The plunging stock market value of Nintendo this week caught the Japanese game console maker by surprise, which came following the Tuesday launch of its next-generation Wii U.

So far, Reuters said that Nintendo shares have declined by close to 10 percent since the company unveiled its new product early this week, which will not hit market until late this year or by the early months of 2012.

The new console touted to replace the bestselling original Wii features a tablet-inspired controller that basically replicates the functions of smart gadgets except to process a call via a telecommunication network.

However, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said on Wednesday that judging from the reactions that the product garnered during its presentation, the market reaction seemed puzzling to him, which he noted was basically the same reaction they got when Wii was introduced in 2006.

That reaction, Iwata said, eventually frittered away as Wii went on to reach record sales that trumped all its competitors for years as he told Reuters that "it is easy to get the mistaken impression that this is just a game console with a tablet."

The Nintendo chief added that "people who came to the presentation and tried it out have understood very well that it opens up a lot of new possibilities."

Designers of the upcoming Wii U, according to Nintendo, have intended to lure the core gamers emotionally attached to its rival consoles such as Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox 360 by revising its features that hopefully will bring together former with casual gamers.

Iwata has acknowledged that most of Wii's support comes from the casual gamers, which against the more serious gaming segment of the industry, attract less attention from gaming developers that may constrict the titles that would be available for Nintendo's console.

Experts said that such spectre limits the long-term profitability of the product that investors may be wary of, apart from the sentiments that Nintendo was focusing too much energy hardware concerns that it forgot add up the social networking features of gaming that most industry players have already integrated on their platforms.

The original Wii delivered proven profitability to Nintendo from previous years since it was launched but analysts said that those gains have practically dried up as competitors caught up with innovations, along with smooth adoption of new gaming and social media trends.