Somehow, people believe that Nintendo is so great because of some magical faerie.
No, Nintendo is not operating like most western companies. They are ALWAYS innovating, searching for new way to make games. They see every caveats, every good ideas and try to make them into something good and enjoyable.
That's why an idea they started to explore 10 years before becomes such a great game.
They also have that "picture culture", like most japanese people have, but that most westerners lack. The thing that make you love some graphics, despite them lacking polygons, detailed textures, ... the very numbers that most westerners love so much. I'm still chuckling (shinobiwarai would be a good term for japanese) when I see people amazed that a game like Wii Sports is selling more than Gears of War in Japan. A lot of westerners can't understand that, as the "numbers" on Gears of Wars side are all bigger.
Nintendo is always innovating, but the competition doesn't understand them, or even their games, so they just can't understand how to copy them and do as good.
But don't worry, Nintendo always made profit, and that's sad to say but they still are the most innovative company in gaming. Most innovations come from them, and yet, they nearly always made profit. So I don't understand how can someone come to fear that it won't go on like before.
Sure, their home console sales are declining, people want something else, that happens. They must change, that's all. I was never a Nintendo fan, I don't even love most of their games (Mario, Donkey Kong, Metroid), but I must admit I'm always impressed by the appeal their game have, and the quality they have.
I think quality is what impressed me the most with Nintendo : they just don't compromise with quality. Compare to the two other players, and it's striking ! They just won't release a defect product to you, even if there are supply shortages, and they will replace your slightly broken unit (one pixel dead on a DS) right away, even if there are shortages. The great quality of their product is what made me buy the GC to begin with. My last Nintendo console was the SNES, which still works perfectly well.
The Wii was such a huge risk. 4 months after launch, I'm still hearing the doom sayers talk about lack of HD, gimmick controller, fad passing, supply shortages luring to other consoles (shinobiwarai), ... And it's not finished yet, now we have poor 3rd parties games, games drought, ...
But I learned sth, looking at forums with lots of hardcore gamers : they are impossible to please, always complaining about sth, so there's no point in trying to please them.
