Again, even if the profit part is true, I still feel sorry for them, like I said above.
They _will_ come in third again, because Microsoft and Sony are MONSTERS. Like someone said on another forum about Microsoft - which I think also goes for Sony to a degree:
"They are middlemen. Buisnessmen. Truly parasites."
The syndication agreements they'll have when it comes to games and compainies making them will overshadow Nintendo almost always, since they put their eggs in many baskets. The interest for gamers who like the most quality (not original games though sadly) out of their games, they'll go for the "killer apps" or games in this sense, which are at Xbox and PS3.
Nintendo is just simply not financially capable of taking the market, and they really never will be unless Microsoft and Sony go bankrupt. The pool for the worthwhile therefore goes to them. Nintendo can only be third, even though I agree with the disertation (sp err...) that someone wrote a while ago when they unveiled the controller which basically stated that they're truly the ONLY ones who are innovative.
Sadly however, I don't see BIG things happening for them. Xbox and PS3 in the end however, will make substantial billions which they'll invest in future suffocation of the market, like they do today.
How ironic, it would seem you know considerably more about what the f*** you're talking about than I do (

), and on that note I conceed and agree in full with you, I honstly can't argue with anything you just wrote.
However, Ransom is right, the Rev shouldn't be counted as a direct competitor to the '360 and PS3. Think of the recent handheld releases as a microcosm of what the greater console market will soon bear witness to. Some of my mates are die-hard Sony fanbois, and as such - with the recent release of the PSP - had no qualms in talking s*** about the DS. To do that is pure ignorance, as the two are completely different; the DS is a dedicated handheld gaming system, while the PSP packs much more features in and rates gaming as a secondary concern (as shown by the substandard release of games for that particular platform). Respectively, both have done very well, but cannot possibly be direct competitors, as they are just too different. The
exact same thing is going to happen with the up-coming Console Generation (I say 'upcoming' because the release of the '360 was so sub-standard that we haven't really seen the next-gen yet). *Takes cover in preperation of Deepblue's inevitable retort*

In line with this, the Rev aims to
avoid the people that M$ & Sony are targetting (or warring over), the male 18-30s, and go for different groups. I once again reference the 'Blue Ocean' strategy. As such, the Rev shouldn't really be discounted because of the M$/Sony 'stranglehold' over the industry, namely because Big N is going
outside the current industry. This plan, while ambitous, could be enough to put them into the same 'league' as you put it, as the '360 & PS3
Now, on a side note; have people already made up their minds as to which console they plan to buy? Obviously the '360 will only be worth having around the time the PS3 comes out, and I forsee that Sony won't be dumb enough to release their console without some sort of first-gen killer-app, and as such will be worth a little bit more consideration than when the '360 was released. So, what's everyone planning to get?