It's over.

[your mother]

z64dan said:
Nintendo has gotten out of the whole 5-year console war thing. They will release a system whenever they want to, however they want to. They have proven that they can consistently lower their price point, and then release an improved system at the same price point (DS/DS Lite). Nintendo has proven they can be 100% backwards compatable with any game ever released on their systems. They could theoretically release a Wii2 with a hard drive capabilities and PS3-like graphics in 3 years, while still being 100% backwards compatable with Wii and GC games. Think Nintendo DS. It could still play GBA games, but you could also play DS games! Nintendo knows the consumers want added value to their older purchases. Now I don't have to throw away my GC games, I can still play them! Nintendo would be able to release a Wii2 in 3 years and still let us use the normal Wii controllers, and it could also add other innovative features, while still being 100% backwards compatible. Nintendo is no longer running on Microsofts and Sonys schedule. They make their own rules now.

Beautifully said and an excellent point. While the other two console manufacturers have been slowly backing out of their initial stances of "of course we are backward-compatible with the last-gen console" (Xbox360, PS3, I'm looking at you), only Nintendo has actually pulled this off - and without even having to resort to empty promises that were never fulfilled, or having to hype it in the first place.

While Sony and Microsoft are playing hardball,  it really is Nintendo who has created a completely different ballgame - one that seems to appeal much more to consumers as a whole.