Gates jabs @ Sony saying Wii is "tough competition"

[CrayZee]

I saw Bill Gates saying that the Wii is "tough competition."

So Nintendo takes a different approach, but is the new controller really just a novelty? Perhaps I haven't adjusted to the controller, but some games just seem hard to control (e.g., FPSers). Why can't the competition just come out w/ a similar offering?

While the lower price point for the Nintendo Wii is attractive, is it not enough to overcome the graphical capabilities of the PS3 and XBox 360?

In the (semi-)longrun, will Microsoft be the console market leader because of their strong position in the software industry (i.e., access to better cost reduction for hardware, in-house software teams for dev kits, etc.)?

Of course this is speculation, as I'm no game industry analyst. Post launch games are only just starting to trickle out for the Wii and PS3, not to mention that devs teams are learning still, but my guess is that:

1. Microsoft
2. Nintendo
3. Sony

It will be interesting to see if Microsoft has a handheld offering eventually as well. It would be very tough to beat out Nintendo in that market space.