Here we go again: Nintendo's success is bad for the industry

We've heard it before -- Nintendo's success is bad for the gaming industry as a whole, because they muscle other companies out of the way. This time it's Todd Mitchell of the Kaufman Bros complaining the incredible success of the DS and Wii might be bad for everyone else. After all, Nintendo's first party titles tend to be extremely successful, which leaves less room (theoretically) for third party publishers. But is it really Nintendo's fault?

Certainly, Nintendo has had problems with third party publishers before. Every longtime Nintendo gamer is familiar with the history of shaky relationships between the House of Mario and the rest of the industry. But if there is a current lack of third party games available for the Wii, who's to blame: Nintendo, or everyone else? While it's easy to point the finger at Nintendo (history supports that position), this time around, that doesn't seem to be the case. Reggie Fils-Aime has talked himself hoarse talking about Nintendo's efforts to bring more third party games under the Wii's umbrella, and it seems to be working. In fact, when one looks at the upcoming offerings for both the DS and the Wii, when compared to releases for the GameCube and N64, it almost looks like a different company altogether.

So who's at fault here -- Nintendo, for releasing games that are dependably awesome? Or could the fault perhaps lie in third party titles that just don't measure up? Nintendo gamers don't seem to shrink from good games, regardless of who makes them. We'll admit that we're hard to please, but if it's good, not only will we buy it, but we'll even buy it a few times for good measure.