Nintendo will try to reverse the fortunes of its latest handheld game device, the 3DS, by cutting the price to $170 starting tomorrow in the U.S.  But the company’s latest struggles have put it under renewed pressure to relent and start making games for mobile phones, such as Apple’s iPhone, not just for its own machines.

Bloomberg News offers an extensive look at the issue today, pointing to smartphones as the new battleground for the video game industry. A fund manager tells the news service that “Nintendo should try to either buy its way into this platform or develop something totally new.”

As noted by Bloomberg, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has said that won’t happen as long as he’s leading the company.

Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Redmond-based Nintendo of America, had this to say on the company’s prospects in an interview with msnbc.com this week:  “We are a company that has faced lots of naysayers and have continued to do quite well for ourselves. So I wouldn’t bet against what we’re looking to bring to the market.”

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