Nintendo doing well is not a new phenomenon. Cheap last generation hardware almost ALWAYS outsells the latest and greatest but has a shorter shelf life. Both the Playstation and PSOne sold most of their huge 100 million+ sales when they dropped so far (to about 100 dollars) that they were easy impulse buys. The Wii just started where the PS2 and PS1 ended up, as cheap last gen tech that can be had cheaply.
Its not like Sony couldn't have made a PS2.5 and undercut Nintendo on the Wii, but they made a conscious decision to prioritize HD adoption rather then simply units sold. They're playing a vastly different game. Nintendo likes to make money only in video games so they make cheap last gen hardware (the N64 was way behind vs PS1 and Saturn, the Gamecube was way behind both PS2 and Xbox, the Wii is behind vs 360 and PS3) that makes money early and provides a platform for their rerun 1st party games which more or less never change over decades.
If you play N64 versions of all the Wii games there's not much difference (I would go further back but N64 moved things to 3D so they're more exactly the same though Galaxy is damn similar to Super Mario Bros). Mario 64 is incredibly similar to Galaxy, Orcania of Time is almost identical to Twilight Princess, Mario kart is identical to the early 90s SNES game (even pulling in some of the same stages). Nintendo capitalizes on old ideas and old tech and makes a lot of money doing it, but not as much as Sony does across all its markets. Nintendo this gen has beaten Sony marginally in gaming revenue (by about 10-20% depending on quarter) but Sony has made huge gains in HDTV sales, receiver sales, Blu Ray sales and countless other peripheral markets that depend on cutting edge tech to drive business. I've spent thousands on Sony gear that can use the PS3's 1080p high def technology I would never have bought for a Wii (I can't even get above 480p graphics with that)
Go ahead and say Nintendo is "winning" on gaming revenue, but do you really want 2001 graphics for the next 20 years? Every time I see imagine babies and the like all over gamestop (and sales charts) now it makes me very sad, but just because a company can clean up making mainly cheap crap with high margins doesn't mean that a cutting edge company like Sony doesn't have a position (and isn't making WAY more revenue then Nintendo ever could across gaming and related electronics). The only one really losing is MS who has about 30% of either Nintendo's or Sony's gaming revenue and has none of Sony's related tech sales unless the RROD makes you want to buy a Zune.
Don't forget to add in PS2 for your end of 2008 predictions, if you look at the charts the PS2 is still selling hundreds of thousands of units per month (and millions near the holidays).
PSN ID: ChosenOne feel free to add me
