According to the numbers gathered by vgchartz.com, the Wii is the top selling console of the current generation of systems.

This interests me for multiple reasons:

1. For pretty much my entire life up until I had kids, I was an avid gamer. (having kids changes everything – keep that in mind) Up until the original Playstation was released I bought just about evert goofy system anyone would release. For some reason, the PS1 just didn’t grab my attention. Plus, a lot of friends had it, so I played it quite a bit regardless of the fact I didn’t own one.

The last system I bought for myself was the N64 the day it hit shelves. The next fall my daughter was born and well, the N64 gathered dust. In the next eight to ten years I sort of fell out of the loop. I’ve never owned a Sony or Microsoft sytem and I totally missed the First Person Shooter revolution. In fact, to this day, I don’t ‘get’ FPS games. They’re lame. I have no desire to ‘frag’ anyone. (a little handjob between good friends sounds like a much better time, but I digress…)

A few years ago we scored a Gamecube on the cheap for an X-mas gift for the kids and they took right to it. This past year we scored a Wii on its release date and the kids had it under the tree. That thing gets played constantly – by pretty much all of us. I’ve owned every Nintendo console that’s ever hit the market. Which leads me to:

2. I’m a total Ninty fanboy. I dig Nintendo. Always have, always will.

3. I love it when someone bucks the system. I just do. Anytime someone goes out on a limb and ‘changes the game’ I think it’s the coolest. No one gave the Wii a chance. Gamers called the idea a gimmick and the system weak. It’s such a cliche at this point, but Nintendo proved making something fun to play will beat all the ramped up technical specs that can be spouted.

I have no doubt that hardcore gamers don’t exactly see it that way and that’s fine. Nintendo hit on something. They tapped that nerve that the other companies were ignoring. Why cater to the gamer niche when you can make something that everybody can enjoy?

I dunno. I just think the idea that preschoolers and grandmas and moms and dads and the Aunt Bertha’s and Uncle Charlie’s of the world have changed the market – and that Nintendo saw that potential – is great.

It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out over the next few years and, if the trend holds, what each company will do with their next system.