Sony and Microsoft Ignorant of Nintendo Competition

In an interesting post by CNET's Don Reisinger, Don calls out Sony and Microsoft for not considering Nintendo's Wii as a competitor for them.  Considering these sorts of jabs are thrown out frequently when citing things like NPD data or online features, it isn't too surprising to see someone finally bring this up.

For example, Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg, director of product management for the Xbox 360, seemed to test out this marketing ploy on Gamasutra.  Greenberg says that Microsoft doesn't "really see the Wii as a direct competitor, we actually very much complement the Wii experience... It's obviously clear that we're going head-to-head with the PS3 in this generation."

And Sony's CEO, Howard Stringer echoed the same sentiment to Bloomberg, saying, "I've played a Nintendo Wii... I don't see it as a competitor. It's more of an expensive niche game device."

But Reisinger doesn't see it that way.  He retorts:

"When I go to Target or Gamestop and I see the Wii sitting next to the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 and I consider the fact that they all play games from the same developers (many of which are the same), have the same general price level, and provide the same basic experience, I'm inclined to believe they're competitors."

With recent price drops on the Xbox 360, the new Xbox experience on the way with avatars, Playstation Home, and more "everyone-oriented" games on the way for the other systems, who's to say Nintendo isn't being targeted?  It seems like a ridiculous proposition to me, that Microsoft and Sony don't want some of the Nintendo money-pie.  In fact, it seems more like they are playing rope-a-dope with us.

But no matter which system you back, there is no doubt that each console can provide a good gaming experience for most gamers.  And even though this console generation may see more imbalance in the "casual vs. core" debate concerning software for the three systems, they are game systems nonetheless.  In that sense, they are all competitors.  But really, does this sort of marketing angle seem to affect the industry anyways?