Nintendo's Wii gaming console, not yet one year old, could be the best consumer electronics product—ever. In contrast, the Sony PlayStation 3 is shaping up as one of the industry's biggest flops.

Rarely have I seen such extremes in product development and delivery. Nintendo, in my estimation, did everything right. Sony, on the other hand, managed to screw up a decent product in every imaginable way.

I consider myself a Nintendo Wii convert. When I first read Jim Louderback's hands-on review, I was skeptical of the motion-sensitive controllers (the remote and nunchuck) and the wand that you had to place in front or on top of your TV screen. What's more, its graphics sounded awful. How would the Wii compete in a world where, if you're playing NBA 07 on, say a PS3, you could count the sweat droplets on Dwyane Wade's virtual face?

Then the Wii arrived in PC Magazine Labs, and I, along with much of the staff, started playing some of the Wii Sports games bundled with the console. I tried bowling, tennis, boxing, and baseball, and each time, I was surprised by how caught up I got in the whole experience. When it came time to buy a birthday gift for my daughter (one that she'd share with the whole family), the choice was obvious.

To understand why the Wii is outselling the PS3 (and the Microsoft Xbox 360), we need to break down Nintendo's game plan. And, for contrast, we'll examine what Sony did (or should I say didn't do) with the PS3.

Let Go and Think Big: There's a scene in Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope (originally released as Star Wars in 1977), when Luke Skywalker is being trained by Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi to use a lightsaber. Ben tells Luke to "use the force" and "let go of your conscious self and act on instinct." This is what Nintendo obviously did with the Wii. Instead of trying to one-up the competition, it took a moment to imagine a console system that would appeal to everyone.

Sony, on the other hand, seems to have learned nothing from the popularity of the PlayStation 2. Instead, it created a gaming-console monster that has all the elegance and appeal of a coffee enema.

Design: The Wii is small and quiet and fits almost anywhere. The PS3 is huge and is harder to keep out of sight. It looks like a cross between a bug's carapace and a black Volkswagen Beetle. And what's with the logo? The original PS1 and PS2 had, I would say, rather iconic typography. It was cool and instantly recognizable. So what does Sony do? It swaps it out for the Spider-Man movie font. Talk about a sycophantic attempt to cash in. I wonder if Spider-Man 3's somewhat disappointing summer is in any way furthering the PS3's woes.

Keep It Simple: Despite my hesitation about the Wii wand/remote, there's nothing difficult or confusing about it. The remote and nunchuck controllers are intuitive, and the Wii offers tons of on-screen guidance in case you ever get confused. The PS3 offers no comparable controller or innovative ease of use. —next: More Reasons the Wii Rocks >