Stuffing The Ballot Box

One organization is primed to make a stunning comeback after more than a decade of being out of power and nearly obsolete. Meanwhile, another organization, which grew bloated, smug and overconfident after years of dominance, has stumbled down the finish line and is on the verge of a major collapse. Sound familiar?

It's election season, alright. This weekend, gamers will turn out in unprecedented numbers to cast their votes in the next-generation console race. It occurred to me that there are several curious parallels between last week's mid-term Congressional elections here in the states and the upcoming showdown between Nintendo and Sony. And if I'm reading the tea leaves and the marks of history correctly, then Nintendo looks to be the Democratic Party while Sony may end up being the GOP. Consider the facts:

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Parallel Number 1
Politics: Republicans have essentially controlled the U.S. Congress since the GOP blindsided the Democrats and took the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 1994 mid-term elections during the Clinton administration. This was due primarily to a shift in strategy and a tightly unified campaign among Republicans, who took advantage of a Democratic Party that, despite holding the executive branch with President Clinton, had become disorganized, stagnant and plagued by missteps and scandals.

Gaming: Sony first unseated the longstanding powerhouse Nintendo with the original PlayStation, which was first launched in 1994 (albeit, in Japan). Yes, it took several years for Sony to establish its dominance over Nintendo, but PlayStation sowed the seeds with a strong marketing campaign and major strategy shift by moving to CD-ROM. Sony's PlayStation 1 would go on to sell more than 100 million units - becoming the first console to achieve that milestone - while Nintendo's N64, sticking with the old ROM cartridges, sold around 33 million consoles.

Parallel Number 2
Politics: The Republicans give the Democrats a true beat down in 2000 when George W. Bush was elected President of the United States (though some parties dispute this). This gave the GOP a virtual sweep with control of the House, Senate and White House - while the Republicans briefly lost control of the Senate later in 2001 when former GOP Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont officially became an Independent. But Democratic control was short-lived as Republicans won back the Senate in the 2002 mid-term elections by mobilizing its base on a platform focused on increased national security and the war on terror.

Gaming: Sony gave the competition a true beat down in 2000 with the launch of the highly anticipated PlayStation 2, the monster-selling console that set the standard for all other gaming systems. Nintendo's GameCube, which finally embraced disk technology, appeared to be a potential challenger after launching in 2001. However, GameCube didn't have a built-in DVD player or online capabilities. Meanwhile, Sony continued to mobilize leading game developers and publishers, which produced exclusive best-selling titles for the PS2.

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