Swimming lessons: day 1

I can't float, my legs are heavy and water kept going through my nose & down my throat.

This is why I hate people

Before the unveiling of the Wii controller, absolutely every analyst seemingly pegged the next generation console war as a two horse race: Playstation 3 versus Xbox 360. Meanwhile, the Wii was given minimal press and dismissed as a third rate product. I clearly remembering thinking, "Wait a second, Nintendo still hasn't shown their controller." Given the titillating "Project Revolution" moniker (sure beats Gamecube's "Project Dolphin") and the so-so hardware specs (read: souped-up Gamecube), there just had to be something unique about this controller.

Anyhow, the analysts were still able to pull all these potential sale projection numbers out of their ass and of course, they turned out to be dead wrong. The Playstation 3 has achieved some measure of success in Japan, but it badly lags behind in North America. Almost inversely, the Xbox 360 has done well in North America, but much like its predecessor, it has failed to make an impact in the Japanese market. The Wii has done well on both sides of the ocean and I believe it has taken the lead recently in North American sales despite the Xbox 360's one year head start.

Maybe I'm bitter that these analysts probably didn't get reprimanded and will continue to make bold and questionable predictions in the future. Maybe I'm bitter that in the late 90's a former Sony exec derided Nintendo's N64 marketing strategy and stated the N64 would not be able to catch the Playstation one (which is what happened). Or maybe just maybe, in my heart of hearts, I'm still a big Nintendo fanboy. Just maybe.