"FISCO news service of Japan reports that a Merrill Lynch (MER) research report from last Friday acknowledged the anticipation building up for the Wii and believes it will be a factor in pushing its share price higher. As a result Merrill lifted its target share price to 27,000 yen ($28.78 ADR equivalent) from 23,000 yen ($24.51 ADR equivalent)."

What does this actually mean for gamers like us?

Truth be told, this writer can't afford anything next-gen, so the focus of analysis tends to move toward the gaming world as a whole rather than on particular consoles. Which is why the next point is very important. Whether you're a fan of the Wii or of some other console, as long as Nintendo plays the business game well over the next few weeks or months, it should have something good to offer everyone:

• Healthy competition among the different companies. This might actually get us fun gaming platforms at low prices and less post-release problems and controversies.
• Companies that please their customers by delivering the goods and providing customer service. And by not announcing wild claims unless something's already been built and they can truly say that what they have will be good.
• In other words, good-spirited fun.