The Twilight Zone...

Nintendo has been dominating this console generation with the Wii. In terms of both sales and mainstream awareness, no other video game company has had such a dramatic turnaround in just a few years. While the GameCube was only slightly competitive with the PS2 and Xbox, it's been a complete reversal with the Wii. Now it's Microsoft and Sony who are trying to keep up with Nintendo. 

By taking a different approach to the market with the Wii, Nintendo took a major risk, but it's a gamble that has paid off in spades. Can you imagine how different things would be right now for both Nintendo and the entire game industry had Nintendo gone down the same old path of more horsepower, better graphics? The impact of the Wii has been so massive that it's not only lined Nintendo's coffers with endless cash (to the point that they've been named top company in the world), but it's also completely overhauled the video game industry landscape. 

Some of you may find this to be a pointless exercise, but we can't help thinking about what could have been.  On the following pages we examine how very different the industry would be right now in this “alternate universe” in which Nintendo simply launched a GameCube 2...