Summary
Those game publishers and developers that bet on Sony's PS3 and against Nintendo's Wii are probably now wishing they had done the opposite. The same can be said of the Sony PSP vs. the Nintendo DS. The moral of the story is don't sell an over 100 year old game company short when it comes to being able to innovate and recapture market share.
Analysis
The article lists several top publishers that suffered setbacks due to their strong support of the PS3 and their general lack of support for the Wii. Recent reports show that the Wii has been outselling all platforms in the US, Europe and Japan. The PS2 has even been outselling the PS3, due to the PS3's exhorbitant price tag. Nintendo has always come up with products that innovate and expand the market, rather than just fighting others for market share. The Wii-mote (it's unique motion sensitive remote control) has changed the way games are played. The DS-Lite has revived a vibrant handheld market, despite games being widely available for a variety of cell phones and other devices. Sony's PSP promised to deliver a number of features and did a poor job on most of them.
Nintendo started making Hanafuda (Japanese style) playing cards back in 1889. They later became the official licensee if Disney branded cards, where they learned the value of quality licenses. Rather than fighting electronic games as most US toy companies did, they embraced them. They also strategically timed their entry into the US market shortly after Atari had failed miserably after several years at the top of the US industry.
It was a serious mistake on the part of publishers to count Nintendo out when deciding which platforms to support with their new titles. Nintendo is here to stay. And when you think about it, Nintendo is the only pure game play of the three console manufacturers. They don't have a music and film business or a Windows software division to help them through the rought times. They have to make it on the strength of their consoles and their games.
