Nintendo Wii vs, the Playstation 3

At the time when new versions of the Sony Playstation 3 and the Microsoft XBox 360 were being planned and under development, the whole industry was about which one would emerge the winner. And the answer was, of course the one with a stronger heart, the one that had more computing and graphics power, since only computing power and graphical speed could enable more life like games, and make animation seem almost real. Another factor was about the number of games that would be developed for these platforms, but that was not seen to be much of a worry, since game developers would of course develop games for the Playstation and XBox, after all, these were backed by mega corporations.
As for existing vendors, forget it. Nintendo was a has-been, not capable of matching the power and abilities of Sony and Microsoft. But then, rumours started swirling about the new games controller being available with Nintendo, apparently something that would allow more closer involvement with actions in the game. And this is now reality. The Nintendo Wii has changed the name of the game, being the hottest selling gaming console. It has also brought forward the notion that one should not assume what will sell and what will not. The power of design and building user delight comes to life again, something similar to what the iPod is in the world of the portable music player. Refer this article about the sales figures:

Nintendo's Wii gaming console, not yet one year old, could be the best consumer electronics product—ever. In contrast, the Sony PlayStation 3 is shaping up as one of the industry's biggest flops. Rarely have I seen such extremes in product development and delivery. Nintendo, in my estimation, did everything right. Sony, on the other hand, managed to screw up a decent product in every imaginable way.
Despite my hesitation about the Wii wand/remote, there's nothing difficult or confusing about it. The remote and nunchuck controllers are intuitive, and the Wii offers tons of on-screen guidance in case you ever get confused. The PS3 offers no comparable controller or innovative ease of use.

Sony has many other problems with the Playstation 3. In the race between Blue-Ray and HD-DVD, Sony wanted to load the Blue-Ray on the Playstation with the ability to play high-quality movies; expectation being that as the product reaches millions of consumers, Blue-Ray will become more prominent. It really did nothing of the sort, just making the Playstation more expensive. Figures from Amazon show the difference.
In the end however, it is the success of the ease of the use of the Wii which has made it a hit. In families, people not used to playing with game consoles have found that the controller makes it easy to play whichever game they are confident about. Maybe this will give both Sony and Microsoft something to think about.