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Nintendo (prior to 2001) didn't take part in TGS because they had their own expo in September (spaceworld) which was open to the public; since then they have displayed their products at small press functions in the fall rather than go to TGS. The reasons I have heard for this is that Nintendo believes there are too many conferences, these conferences cause too many distractions within development teams, and (with the internet) these conferences do not have the impact they once did.

Now, if Nintendo doesn't show up this year I can't say that TGS would be a worthwhile conference this year; Nintendo platforms account for nearly 75% of hardware and software sales in Japan, and Nintendo (as a publisher) represents 40% of the software sold this year, so their absence would mean that most of the hardware and software that would be sold in the comming year was not going to be displayed.

Anyways ... Sony may be able to dominate but I'm not sure 'domination' of a conference means anything anymore. At one point in time (when people got gaming news from Magazines) months worth of news and articles would come from what was shown at a conference; today a conference represents a week worth of news and a company (like Nintendo) can set up several small press conferences through out the year that have the same impact (for them) as an E3 or TGS conference.