I have to run to class, so this might be brief.

Put simply, if the Playstation had never been released 10+ years ago, what would be the current state of gaming?  I've always been a Nintendo fan, but honestly, I think Sony gave them a much-needed kick in the butt, and they've come a long way as a company since then.  Do you think the Wii would exist in its current form if Nintendo had led the market with the N64 and Gamecube?  Would the Gamecube have even been the same?

If there were no Playstations and no Xboxes, then the industry would be completely different. A video games industry with just Nintendo and Sega as major players would've definitely attracted at least one additional competitor. There is money to be made, but I'm not sure at all who would've tried it in a fantasy world where Sony and Microsoft turned it down. Apple trying again? Maybe some other electronics giant? I view the N64's relative failure mostly as a result of Nintendo sticking too closely with the way they did things with the SNES when the audience wanted something else, and the Gamecube's as trying to be a Playstation, but coming short. If there had been no Playstation and the approach taken by the N64 would've worked, who knows where we'd be? It could've been for better or for worse, but most likely worse as I view the current Nintendo that had most of its home console market share taken by Sony, was then forced to rethink its strategy and with Iwata at the helm come up with the winning formula of the Wii and DS is infinitely superior to the old Nintendo ten years ago. I wish I could come up with a better hypothesis, but it's really like asking how the world were now if Hitler never lived, or how the last few years in global politics had gone if a democrat was elected in 2000. Too damn many things that would've gone differently, and too damn many things that would've reacted differently to those and so forth. No comparison of the USA and Nazi Germany intended. =P

I agree. As for Sony, they did put a stop to Nintendo's dominance, which was going sour. Now, the Wii may do the same to Sony's dominance (Third Console Theory-Not exactly the same situation,however). As for Microsoft, I guess they made the first BIG move to online gaming, which is also great. I think that you really cant predict what would have been/might have been if neither entered the industry, so I just pointed out the benefits of both being in the industry.

Before the playstation, console video games were still largely considered kiddie by the mass populace...

Without MS and Sony we wouldn't have the Wii and DS

we would have weak pathetic hardware with nothing but kiddy crap to play on it. Market would be alot smaller, many would probably be pc gamers.

You really think so?

The "weak pathetic" hardware we have now (I'm assuming you're refering to the Wii and DS) are a response to the relatively recent trend of making bigger, more powerful, and much more expensive consoles, then initially selling them at a loss to accumulate market share and making the money back later in the console's life. The Playstation started this trend and was very succesful with this strategy, but the people running Nintendo decided they didn't like it and used cheaper, already existing technology to create a console that offered a different kind of experience at a lower cost.  You might want to read up on Gunpei Yokoi's pet philosophy to understand this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpei_Yokoi#Lateral_Thinking_of_Withered_Technology

The point in all this is that Nintendo probably wouldn't have gone in such a radically different direction with the Wii and DS if the N64 and Gamecube were more succesful, and Nintendo's current flagship product might have well more resembled the current PS3 and Xbox 360 than anything else.

I don't the Wii and DS would have been out, I think would just be ideas on the drawing board! Sony and MS made Nintendo think outside of the box even more than normal.

You seriously need to grow up and gain just a little more objectivity.  Nintendo systems have always had adult content on them, all the way back to the NES (well as adult as you can get on an 8 bit system).  This is also the first generation where they've chosen not to simply increase the power in their console and instead moved in a different direction.

It's obvious where your preferences lie Blue3, but incessantly insulting a rival console just makes you look like a childish fanboi, and a jerk.  Try debating like an adult sometime, people might pay you more attention that way.

 As for the question at hand, there are too many factors that are impossible to consider, but competition in a market is inherantly positive, both for the market and for consumers of that market.  Both the Playstation's and Xbox's have introduced new talent and new ideas, grown the industry, widened the userbase and positively effected video games in general.  However, if neither Sony nor Microsoft had stepped in, someone else would have and the end effect would have been the same.

you seriously need to think before you post.

 If not for Sony entering and expending the market, gaming would still be looked on as something kids only do theres no way games would be as big and mature as they are now.  There would be no Halo or Gran Turismo, maybe on a PC but not on a console.  With out Sonys hardware the technological leaps between generation would not be as big as they are now so we would have "weak pathetic hardware".

And with out sony expending the market beyond kids we would mostly have kiddy games sinve the market would only be KIDS.  Its this simple. 

 If not for MS online gaming would prpbably be non existant, NIn sure as hell would not be pushing online gaming.

 hell without Sony, we would still be playing games on cartridges. (aka weak pathetic hardware)