I think a lot of Nintendos profits back then came from other sources than Video Games.

Pokemon cards are rumoured  to have made more money for Nintendo than the PS2 made during its lifetime.

Irrespective any company that can sell 5 cents worth of cards for 2 dollars isnt going to go hungry any time soon.

The Wii changed gaming? Lol. Only MS is intent on using motion control these days. Also, if people are confident that the PS3 will never pass the Wii sales, why are they claiming that the generation is over and all that matters are the sales during the generation?

Wii.

Released one year later against the box from Redmond, launched in the same year against the King of the previous generation, had the weakest hardware and was laughed at the beginning for unveiling a remote for a controller. Still took everyone by surprise and caught the imagination of a generation.

If this console generation did not extend then there would be no questioning the domination that Ninty did with the Wii.

Nintendo won by far in both home console and handheld console.

Combined you are looking at thorough dominance, over 250 million pieces of hardware, and over 1.6 billion pieces of software sold.

Wii was the most successul followed by the Xbox 360 and then the PS3.

The Xbox 360 trippled the Xbox's sales while PS3 hasnt even sold half of the PS2. Xbox also sold far more games and won over US and UK.

I know people here tend to prefer PS3 but it was easily the least successful.

I voted for the Wii but with the knowledge all consoles were somewhat successful. But the Wii before 2010 was the most successful console ever, it was putting numbers never seen before, but the lack of 3rd party support and weak hardware and the strong growth of the HD consoles cut its life short.

Wii is the most profitable, therefore the most successful

Even if the others sell more (not likely) they will never make a quarter of the Wii's profit

Sony expirience no 'pyrrhic victory' this gen, they need to first get a victory before that's applicable. Given the position Sony was in at the end of the PS2 era, the PS3 is an outright failure.

You are right in the former though and I'll concede the point, my perspective encompasses Nintendo's bussiness direction, which is not the question the OP asked. But to explain my perspective; my opinion is that the success of the Wii with the expanded audience and the subsequent exodus of the core audience damage the brand and decrease the chance of the successor when it got painted in the same brush and failed to also capture the expanded audience.

The pyrrhic victory here should really be Nintendo's and not the Wii.

         Wii won in terms of sales, but overall the PS3 won because that shit will be ballin' until the world ends! PS3 4 Life

and continuing to believing in 3rd party support without a backup plan.

They really need their own eccosystem but they probably won´t build that even though they are expanding their studios.