Is Nintendo's Success Good for Sony/Microsoft?

It looks like Nintendo’s strategy of targeting the casual gamer with more intuitive interfaces, rather than going after the hardcore gamer with superior hardware, is paying off even more than initially hoped.  Today Nintendo raised its sales targets for the DS and DS Lite, its Wii software sales forecast, and its profit forecast. It now expects to double its profit from the previous year. 

If that’s not enough, Bill Gates said that the Wii is Microsoft’s “toughest competitor” in an interview with a Tokyo TV network.  Then again, this is probably as much a jab at Sony as it is a comment on Nintendo’s success.

I don’t necessarily think this a problem for Microsoft and Sony. It might actually help them as Nintendo’s enlarging of the console and portable market eventually will create a larger pool of hardcore gamers, which Sony and Microsoft will win a greater percentage. Nintendo’s strategy has been very good for Nintendo, but it’s also very good for the gaming industry.