Nintendo may have pioneered the world of motion controlled 
gaming, but its days as the only player in the field are long over.
Microsoft and Sony, tired of seeing the Kyoto, Japan-based company steal the thunder of their souped-up videogame systems, have started to compete with the Wii on its own turf — and they’re seeing some notable success.
Most of the gaming world figured Sony
would be rolling out the successor to the PSP at its Business and Strategy Meeting being held in Tokyo – but no one guessed it would embrace the smart phone market as well.
The company unveiled its next generation handheld system Thursday as well as a new initiative that would bring games from the original PlayStation to Android-based devices, as Sony prepares to launch its own ‘PlayStation Phone’.
There’s no denying that Nintendo 
is the videogame industry’s most powerful force. With sales of its handheld DS topping 43 million and the Wii selling more than 30 million, it’s the indisputable market leader.
But despite that success, there’s something very old school about Nintendo. Its consoles and games don’t capture the bleeding-edge sensibilities of the industry. That’s what makes the fight for second place so interesting.
[As Sony announces a tie-up with Vudu for HD 
movie streaming, Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris looks at how the PlayStation 3 creator has started to gain ground on Microsoft’s array of on-console media content — the next big battlefield for game consoles.]
Long before Kinect, Microsoft had its own way of courting the non-gamer – offer functionality on the Xbox 360 that was unique enough to lure in people who weren’t interested in the latest Haloinstallment. And it was a pretty effective method.
With Netflix integration leading the charge in 2008, the Xbox 360 finally fulfilled the dream of the console as a Trojan horse of the living room. It gave the company a huge competitive advantage for a while, but recently that advantage has been slipping away. Sony, in particular, has gained a lot of ground in that battle and is threatening to overshadow Microsoft’s achievements.
We certainly have no problem getting caught up in the fun of playing games, but the people who create them have their pocketbooks to worry about, too. In this column, finance expert and GameSpy contributor 
Chris Morris guides you through the tricky corridors the gaming industry’s financial side, touching on big-time business decisions and how they matter to the common gamer.
While the Internet has been buzzing about leaked images and details of what seems to be a prototype PlayStation Phone from Sony Ericsson, the debate has generally circled around whether the leaks were real or faked. The question no one seems to be asking is: Is this a good idea in the first place?
Just for the sake of argument, let’s assume Sony is, in fact, working on a PlayStation Phone. The company, after all, hasn’t done much to quell the rumors, with CFO Masato Kato stirring the embers during a quarterly results conference call earlier this month when he said “The PSP … was more concentrated I’d say [at the] core gaming segment rather than the light game, but now we are addressing that market as well.”
[Gamasutra’s Chris Morris looks at the factors that will 
dictate Kinect’s market prospects at launch and down the line, opining that Microsoft’s holiday season looks secured — but that it “might have screwed some of its partners in the process.”]
Two months ago, when Sony’s PlayStation Move hit shelves, I wondered whether Sony had lost its mind. The device, I mentioned, wasn’t intuitive and had some alarming aesthetic issues – a combination that could hurt its chances with the mainstream audience.
Now Kinect has arrived – and while it has just as many problems as Move, it seems poised to thoroughly trounce its competitor this holiday season.
Two years ago, Nintendo could do no 
wrong. The Wii was at the height of its retail domination and competitors were scrambling for second place.
Today it’s a much different story and the looming holiday season could be a crucial one that determines the strength – and perhaps the future – of the company’s core console business.
Critics might have sniped at Sony for not
releasing Move sales figures in conjunction with last week’s NPD data, but the company is fighting back.
John Koller, head of marketing for Sony’s PlayStation division, says the company shipped 1 million Move units to North American retailers in the peripheral’s the first 30 days. And while the company isn’t releasing hard sales numbers, Koller says it’s quite happy with the reception.
While Nintendo kicked off the motion control revolution four years ago and quickly dominated the field, Microsoft and Sony are betting there’s a lot of life — and money — left in the category.
Last Sunday, Sony’s new PlayStation Move controller went on sale and in November Microsoft will launch Kinect, it’s motion-tracking camera that essentially transforms players’ bodies into the controller. Both products are gambles — and, to some degree, risks — for the companies, who are hoping to keep the current generation of video game systems relevant for several years.
[As Sony’s PlayStation Move launches this weekend, Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris gathers his thoughts about the debut of the PS3’s motion control device, and the intuitiveness and needle-threading it requires to satisfy all parties.]
A little over a week ago, my wife fell asleep early when we were watching TV. I knew if I played Halo: Reach, it would likely get too loud, wake her up and I’d be in the doghouse for the rest of the weekend, so I figured this would be a good time to do some testing with the new motion control device for the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation Move.
I had just set things up and was turning the system on when she woke up. She looked over at me, got a confused look on her face and asked, “Are you holding a vibrator?”
Chris Morris: Journalist 