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.

Your ignoring the question most probably because the answer hurts you too much , the question wasn't "what company would kill the gaming industry dead with it's depature" was it ?. Of course any gaming company would be expendable but that's beside the point. Sony and Nintendo offer alot to this industry and have both invested heavily in the growth of the gaming industry , Microsoft tried to elbow their way in buying exclusivity , aggresivley dropping the prices of the consoles to the point where they're unlikely to be even profiting of it , released shoddy , poor quality hardware and so on.

*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.