Today, my economics teacher dismissingly said in class, “Nintendo’s got its hold on the market, but it’s obviously going to be all about Microsoft and Sony.” I don’t hold anything against him or anything of that sort, but I was immediately struck by the erroneousness of that statement.

Nintendo is going to win the seventh generation.

And it’s not going to just deserve to win this generation; it will. I’ve been somewhat keeping up with the gaming world recently since I began subscribing to the Kotaku RSS feed a month or less ago, and it’s been clear to me that a lot of people like the Wii. One might think I make this prediction because I seem to like Nintendo a lot. I suppose that’s somewhat of a valid argument, because of these previous articles on my blog: Not as Bad as Wii Think, Red Steel, and Waiting for the Revolution. However, the GameCube was never my cup of tea, although I liked the Nintendo 64. The Dreamcast was my cup of tea.

But in any case, that just goes to show that I’m not a Nintendo fanboy. I may still think that the Wii will succeed simply because I like it. I admit this may be true, but I like it for reasons that I think also apply to the question of its success. Here are my five main points:

1. The Wii is by far the cheapest console of the generation. When manufacturers want to please its teenage student gaming audience, one of the easiest ways to do so is to make it affordable. I simply can’t imagine people my age dishing out the money for an Xbox 360 easily, and even less so for a PS3. (I recommend taking the money to be used for a PS3 and instead using it to buy a Wii and around six games.) In addition, HDTV support is still not really necessary, although it is a nice luxury. A student in high school might have access to his family’s high-def TV for gaming, but a student in college will most likely not.

2. In a way, the Wii solves the greatest problem with all console first person shooters. No longer does the seasoned PC gamer have to wrestle with the abnormal, sluggish controls of analog sticks controlled by the thumbs. The PC gamer always feels at home using his whole hand to control his line of sight, and this is directly paralleled and perhaps even advanced by the Wii’s remote (”wiimote”). Thus, the Wii automatically appeals to PC gamers like me.

3. The Wii has great multiplayer capabilities. Think of the endless stream of possibilities that the Wii controller enables. Think of an arcade and all the various types of controls– except the Wii enables more than that. The Wii controller has infinite flexibility in terms of usage, especially since the Wii’s hardware is most likely better than that of an arcade machine. Also, I’m sure many people are like me in terms of how they view console gaming; I see its main strengths in “party” multiplayer gaming.

4. The Wii will succeed at appealing to everyone, not just little kids or people who love multiplayer gaming with friends. It’s making a big effort to appeal to older gamers this time around. Among the launch titles are sequels to already-released popular FPS games, Far Cry: Vengeance and Call of Duty 3. No, the graphics won’t be as pretty as they will be on the PS3 or the Xbox 360, but video games already look really good, and I don’t mind sacrificing the most “cutting edge” graphics for much better gameplay or controls. I’d also like to quote a Forbes article to show its appeal to people who are usually not considered “gamers”:

   After the hard-core gamers got their turns [to play the Wii], less videogame-savvy editors took a shot, too. And it was here where the intuitive motion control system really proved its worth. There’s no sequence of arcane button combinations required to throw a baseball: You just wind up and mime an actual throw. Suddenly, videogames are fun for everyone–old or young, male or female, regardless of prior gaming experience. I lost count of how many times I heard non-gamers say, “Wow, I want to get this.”

5. The Wii looks cool, and it’s small. Is it just me, or can we award the PS3 the “hueg liek xbox” award for its generation? (Please see the Kotaku comparison of a cat and the three seventh generation consoles.) Anyway, Nintendo wants to be seen as the cool guy, and Sony and Microsoft think they’re already there. As an obvious example, Sony is creating a severe artificial supply shortage (encourages fanboyism), while Nintendo is pumping out a generous supply that might be able to meet the great demand expected (thus satisfying those who wish to be satisfied). See VG Cats comic #214.

I think it’s obvious the Wii will succeed in this round of the console wars. There is a slight possibility I’m wrong, but otherwise I’m thoroughly convinced.

So, watch out, Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo is launching their most expensive advertising campaign ever on television tonight. (Edit: You can now see the commercial on YouTube!)