THE definition of “Winning” these days...

[DoesWhatNintenDont]

Mr. Stickball -- Thanks for the concise answers.

And your correct on stating that there will be limitless answers to this question.

I want to take the moment to attempt to possibly clarify and add some minor, yet important, details to my previously posed question and toss in my two cents while at it.

Proving that reality is subjective for each company isn't my goal of this thread, as I think we all deal enough with corporate thinking in day-to-day life to figure this to be a bona-fide variable, rather wish to know what the gamer thinks "Winning" is ultimately these days.

As each console has its own differences and is marketed at different sectors of the market share. As such, each company obviously has different goals and thus a different definition of success.

I think this is why with the addition of the multi-media behemoths consoles are becoming, this question is getting harder to answer, as really the gaming market has been a Trojan horse for OTHER markets. Hence, if you fail as turning money out of the your companies division from games, yet can make profits on different ends as a result ( for example Blu-Ray ), then do you really "lose?"

I feel the last generation of consoles we saw the dawn of this type of thinking in the market. Essentially, each company was sounding the trumpets of success due to different goals met on their own personal ladders, and personally, I don't think we will see this stop.

It seems to me that there isn't much these days beyond sheer dominance that will constitute a certified "win" anymore. That is, the most consoles units sold, the most software sold, the largest growth of market share, and of course the largest profits.

Funny thing is, even if Nintendo happens to tap into some blue oceans of which the big boys couldn't do on their own this gen, it seems the likes of corporate giants can gain some leverage from all this:

As the market place grows ( I.E. more gamers), there is a larger base of consumers who will bear the brunt of the costs for the new "fad technology" (Like Blu-Ray or HD-DVD), to which the big fish use as the initial wave of consumers to drum down costs for the new fancy technology.

Once this is established, these giants can gain a virtual monopoly on the new technology in which to make a killing off of, even if their gaming devisions do poorly on their own.