Nintendo's Ability to Move On

[superchunk]

I think you are simplifying it a bit. Simple truths. 1. A very small percentage of people own a tv capable of displaying HD resolutions currently exist. 2. HD content, which will push the sells of HD tvs, will not be mainstream in the US until 2009 and Japan 2011. So, it will be a few more years before HD tvs become the majority to sets in homes. Keeping this in mind you have two distinct choices. A. Buy a $600 PS3 / 360 w/ HDDVD drive to enjoy your HD games on your SD tv for a couple of years until you can finally get that HD tv. (unless your one of the 15% crowd that is an early adopter and already have an HD tv). B. Buy a $250 Wii that looks great on your component cabled SD tv. Then in 3 years pay another $250 for WiiHD, now that you finally have an HD tv to actually enjoy the HD content. Spending a total of $500 on a system that best matched your viewing abilities. Plus, get the added bonus of a newer gen Wii that will have better graphics; being that it came out 3-4 years after the others and will have the benefit of hindsight on how to dramatically enhance the capabilities of that level of hardware. I choose the more sensible option of B. Especially sense once you include inflation for the 3 year gap the WiiHD is actually closer to $200, and due to overall lower dev costs games stay at the $50 price point the whole time. So I say keep your 360/PS3 for the 10-year life cycle (more like 7 if previous gens are to be considered), if anyone will actually be able to own only one during that time. I don't know a person who hasn't had to get a new 360 yet and if history proves true with the ps1/2 the ps3 will also need to be replaced at least once. Though so far the PS3's out there, granted a very small amount, haven't had many issues to the hardware.