• The New York Times, Friday, November 24, 2006 10:45 AM

The early results are in--and so far, things aren't looking so good for Sony and its expensive PlayStation 3. Aside from the enormous manufacturing costs, from which Sony stands to lose some $300 per system, even fewer PS3's were produced and shipped by last Friday's release than Sony anticipated.

What's worse is the great reviews Nintendo is receiving for its innovative new game system--which retails for some $250 less than the PS3--the Wii. Sure, its graphics and technology aren't up to snuff with Sony or Microsoft's Xbox 360, but the Wii is going after something bigger than the hardcore 18-34 male demographic: "It is about making video games accessible again by providing a simple, intuitive, relatively inexpensive entertainment experience that an entire family can actually enjoy together," writes Seth Schiesel in a New York Times review. And it's totally affordable. He says his 59-year-old stepfather recently played golf--his first video experience since Pong--and had no problem figuring out the controls.

The Wii's motion-sensor controller is its big differentiator, allowing players to actually swing the controller like a tennis racket when playing a tennis game. Its games are also cutesy and family-friendly--no alien wars, no blood-heavy fighting games, or sexually explicit material. Nintendo's core game brands are still all about Super Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong.

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