As has been widely reported by the enthusiast press, Nintendo has taken a different approach with their newest console, mainly in an attempt to get your grandfather to start playing video games. Given their ambitious endeavor, one could argue that Nintendo isn’t directly competing with Sony or Microsoft, or just not in the way those two companies are with one another. If you find that hard to swallow, consider that it’s exactly what Nintendo President Satoru Iwata is saying.
"Our focus has been on how we could make those who had not been interested in TV games so far become interested. So we are not really thinking about competing with PlayStation 3," Iwata told Japan Today. "Although we are not really thinking about winning against Sony, we do hope to make efforts so that in the end, the number of units sold by Nintendo surpasses that of Sony."
Sounds to me like Nintendo wouldn’t mind winning this battle. But don’t they need to compete to win?
Right now, Nintendo is set to blow the PlayStation 3 (and Xbox 360, for that matter) out of the water in terms of sales. This week, the Wii shattered the UK record for fastest selling console, with reportedly as many as 105,000 units sold (over the previous mark of 70,000 Xbox 360s). With the remaining inevitable PS3 shortages and a European launch that is still months away, Nintendo is in a good position to put some ground between itself and Sony and to catch up on Microsoft’s year-long head start.
