While Sony had the head start and Microsoft the marketing millions, as the battle lines become clearer, it appears that Nintendo may be best positioned to rule over the next generation of videogames.
This fall, Nintendo will release Gamecube, a new high-powered video game console that plays games stored on mini DVD-ROMs. When it arrives, Gamecube will have to compete with PlayStation2, a similarly powerful console from Sony Computer Entertainment that plays full-sized DVD discs and movies on DVD, and Xbox, a DVD-playing game console from Microsoft that features a built-in hard drive and an Ethernet card.
Until now, Nintendo has remained relatively quiet about Gamecube as Microsoft and Sony wage their pitched battles over hardware specs and processor power. Few people even believed that Nintendo would have its new hardware ready for market this year.