Are Sony and Microsoft vulnerable to being royally thrashed by Nintendo?

It's not a contradiction at all once Nintendo releases the Wii 2 they are stuck between a rock and a hard place so to speak. If they don't support the Wii it will certainly die without them. If they do support it they risk not giving their audience a compelling reason to go to the Wii2 and thus hurting it's potential growth and profits. Also the Wii was sold on having a unique interface Nintendo is at risk of Sony and Microsoft cannibalizing that market when the Wii isn't as unique anymore. Nintendo has gotten themselves into the point where they may have to do something risky and innovative with each generation to set themselves apart and it likely will not always work. While I wouldn't say they are in the worst position of all 3 but the lack of 3rd party support like the PS2 means the situation isn't all roses for them either.

 

No I didn't though I coud have been clearer, If Nintendo tries to straddle the fence and support both Wii1 and Wii2 then the Wii2 will be hamstrung by Wii1 owners with little reason to upgrade and Wii1 slowly obsoletes into irrelevance. If they throw all their support to Wii2 then Wii1 collapses. It's as simple as that. IMO they should and have no choice but to throw all support towards Wii2 but it's a move with risk involved.

This quote is missing something....oh yes:

" please be aware that the material in this quote reflects past performance and historical information only, and that such performance and information is not necessarily an indication of future performance. "

Better.

That said, I meant toughest position going in not worst shape which I aknowledge is not the same.

 

Are you sure? Playstation 1 and 2 were both well supported for up to five years after the release of their successors, whereas the Xbox1 was killed off in favor of the 360 pretty much instantly. Definitely quite a difference.

The 3DS may be enough for that. They're not in a hurry, but once the 3DS is out they'll probably be looking to get something new to follow up the Wii. But for them it is much more important to have another great concept to sell to the consumer at a day 1 profit, so they're much more likely to keep to their own schedule than follow that of any of their competitors at this point, I think, unless they feel that their competitors is releasing something that could actually threaten to take away their marketshare quickly and permanently. But even then they need a good 'idea'.

 

I'm getting a sick, twisted pleasure out of Sony's failings with the PSP lately as well as their search for profitability with the PS3. I could only hope that something would happen to MS as well, though I think they are setting themselves up for some real shit too by having so many system bundles and accessories, much like the old pre-8 bit systems. It's absolutely ridiculous. While the Wii could be judged in a similar manner, at least what you get in the system package is pretty much ready to go for playing all but a few games out for the Wii. Yes, I consider the Wii to be an underpowered POS, but of course that didn't matter when casuals were brought in by droves to buy games that didn't need extreme graphics. The next videogame crash is on the way, yes indeed. The industry needs another slap in the face again to learn some humility and humbleness.