Back in 2005, a gaming company named Nintendo announced that it wanted to try something different. Ignoring the booming business around it, with its Call of Dutys and Halos and its Half-Lifes, Nintendo threw the gaming world a complete curveball, right out of left field: nice, simple motion control!
They didn't come out and throw a curve ball for the heck of it.
They were UNABLE TO COMPETE with sony and microsoft on the hardware power war. They are still unable to compete. This forced them into thinking of a different way to monetize their system. At 250$ the wii is a rip off which is why Nintendy makes $$ on each one sold, since launch.
They key to Nintendo's success was mimicing the iPod marketing strategy. It worked well and to Nintendo's favor, they just happened to have 1 competitor who priced themselves out of the early running (PS3), because of the power it packed.
Also, keep in mind that Nintedo has ALWAYS created peripherals, which is why they are always profitable. They have constantly, from the start of their videogame buisness, produced toy-like peripherals, because they can monetize each sale.
If anything you need to realize that nintendo has always cared more about the bottom-line then anything else. Virtual Boy, Power Glove, Power Pad, 100 kinds of controllers, Each generations game console sports a unique controller, the reluctance to move to CD (Cartridge was more profitable for Nintendo) etc...
Meanwhile sony's philosophy is lose at the beginning (taking a loss) and win at the end. They have a long-term approach to continually push the videogame buisness forward. Look at the IPs sony has under their umbrella. FLower, Flow, PJ Eden, PJ Racer, Heavy Rain, God of War, GT, Killzone, Little Big Planet etc... That is a list of games that is pushing Videogames as a medium forward, where as the other companies are not.
Microsoft is pushing monetization of the Internet, because they would LOVE to charge people to connect to the net (which they do on the xbox). Locking out a portion of the game simply because of money, not because of neccessity.
Sony might think i'm a fanboy, but i'm well versed and I know my gaming. I know the company philosophies and I give my dollars, as a smart consumer, to the company who I feel will give me the most freedom and provide me with teh most innovative, varied and high quality experiences.
Which is Sony.
(I think there are alot of "new gamers" who should read this for a bit of better understanding into what has been going on)