Nintendo, the Japanese videogame maker, has bounced back from the digital doldrums with its groundbreaking Wii videogame console and the pocket-sized Nintendo DS. Both consoles raked in soaring revenues without the top-notch graphics or processing power of machines made by rival companies.

Nintendo created gaming characters like Super Mario Bros and Donkey Kong that became icons of a generation. But just a few years ago, the videogame pioneer was in danger of being consigned to the history books as it struggled to keep pace in a US$10 billion business dominated by Sony and Microsoft.

While Sony’s Playstation 2 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 locked horns, beefing up graphics and processing power to compete, Nintendo suffered losses with its GameCube console. Things changed in 2007 when industry researchers announced Nintendo’s Wii had overtaken the Xbox 360 to be the world’s leading game console, a position it had not held in 17 years.

Suddenly it was as if the world was looking at a whole new ball game. And that’s exactly what the Wii offers. Actions made standing up using a wireless handheld device that detects movement are mirrored by figures on the display. The bat-like interactive tool enables users to play games like golf, tennis and basketball, as well as popular adventure games like Zelda.

The name Wii, pronounced “we”, was chosen because the last two letters resemble two people standing side- by-side playing a game. But this could easily signify the double-pronged blow that Nintendo has dealt to rivals Sony and Microsoft.

The Wii has not won the war alone. The Nintendo DS, a handheld device originally launched in 2004, edged out rivals like Sony’s PSP handheld game device at the beginning of 2008. Inter-operability with the Wii and a set of compatible game titles leveraged sales for the portable DS, helping it to gain traction. The double whammy delivered by the Wii and the Nintendo DS proved that Nintendo was doing something right.

Impressive sales, which have led to supply shortages, are evident from the diverse age range of customers. The Wii and the DS are not only appealing to game-happy teenagers and kids, but are also causing grannies to put down knitting needles and pick up game wands.

While gaming companies were agonising over how to create a new generation of high-powered processors and hyper-realistic graphics, the Wii has tapped into a universal customer experience by resonating with the family. It is not confined to teenagers and kids. Family members are playing it together. It is also luring more female enthusiasts. “You can see retirees playing both the Wii and the DS,” Reggie Fils- Aimee, president of Nintendo America said recently.

The success of both the Wii and the DS has made Kyoto-based Nintendo the third biggest company in Japan in terms of market capitalisation. Its re-emergence has not been easy but it has managed to do it with a shift in perspective.

Credit has been given to Nintendo’s president, Satoru Iwata, who came on board as the company was facing losses brought on by the GameCube.

Iwata recently asserted that the Wii has created a “paradigm shift.” The console brought a new class of gamer into the fold, offering a conceptual experience never before seen in the home video game industry.

 The Wii has carved out a new niche for itself by stepping out of traditional gaming conventions into a world of its own, according to Simon Cox, vice-president of content at the Ziff Davis Media game group.

 “The bottom-line on the Wii, in my opinion, is that it’s in a class of its own as a toy almost, rather than a traditional console,” said Cox. “It sells hardware like you wouldn’t believe, but software sales aren’t as strong as for the Xbox 360.”

The Wii offers an alternative experience to the world of pixel absorption. The emphasis on non-sedentary entertainment that keeps players on their feet has been a vital component. With Wii Fit, a series of exercise games that work with an add- on hardware device called the Balance Board, Nintendo is keeping enthusiasts out of their seats. People can practise yoga, and do sit ups.

Perhaps it is this emphasis on exercise that has made it appealing to older gamers, which is something more socially rewarding than spending long hours in front of a monitor.

“We started with the idea that we wanted to come up with a unique game interface,”  Nintendo game developer Shigeru Miyamoto said last year. “The consensus was that power isn’t everything for a console. Too many powerful consoles can’t coexist. It’s like having only ferocious dinosaurs. They might fight and hasten their own extinction.”