Looking at the current market situation -- Nintendo.

A generation or two ago, you could have had a different answer. However, given that the Wii and DS have opened gaming up to an entirely new audience, one that was not necessarily there previously, the departure of Nintendo could be problematic for the industry.

There were some who at the end of the GC era thought Nintendo should take the Sega route and develop properties for other consoles and that its new console was DOA. Had it chosen just to focus on handhelds or software, we would see probably be wondering today if the PS2 was ever going to die and why no more than 40M people had bought new gaming consoles (as opposed to the 65M now).

Technological improvement does not always mean advancement. The HD consoles are evolutionary improvements of their predecessors. The PSP is just a fancier version of the non-Nintendo handhelds (think of it as a 21st century GameGear). The Wii and DS are revolutionary. This has caused people to rethink their approaches and caused new people to get involved.

Without Nintendo, the industry would be very different. Thus, it would hurt the most if it left gaming. (It is also the least likely to leave because essentially gaming is all it does).

Mike from Morgantown

Correction:   Games focusing on high definition visuals, advanced AI/physics, and more cost much more than games of last generation.

Considering the strength of Microsoft's APIs and tools, I wouldn't be surprised if developing a Wii-esqe title for the 360 turned out to actually be cheaper than doing so on the Wii itself.

I would say nintendo.

If they didn't make a console this gen we would be sitting with super expensive consoles and continue in that path. Developers would go broke from not being able to make enough of a profit on their hd games.

Trust me when I say that the 30 million who own a Wii would not all own a HD console right now.

 Except that the most important company never leaves the industry, only the LEAST important company.

Compare this, Microsoft drops everything game related, so that means:

• Tools
• The Direct X standard
• The Xbox360

All gone, and the result?

1. PC gaming dies and with it GPU development grinds to a halt. (The biggest game platform btw) and all three consoles use PC derived GPUs
2. No bridging ports to get the industry up to speed quickly in a new generation
3. Linux/OSX would take YEARS to bridge the gap between where Windows is now and where they are currently in relation to games.

Microsoft is THE monopoly in the PC gaming market. Its the only platform and there aren't any other players to quickly step in and fill the breach.

You're forgetting the important PC aspect, remember Microsoft has both the 2nd best selling console in this generation AND the biggest single game market wrapped up in its little finger.

If Sony drops dead tomorrow the industry will blink and move on. Their studios? Bought by third parties, Microsoft and Nintendo. What can you do on a PS3 that you can't do on an Xbox360? The PSP? Its Apples next target anyway, they'd just accelerate their plans at moving into the industry.  

Nuh uh , the void that microsoft would leave would be quickly filled  with already existing ( and superior ) alternatives , it would hinder the proggresion of development short-term but be much better for long term as competition = Quality with good value , Monopoloy = Microsoft  = Bloatware , with a crazy price tag.

I don't understand all the technical stuff all that well but isn't OpenGL the less popular but superior alternative to Direct X , Isn't Firefox the less popular but superior alternative to Internet explorer ? I know that VLC media player is the less popular but superior alternative to Windows Media Player , Open Office may not be superior but it is a free alternative to Microsoft Office (which in my eyes makes it superior).

sega...oh wait...im late on that one :p

imo it would have to be sony, they have been an icon since ps1. yeah sure nintendo kept gaming alive in the most troubling times. but if it wasnt for sony i dont think nintendo would have taken gaming to disks for awhile, and then we wouldnt have any of the long awesome games we have now.

but then again...say if microsoft dropped out everyone would go crazy and be all like wtf?! and lose faith in consoles then that would be devasting...well i guess that can be said for anyone so scratch out microsoft and put *insert gaming console/pc giant here*

Sony = Bloatware, the PS3 OS uses far more ram than the Xbox360 and yet the Xbox360 seems to give you more features you can use ingame/online. I wonder why that is!

It doesn't matter what you think of Microsoft, they contribute to gaming from the Hardware to the development tools, and this venture is far greater than their involvement with consoles.

They've also been involved in gaming for far longer than Sony has.

Most developers use Direct3d to develop, only Sony (Not sure what nintendo use) and a few hold out pc developers use openGL. Furthermore the OpenGL 3.0 standard is wayyy overdue.

