But Nintendo doesn't count….

How often have we heard this so far? To many if you ask me. Sure the PS3 and 360 claim to be the next gen systems that are competing for the space next to the TV, but did you know they are gaming machines? The Wii along with the DS are gaming machines too! My word how did this little bit of information skim past our delicate knowledge of gaming?

All 360 worried about was the lead and then once the Wii became the console leader suddenly the biggest install base isn’t important, it’s software. Well if software is the most important for a gaming machine then the DS has that award in spades. Oh but I forget my title is about how Nintendo doesn’t count.

PS3 is starting out just like the PS2 did with low sales. It has a million sold in Japan while Wii has 4 million, but Sony doesn’t like to talk about that because the PS3 and the Wii are not the same thing. I’m sorry but I was under the impression that they both played games, they both have ways to play older games, and they both have this ability to plug into the TV for a fight of shelving space just like the 360. Wii is also only 250 while the others are rather higher up on the price point. Now how is that not part of competition? I believe they can even call it a competitive price point. So is it that they are not in the same category or is it that it just wouldn’t be fair?

NDS has now sold 50 million units worldwide. It can be argued that it’s the most played system out there as of now. It has more units then the 360, PS3 and Wii combined along with more software sold then them as well. As a gaming system this is the console to make games for just as the Wii is with it’s now sudden 9+ million, thusly making direct competition for the other consoles game library. If said company is making 5 games for the DS 2 for the Wii were or were can they find the time to make a game for the other two?

While the fans of 360 and PS3 will always look down at Nintendo they need to come to terms that with this rise in popularity and shear numbers of units and software sales every developer and publisher are wanting to make as many games for those 2 as possible. So you can say how Wii and DS do not matter but when you start to notice a thinning of upcoming games for those systems and a growing number of upcoming games for Nintendo just keep telling yourself, ‘but Nintendo doesn’t count’. See how far that gets you.

I don’t care how many Microsoft published games come out on the DS they are still publishing games to a competitor and while there 360 games of the same name won’t sell the DS brethren will most certainly, but it will do no good for the next iteration if they deiced to bring it back to the 360. Once you start with Nintendo it’s hard to go back. Look what happened to Rare; the once loved and honored developer now looks like a whore (opinionated obviously but still). What with mishaps (ie Ghost and Ghouls) and just okay games (Kameo, PDZ and Viva) now have to save their name by bringing their most anticipated 360 games to the DS. Competition or perhaps only hope?

With Sony putting more attention back on the PS2 and making more of a push for that system again only makes a stronger case for the Wii. Thanks to Sony the Wii will be a lot more games for it and should be thought of a direct competitor with the systems. For all developers already know how to make games for the two and publishers love the fact that it’s relatively cheap to make. The only question the developers have is how to use the Wii Remote which as everyone can guess is the make it or break it problem.

Everyone talks exclusives for that’s a great way of competition. All new games are coming out for either 360, PS3, or Wii, DS, and PSP so if a game is Wii only how is it not in competition? Metroid came out a week after Bioshock and no 360 fan was saying how we shouldn’t be comparing Bioshock with Metroid for Bioshock had more sales. If for some reason Metroid sold more then Bioshock we would have heard no end to how it doesn’t matter. Again as gamers we can’t cherry pick we have 5 systems (consoles and handhelds) that new games are coming out and are competing with gamer’s money. Sounds like competition for me. If someone buys Zelda: Phantom Hour Glass over Uncharted because they only had so much then guess what DS won a battle over PS3. If someone buys Mario over Assassins Creed because they feel they would enjoy Mario better then Wii just won over PS3/360. It can go the other way as well.