Nintendo started as a small Japanese company by Fusajiro Yamauchi in late 1889 under the name Nintendo Koppai. Based in Kyoto, Japan, the company produces and markets a deck of playing cards called Hanafuda. In 1956, Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi began to realize the limitations of the playing card business, as it was seen as a mere gaming tool. In order to overcome this limitation, Nintendo entered into an agreement with Disney in 1959 which allowed them to put Disney characters on their playing cards. This opens up new markets where children and housewives started buying playing cards.5 Due to this success; Nintendo went public in 1962 and became a listed company on the Osaka Stock Exchange. Soon after, Nintendo began venturing into other areas, including Taxi Company, Food Company, and more. Most of them failed, except for their toy manufacturing business. Nintendo's success in the home console space can also be attributed to the rigidity of the gaming industry and culture within which its two main competitors, Sony and Microsoft, adhered. Traditionally, the norm has been for new home console systems to be marketed primarily on the basis of enhanced audio-visual capabilities. Indeed, the original PlayStation was a huge win for Sony, and to Nintendo's detriment, largely thanks to its more realistic 3D graphics. Note that Nintendo was no different with previous iterations of its systems, although perhaps to a lesser extent than its competitors. However, with this specific generation, especially in the face of the release of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, both of which touted high-definition capabilities, the Wii was the clear underperformer in terms of graphics. Its competitors had no choice but to follow the dominant ideology, which... middle of paper ...... ostalgia effects, to co-opt this hardcore gaming culture with a console that, at best, only accessed it occasionally. his wishes, at worst, completely marginalized them. What Nintendo realized, and ultimately capitalized on, was that the hegemonic structure influencing the industry was inherently weak, in the sense that it was essentially a small minority overwhelming the relatively silent masses. Although doubts remain about the sustainability of such an effort, there are signs that the Wii has already changed the gaming landscape, as Sony and Microsoft now struggle to consolidate their own casual gaming offerings. Casual players could eventually prove to be the most powerful subgroup; as the marketing attests, anyone, regardless of age, can play and enjoy the Wii, potentially creating an unlimited market for Nintendo and reshaping the fundamental expectations of the video game market..