Vying for Wii Pie

It's one reason EA didn't offer the best support for older Nintendo platforms, such as the GameCube, and has preferred to create games for Sony's platform.

Sony's position as the market leader with the largest installed base of consoles also helped.

But with the Wii, Nintendo has turned around its attitude toward third-party publishers, says Pidgeon. "Nintendo is working with developers better and giving their tools away for free, while Sony's tools are fairly expensive," he says.

A beneficiary of Wii's success could be THQ.

The company has shipped more than 3 million units of its best-selling game Cars, based on the Disney/Pixar (DIS Quote) movie, for the Wii and Xbox 360. In total, Cars has sold 7 million units.

Also, THQ shipped 1 million units each of its Nickelodeon titles Avatar and SpongeBob SquarePants for the Wii.

THQ's gross margins for the third quarter rose 66%, 110 basis points over the prior-year quarter, primarily because of higher average selling prices for the Wii, DS platforms and the Xbox 360, said CFO Ed Zinser during the company's earnings call.

"For THQ, the Wii has a bigger impact," says Pidgeon. "THQ has always avoided direct competition with top publishers by going after a niche, and with Wii they have found success."