In the console wars of the last year, and in the coming one, X-Box 360 had the clear lead, mainly due to the fact that Microsoft got their product out there before the other next-gen consoles were ready. The real debate right now is who will come out in front out of the newcomers - and the clear indications seem to show that it will be Nintendo that will stomp Sony.
While Sony garnered a reasonably good rep around the time of the PS2 era, their popularity has fallen to dismal levels of late. The reasoning behind this has been very public: the pricing and continual bad news about the development of the PS3, the exploding laptop batteries furor, and the whole root kit debacle. But there's one key factor that Sony cannot compete with: Nintendo's hardcore fan base.
Nintendo (initially formed in 1889, believe it or not), tried their hand at electronic gaming in the 1970's. By the time Donkey Kong broke out in 1981, the trend had begun: a strong fan-base was consolidating, and has been the very spine of Nintendo's popularity since that time.
The smartest thing Nintendo ever did was create and maintain easy-to-remember characters that continue to be used to this day. The obvious ones are Mario and gang, but the company continued with titles like Zelda. It was also helpful that they did absolute justice to movie games, such as Star Wars and James Bond - something many gaming companies (cough, cough, recent EA titles on other consoles) fail dismally on. The innovation of the new styled wireless controller for the Wii obviously screams, "We have a bad-ass Star Wars lightsaber game coming one day" - so it is clear that they will be working hard in this department in the future.
The point is, ever since Nintendo realized it was generating a strong fan-base, not only did they capitalize on that opportunity, but they FOCUSED on it. In other words, the company continued giving fans exactly what they wanted. It didn't matter whether the technology used wasn't more advanced than other consoles - what mattered was the reliability and loyalty the company displayed to their following; something Sony fails to do.
With Sony's release of the PS3, the only major game title they have coming up that will satisfy their fan base is Metal Gear Solid 4. The release of Guitar Hero has been helpful to them, but without the exclusivity of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, they're just not in a position to successfully compete with both Microsoft and Nintendo.
& Nintendo will always be around, because their ever-growing fan base realizes that they'll always be happy with what the company gives them.
Sony - better take notice of the Nintendo fans - perhaps it's time to rethink your approach.
In the console wars of the last year, and in the coming one, 
The smartest thing Nintendo ever did was create and maintain easy-to-remember characters that continue to be used to this day. The obvious ones are 
