the 2011 calendar year. Taking a closer look at the figures, an analyst points out that 3DS owners must have been starved for Mario, because games featuring the pudgy plumber surpassed all of the launch titles despite a much shorter sales window, creating yet another year of third-parties left in the dust.

Read more: Only three third-party games hit top-ten »

It's easy to forget that the original DS drew as much criticism as the 3DS did earlier this year. Nintendo's bulky dual-screen stylus-controlled system had little to convince us that the death of the Game Boy Advance was warranted, and that the DS would be the future of handheld gaming. A terribly-controlled Mario 64 port and ill-advised Metroid FPS game didn't win over critics, either. But then, Nintendo surprised us with Nintendogs, Brain Age, Elite Beat Agents, and other brilliant "made for DS" games. Super Mario 3D Land is the first game on the 3DS that had us thinking "hey, this 3D gimmick might be pretty good."

Read more: Why Super Mario 3D Land made our list »

With the holidays behind us and a new year begun, video game companies can get back to the important work of boasting about how great they are. Reporting a "great holiday season," Nintendo reveals that over 4 million Nintendo 3DS handhelds have now been bought in the US, while Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 have raced past the million sales mark to become the fastest-selling titles in their franchises' histories.

Read more: Skyward Sword also gone platinum »

Jeff surprises Xav and Garnett this week with tales of his first few nights fighting to survive in Minecraft. He's been hard at work with his virtual pick and shows signs of being in for the long haul with the game. Garnett took advantage of the holiday time to get into Uncharted 3. A discussion of authored stories versus interactivity follows that pulls in the far different approach taken in Skyrim as a contrast. Mario also gets good time this week with both 3D Land and Kart finding their way into Xav and Jeff's hands. The latest on plans for Mass Effect 3 and an upcoming patch to fix the patch for Skyrim top the news highlights and it all wraps up with Finishing Moves.

Listen: Episode Weekend Confirmed 88 »

Super Mario 3D Land is one of the best-reviewed 3DS games yet, thanks to its successful merging of old-school 2D Mario gameplay with 3D enhancements. Now game director Koichi Hayashida has shared thoughts on the crossroads of the two Mario styles, from suits to stages.

"We felt that there was something missing in the evolution of Mario gaming between Super Mario World and Super Mario 64," Hayashida said. "This feeling gave us the idea that we could create something interesting by applying 2D Mario rules to the 3D Mario know-how that we had accumulated."

Read more: 'What type of gameplay do we want to create?' »

Nintendo is claiming new sales records for two of its recent holiday launches. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, seen by many as Wii's swan song, has sold 535,000 units since its launch one week ago, making it "the fastest-selling Zelda game ever" according to NOA president Reggie Fils-Aime.

Super Mario 3D Land also performed well for the publisher, with Nintendo claiming it the "fastest selling portable Mario game in company history," selling more than 500,000 units since its launch two weeks ago.

Read more: 3DS sales triple thanks to Mario »

With Super Mario 3D Land, Nintendo introduced a firmware update to improve friends lists. Most notably, it added a "Join Game" feature to jump into a multiplayer game, which was an odd choice to include in a strictly single-player game. The first game to actually support the feature is the upcoming Mario Kart 7, so now we can see just how it works.

Watch: A look at joining up in MK7 »

Super Mario 3D Land isn't due until November 13 in the States, but Japanese gamers are cracking open their copies to find a surprise. The game includes a mandatory firmware update for the 3DS, which adds a new feature for your friends list.

Read more: Hopping into friends' games with ease »

Nintendo's 3DS slate has been fairly light since launch, but heavy hitters, such as Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7, should help bolster the library this holiday season. While Nintendo could release more games on the platform this year, company president Satoru Iwata says they've strategically kept some games out of 2011 to maximize their sales potential.

Read more: This year 'so dense' that additional software sales would suffer »

Mario's tall, cowardly brother will be playable in Super Mario 3D Land, as revealed by a lengthy new gameplay video. Art director Kenta Motokura revealed that Luigi will be accessible in special stages, which open after beating world 8-4 with Mario. As in previous games, Luigi will be a bit lighter on his toes than Mario.

Watch: Eight minutes of Mario 3DS »

There was one crucial omission to the Nintendo 3DS launch library: Mario. Nintendo is making up for his absence with not one, but two Mario games for the handheld this holiday season. The first is Super Mario 3D Land, the "first-ever true 3D Mario platforming adventure." Developed by Nintendo's Tokyo team, the same team responsible for the Super Mario Galaxy series, the game will take advantage of the gyroscope by allowing players to find secrets before they play a level. There's StreetPass functionality, too. Super Mario 3D Land will be available on November 13.

Next up is Mario Kart 7.

Watch: New trailers for both games »

The impending 3DS price drop isn't a healthy sign for its sales, but Nintendo executives have been surprisingly candid about their missteps with the device. Now Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime is joining in acknowledging that the system simply didn't launch with enough strong software. Ambitious projections based on early excitement made the slower sales all the more surprising to the company.

Read more: 'Our expectations were extremely high' »

As part of its Flame Red 3DS announcement today, Nintendo also dropped release targets for two of its most anticipated 3DS games. The company announced that Super Mario 3D Land will be hitting in November, and Mario Kart 7 will follow in December.

Read more: Nintendo's franchise entries so far »

QUICKTAKE: 3DS has been home to a number of heavy-hitters from Nintendo's pantheon of franchises. But, it's been missing the most important one of them all: Mario. The new Super Mario game for 3DS, developed by the same team responsible for Super Mario Galaxy, is a defining game for the platform and helps sell how 3D can not only enhance, but be a vital part of, gameplay.

THE DEMO: There are four small levels playable in the E3 demo. Each of the levels takes advantage of 3D in different ways, thanks to some very clever camera work. One level in particular stunned: a Mario Bros. 3-inspired warship with spiked pistons that literally jump out of the screen. I had access to the Fire Suit, but I ended up playing almost exclusively with the Tanooki suit. But, can you blame me? Read more »