Nintendo was trying to supplant personal computers before there were widely deployed personal computers to supplant!  The Japanese name of the product known as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was the FamiCon, short for Family Computer: the power of a workstation harnessed in the pursuit of things other than work.<p>For the last few decades Nintendo has been the defining video game company in the US, but that is not their self-image.  Look at what they're doing with the Wii or the DS: yoga trainers, anti-Alzheimers programs, dictionaries, cookbooks, exercise machines, and a little Mario on the side.