Control of the Control

Nintendo has had to go through this years E3 gaming show with Sony and Microsoft stealing all the headlines about their new motion controllers. Nintendo went low tech with the Wii in most respects other than the controller, which uses motion to control the device and the games, an absolute revolution when the Wii came to market.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8080698.stm

Sony and Microsoft were always going to join the party with a motion controller at some point but there is still an essential difference within Nintendo regardless of what hardware parity Sony and Nintendo have with them .... software.

The oldest adage in the gaming industry is that software sells hardware. You can have the best console in the world but poor games or a lack of software will kill the hardware (3DO, Gizmondo etc.)

Regardless of the fact that Sony and Microsoft have brought in their own motion controllers, they still don't have the strength in depth that Nintendo has. They've just announced a new Zelda title that will sell in the several millions and there are clearly more Mario titles in the works as well as more motion games along the lines of WiiFit. Nintendo continues to make huge profits whereas Microsoft and Sony continue to record heavy losses so somewhere in there there is a message.