Alright, we have possibly the most competitive videogame console market since, well, the last generation of consoles (PS2, GCN, and Xbox). However, Nintendo isn't even really IN the console war right now, since their core market and console can hardly be said to overlap with the other two companies' markets and hardware offerings. Saying that the Wii is outselling the PS3 as evidence of how Nintendo is "beating" Sony is akin to clambering about how the Ford Taurus is outselling the BMW Z3. Well, no shit. The Wii is a great system at an affordable price. The PS3 is a monster-powerful system at an outrageous (still) price. Of course the Wii is going to outsell the PS3. Hell, the PS2 is outselling the PS3. The Wii would have to be a flawed system to not sell well, which its not. The great thing about all this is that nobody, Sony nor Nintendo, saw it coming.
See, Nintendo looked at the 6th generation of systems and saw how their Gamecube was getting its ass kicked in sales and third-party support. So when they were designing the Wii, which started a loooong time ago, they looked at a few facts: Sony and Microsoft have much deeper pockets than Nintendo, since both former have their fingers in literally dozens of tech markets, whereas lil' ol' Nintendo just makes videogames and consoles. So, in any console war where product offerings are similar, Nintendo would be at a disadvantage since they couldn't afford to price cut, buy exclusive rights from third-party publishers, or do any number of other competitive and potentially hostile things a corporation can do if it has the money to burn. Pretty much the only exclusive titles Nintendo has are all made in-house.
Secondly, Nintendo knew it couldn't afford to take a gamble on designing a system like the PS3. In the history of the company, no console Nintendo has ever made has been technologically inferior to its competitors. The Gamecube was a little iffy, but it sat right up their with the Xbox and PS2 in performance. However, seeing Sony and Microsoft designing these uberpowerful consoles that would cost upwards of $500-1000 to manufacture (and then be sold at a loss), Nintendo politely folded and decided to try another angle. Instead of a monster machine, why not a FUN machine? Something thats just fun to play, not necessarily with face-melting graphics and a couple hundred online features that nobodies really THAT interested in, but a cheap, simple game console that anyone would be happy to play. Nintendo wasn't trying to reinvent the wheel, but it was trying to change people's perceptions about videogames and the people who play them. Why cater to a niche' market when you can sell a product that will appeal to everyone? Nintendo wasn't outrightly saying "screw gamers, we want grannies to buy our next system", but its hard to argue that Nintendo wasn't putting less stock in its traditional customers' wants. Frankly, Nintendo can be lauded for its genius in marketing the Wii and DS to non-traditional videogame customers.
However, Nintendo had no idea the gold mine they'd struck when they released the Wii. Yeah, it sold out overnight. Most consoles do when they're first released. Six months passed. Still sold out. A year. Holy shit people are still buying these things faster than we can make them! Its been 17 (!) months since the Wii was released, and I still can't walk into WalMart and buy one off the shelf. Nintendo never anticipated having the fastest selling console in console history. If they had, they might have planned to manufacture more at one time. The fact that they waited to increase production shows that Nintendo, months after the initial release when people were
So theres the genius of Nintendo. Next we discuss the hubris and idiocy, with occasional sprinklings of traditional wisdom and forethought, of Sony.