Yes, but losing the largest publisher, with the top two selling consoles in the industry would. Right now, Nintendo is expanding the industry. In my opinion, there is no doubt which company is more important.

You drop Sony, you lose a few games, the console and handheld, both in last place of their divisions, and Blu-Ray devices.

You drop Microsoft, you lose a lot of industry funding, no big loss there either.

You drop Nintendo, you lose the paradigm shift, which believe it or not, does exist. You lose mainstream acceptance and involvement in the industry, you lose a ton of that money that developers use to "fund core titles" and you lose once again, the top publisher in the world, according to revenue, gross and net, as well as gamerankings ratings.

Also, the symbol. For most people in the world(non gamers) when people drink softdrinks, they are still drinking "coke" when they are using tissue, they are still using "kleenex," when they are playing with building blocks, they are playing with "legos" and then they are playing Videogames, they are "playing Nintendo." Certainly not a deciding factor, but certainly icing on the cake.

Not to mention innovation.

So, what would we lose if Sony, for example, went out of the picture? A few games? What innovation would it cost the gaming industry? What paradigm shift would it hault? Would it stop the expansion of mainstream gaming? Would is destroy the "playstation symbol" in the eyes of the world?

I think we'd lose a few games, a great publisher, and a good console. Huge losses, to be sure, but recoverable. If we lost Nintendo. If another Zelda or Mario game was never going to be released....wouldn't that be a sad day for all people all over the world? Wouldn't it be like losing an old friend.

Bah. Maybe I'm just sentimental. Kids today probably don't care about Mario, or Zelda. They grew up playing Grand Theft Auto and Twisted Metal. It turns out that people become gamers for entirely different reasons. That's why there are different fanboy types. If people could have had my experience. If people could know the happiness I felt, when as a kid, my parents bought me a NES they were barely able to afford, and we stayed up playing Super Mario Brothers all night. If they knew how many years I played Duck Hunt, or how much fun I had playing Mike Tyson's Punchout on the NES, or when I first booted up Super Castlevania, FZero, Secret of Mana, or Link to the Past for the SNES....well, they'd be Nintendo fanboys too, lol.

*bang* you are dead right on. There wasn't even a half hearted attempt to justify the claim. Nor was there intent too. Honestly it just comes to the point above. There are people who you can discuss topics with and there those you can't. See you noticed the intergral flaw of part of my post. That's why you and HappySquirrel were pointed out. You both spend the effort to undestand what is written and the intent. There are others of couse(Zenfolder....), but for shear raw amount of text in this topic I think you both have done alot. I'm not going to. Simply becuase regardless of my personal opions or actuall evidence that can be brought to the table it won't change anyone elses opinion. Well that's not entirely true. There are those like yourself that will starting working with it and see how it fits the model that your working with. That's just awesome.

I'm not going to spend a long length mini article to prove it. I believe even by a quick glance at the last few post. The OP still pretty much states the same intent that he did a the beggining. Is he taking any of the information that has he had the oppertunity to gather and work into his model of the industry. Maybe, if he has kudos, but the simplicity of the post makes me think otherwise.

"imo it would have to be sony, they have been an icon since ps1. yeah sure nintendo kept gaming alive in the most troubling times. but if it wasnt for sony i dont think nintendo would have taken gaming to disks for awhile, and then we wouldnt have any of the long awesome games we have now."

OK heres the interesting part that I'm sure everyone knows. Nintendo did try to take gaming to discs prior to the PS1. the NES had a Disk Drive 3.5 system. They allied with Sony to produce a disc system. They then teamed up with Phillips. If it wasn't for a double screwover by both companies(Nintendo & Sony) gaming would be better off overall. But notice how there is no mention of Nintendos previous attempt. Just a focus on the glorious Sony and it's impact now, but Nintendo is relgated to has been.

I won't say Nintendo is the only one that can do. It can be done by others, but the fact is this generation Nintendo took the firsts steps. Do we take that away from them. I wouldn't. Nor would I take away PS1 pushing gaming where it now. They both have there places in history, but were in the present now.

Anyways I like you Million :)

edit. right forgot to mention. Sorry for being an jerk. It has come off rather harsh. I will try to tone it down after this post though.

Nintendo. If Microsoft left we would still have Sony. If Sony left than we would still have Microsoft. If Nintendo left than that type of gaming would be entirely dead. At least that's how I feel about it.