Tikkabik

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love Nintendo. I think their hearts and minds are genuinely in the right place when it comes to understanding their market, even if Sony and Microsoft fan boys just don't get it.

My family is a good case in point. We have all three consoles. Of the three of them, the GameCube has the smallest library of titles we own. Paradoxically, they're also the most played titles we own. And for the most part, the games we buy for the GameCube are first party -- that is to say they're made by Nintendo or Nintendo-owned studios.

Because of any of the major console makers, Nintendo eats its own dog food the most. The company has the best understanding of how to make games that leverage its own hardware's strengths and unique qualities.

It's why I've often said that Nintendo, of any of the console makers, reminds me of Apple the most.

Recently the company's VP of Sales and Marketing -- a very smart guy named Reggie Fils-Aime --did an interview with a tech blog called Engadget. He had some interesting observations, and a very keen idea of where Nintendo exists in the gamer's ecology and where it should go. The one comment he made that caught my attention the most was this.

"... the Microsoft and Sony strategies are based on overall corporate objectives versus what's right for the consumer ... Microsoft is essentially trying to get you to put a PC in your living room because they are fundamentally a PC software company. Sony is trying to get you to put an entertainment hub that has Blu-ray technology because that's important to their movie business and the rest of their entire electronics business.

"We are a gaming company. We are gamers at heart. We love creating great, innovative content and superbly designed hardware, that's what we do."