Actually, it's not rediculous because Microsoft trying to aquire Nintendo actually happened.  Whether Nintendo had any intentions or not, it was only when Microsoft made clear that they wanted Nintendo to stop making consoles to make software for
the at the time up coming Xbox.  That's when Nintendo told Microsoft to take a hike.

 EXACTLY.

Still ,as long as they are second or third in a three race they will be giving choice.But for that is important that they dont win ever.

Wii is a threat to ps360 not because of what gamers will buy it but because of how it could impact the developers. If Wii ends this generation with PS2 level of domination then MS and Sony are screwed next gen; developers will commit their resources to the Wii2, giving only the scraps to Sony and MS, but neither of them have the 1st party development strength to support their console alone (as Nintendo has done in its lean times).

hahaha... Sony is one of Microsoft's biggest partners to... their film studio just switch to MS products and all their computers run MS Windows

MS is like the big school ground bully. Living in an eternity of greed. Their work ethic is totally wrong. they should be concentrating on making a better console and offering more value for money rather then trying to destroy the competition in whichever way they can.

If Sony ever happens to leave the market, it won't be long before MS go after Ninty. After all, the way MS operates it similar to the Highlander principles, "there can only be one".

For gamers, this is nothing but bad news. Since MS has dominated the PC market, there is nothing they have offered the customers that is actual value for money or a top end product.

They are now competing with Apple and we all know how Vista turned out to be!
The Zune maybe good, but it isn't anywhere near as good as an Ipod or a creative Zen.
MSN search is nowhere near as good as Google.
Google created Google maps, MS decided to copy, but again it failed to be as successful as Google Maps.
Sony seems to be another hit on their list and how long can Sony fend MS off?!

What will MS do if they start battling all these competitors simultaneously but with no positive results?
So far, financially, the results seem to be having spent more money to kill their competition then actually having succeeded in either of the avenues.

MS should go back to basics. To what made MS in the 1st place, that is to create and be creative. Instead of focussing on the competition, they should focus on themselves becoming a better industry.

trying to monopolise has already cost them millions of dollars in law suits. Looks like MS will never learn!

M$ has never been about being creative.  What made MS in the 1st place, was walking down the street and buying a crap OS (QDOS - stands for Quick & Dirty OS) and then reselling it to IBM to make a fortune:

The "Microsoft Disk Operating System" or MS-DOS was based on QDOS, the "Quick and Dirty Operating System" written by Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products, for their prototype Intel 8086 based computer.

...

Microsoft bought the rights to QDOS for $50,000, keeping the IBM deal a secret from Seattle Computer Products.

Gates then talked IBM into letting Microsoft retain the rights, to market MS DOS separate from the IBM PC project, Gates proceeded to make a fortune from the licensing of MS-DOS.

If you think any serious attempt to aquire Nintendo was made, then you are out of your mind.

From what I could find, Nintendo's market value is around 100 billion US dollars.  Remember, Microsoft would have to pay a premium per share to make this deal worthwhile for Nintendo shareholders.  For example, InBev had to pay a 27% pemium on Budweiser's record share price.  That's steep even for Microsoft.  Especially since gaming is not Microsoft's core business, and that is the only thing that Nintendo does.

A company with as long a history as Nintendo would not give up so easily.  Especially to a foreign company with very different values.  This would not happen.

This is just another example of the arrogance of Microsoft.

   This has never been true in any industry in the history of electronics.  I cannot think of one single area from internet browsers to office software to OSes to mobile phones to.....anything else, that has been significantly improved by Microsofts contributions.  They stonewall open source ideas, force innovators out of the market to maintain monopolistic pricing and do everything they can to keep quality products from upsetting their corrupted ecosystem.

   I cannot think of any other company that is more aggressive about destroying competition and replacing superior products with inferior products as they leverage their monopoly in other areas (and the cash it brings in).  They aren't making 10s of billions in profit because Vista and Office are a good value to consumers at 400+ dollars a pop.

Duh...PS2 sold over 100 million console, wtf else are you going to go after? I don't see people going...yeah...I'm REALLY going out to be the number 2 or 3 company...no it's numero uno baby. Nintendo just did a masterful job in getting the Wii out...I remember my first reaction to the news of the new console from them. It was one of disbelief that Nintendo would launch a console with graphics no better than the last gen's stuff...but they proved it's all about packaging for the gamer...the next console gen will be a cagey battle, imho. I think they need to stagger their releases to get past many of they genre battles...

I can understand why MS was focused on Sony as stated it was the market leader and MS has a history of going for number one. Why they are still mostly focused on sony simple, they are going after the 3rd party developers. There are two sets of developers Nintendo and Sony/360. They make different games for the nintendo, but the Sony/360 is the same crowd if they can beat sony they get more developer support. More dev support better change of victory.

Say what you want about MS they are doing great this round and have set themselves up for a chance in console number 3 of finally coming out on top.