I don't like the word legitimized in the context they are using it in since it was never illegit to play video games as a form of entertainment, they can say that they had broadened the market in the PSX era on the home console front, and I'd say the current market has not expanded much in the user base of console gaming as a whole since the split is too great, and there are a lot of multi console owners this generation. What Nintendo did this gen was they came in and greatly disrupted the market(not really expand, but kept it stable in total user base thus far) in their favor and I doubt even they didn't know such strategy would be so successful. Anyways, expanded, yes, legitimized, fuck no.
Console talk aside though, handheld gaming has always been strong with Nintendo, and I'd say the handheld gaming has expanded more than any other offering or anything Sony has ever offered, from the 80 some million GBA sales to the amazing 130 mil DS in the 5 years that it's been out even with Sony doing almost 60mil at this point on their handheld. With the 3DS coming out, they will excite even more of the market flow, drawing in a complete different crowd with it as well. Nintendo overall has done way more when you are talking about combined effort imo, at least they are willing to try different things when it comes to hardware and keep it at an affordable price.
