Nintendo has their dominance because they have a couple of key strategies to appeal to a mass market audience that Sony and MS simply are incapable of doing, being large corporations that have not been solely game companies. Their first big strategy is taking gaming back to its roots of raw arcade style gameplay. If you look in an acrade, even nowadays when the popularity of arcades has dwindled, you see people of all ages, both male and female. Wii in large part appeals to THIS crowd. Arcade type of games appeal to many because they are so accessible and fun. They are simple to jump into, yet complex to master. These are the games Nintendo, like Sega, does best. That is why I was happy with this years E3, because Nintendo seems to be embracing this stlye more than ever, with Metroid Other M, Kirby, and Donkey Kong Country. Sony and MS simply don't make these types of games. Rather, they mostly make games that are more similar to movies, with long cut scenes, heavy dialoge, and epic storylines, that most people just don't care about in their games. They want to be in control, they want fun, and they want it NOW.
The second major strategy for Nintendo has been to experiment with new ideas in order to grab new audiences who have never played games before. As we know, the biggest success story with this is Wii Fit, while Wii Music failed. Wii Fit gave people who normally wouldn't give games a second look a reason to be interested, because the game served a new purpose besides simply entertainment; it helped you lose weight. This helped to bring in a new audience consisting mainly of women in their 30s-50s, who before had been ignored for gaming. Wii Sports I view as a combo between both strategies, as it consisted of raw arcade style gameplay, but made it a social experience as well, that got new gamers interested.The key for this strategy is branching out to new audiences by making games that give them a reason to look, when nothing else has.
With the N64 and Gamecube, Nintendo did not use either of these strategies. They confined themselves to the more complex cinema style games in an effort to show off their console's power. The games were mostly in 3D, highly complex for most people, and did not make an effort to draw in NEW gamers. They were often very "linear" games, which I believe most people do not like. Unfortunately for them, this was playing by Sony and MS terms, and when you play by the terms of giant corporations like Sony and MS, you are probably going to lose. It was a Nitendo console, but at heart was more similar to a Sony and MS console. Wii has again allowed Nintendo to grow, because Nintendo fell back to their arcade roots and bringing back many of the oldschool NES and arcade gamers who were forgotten about, and in the process have reached out to new audiences that other companies did not bother trying to appeal to at all. They are back to playing on their own terms, rather than Sony and MS's terms. Now instead of Nintendo trying to be like Sony and MS, the reverse has occured, and you have Sony and MS trying to be like Nintendo.
As long as Nintendo continues to embrace their arcade roots, they will dominate, because these are the types games that appeal to the most people. Of course, they also need to try more experiments like Wii Fit, and attempt to expand gaming to new audiences.
