And the answer: 2006.
The Nintendo Wii was released in 2006 in North America and Europe. The most notable feature of the console is its wireless remotes which sync with a motion sensor. By 2008, ten million Americans had purchased the Wii system.
Although the Wii may have hit the market in just 2006, Nintendo has led the world in video games since its inception in 1889. As technology advanced, Nintendo graduated from the sale of Japanese playing cards to its first console, the Color TV-Game, in 1977. The console was a hit in Japan, but never made it outside of the country. Instead, Nintendo's first systems to achieve worldwide success were the Game & Watch handheld series and Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Importantly, NES restarted the video game industry after the video game crash of 1983, consequently becoming an international success. In 1989, Nintendo released the Game Boy, which became the first handheld console to sell in large numbers. However, into the 90s and early 2000s, Nintendo began to slip into third place behind competitors Sony and PlayStation.
Finally, one of Nintendo’s biggest successes in the console generation came in the early 2000s. Beating Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, Nintendo dominated the market with a console of its own: the Wii. At the time of its release in 2006, the Wii was the smallest non-handheld console on the market. Additionally, the Wii introduced the first wireless controller using Bluetooth. Equipped with a sensor, the Wii could respond to where the user was located within a physical three-dimensional space while accurately detecting movement. When playing games such as Wii Tennis or other Wii sports, this meant that the user was required to physically swing or move the controller.
Learn more about the history and significance of the Wii here.
