I am not saying that the GC is the best thing that happened to Nintendo. I'm not saying it won this gen.
The GC was a let down and I think Nintendo could have done better. Really nothing new out of this gen from Nintendo. NES had a D-Pad and a controller, everything before was a joy-stick. SNES had L and R buttons, you could buy games to draw, and they had wireless game guns etc. The N64 was a shocker, it had a strange controller but it worked great. It had an analog stick, it also had a trigger button, it had a rumble pack, you could use the C buttons to change the camera view, you could get a mic and talk on it, and so many other things. I think the N64 was the best system Nintendo had. There were so many new things on it, that it made Nintendo great.
But I still think the GC held it's ground in this gen, it ended up last but it was "dead last". The sells weren't all that far off form Microsoft. And it has great games on it. SSBM (it's been on the top 10 Nintendo selling charts for like 35 months, no game out there has lasted that long. Sure there are games that has sold more then SSBM, but it's been out there the longest), Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II & III, to me they have the best looking games on the GC. The games look so real, it looks better then the movies. As well as other great games (I don't think I should start naming tons of games XD). Sure they could have done way better (1 thing is a DVD player, it would have been better off if they added one).
I think with the Rev they are pulling a page right out of the N64 book (at least on the controller). On the controller they are going back to the N64. I mean it had a port on the bottom for someone to plug things in, same with the Rev controller. It has the trigger button just like the N64 had. It has a really strange and different look, just like the N64.
The thing I hope the most is, I hope Nintendo tries to pull in some of the older group. I don't want to sit around all day playing 10 different games that has Mario's name slapped on it, Mario BaseBall, Mario Basketball, Mario DDR, Mario Kart (Mario Kart games are great), Mario Soccer, Mario Tennis and so on. I think Nintendo is pushing Mario a little too much, enough for people to get sick of Mario. Nintendo needs more RPGs, and PFS (I think FPS will play a big part in the Rev), and games that teens and even older gamers will play.
In the end I'm going to get both the Revolution (I hope they keep that name) and the PS3. And if I some how end up with 360 I might use it as a target so I can see how well my dad's rifle does on it. Unless I can get DoA *Wants DoA*. XD
And the only reason why Nintendo and Microsoft don't hate each other is because of 1 thing, Sony and Nintendo has history together. It's all because a little thing called the "SNES Sony CD".