More Wii

I'm more and more convinced that this generation of videogame consoles is going to be a b-school case study for a generation. It features three giant companies all converging on the same space with completely different agendas, and these agendas are what shaped their offerings to the market. As this essay makes clear, Sony is using the PS3 to launch a video format, Microsoft is using xbox 360 to get into the videogame console market, but Nintendo is using the Wii to make money:

Nintendo will make money from every unit of Wii hardware and software sold, according to Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime.

"We will make a profit on the entire Wii proposition out of the box--hardware and software," Fils-Aime told Reuters.

"That really is a very different philosophy versus our competitors. We are a company that competes only in the interactive entertainment space, so we have to make a profit on everything we do."

It's fascinating, really.

On a side note, it seems that there is an argument for bundling a game with the Wii console, even at the expense of the price point.