It's a plan that worked for Nintendo in the handheld-gaming market. Many industry watchers were skeptical about the company's DS system, which features two video screens, including one that responds to touch. But the DS has been massively successful, especially with senior citizens in Japan — a group that had never embraced video games. The DS has far outsold Sony's rival PSP, despite the PSP's better graphics and fancier features.

Nintendo hopes the Wii's popularity will grow through social networks. Owners will encourage their nongamer friends to try it, and the fun of controlling a digital race car or hitting a virtual tennis ball will turn them into gaming buffs.

Michael Goodman, gaming analyst at the Yankee Group in Boston, is skeptical about Nintendo's strategy of winning over casual game players. "The casual market doesn't buy hardware," Goodman said. As for the Wii's low price, Goodman noted that its predecessor, the Nintendo GameCube, was a market laggard despite being cheaper than the PlayStation 2 or the original Xbox.

But IDC Corp. gaming analyst Billy Pidgeon thinks the Wii's simplicity and low price will earn it a solidly profitable niche in the gaming market, especially after his nongaming in-laws tried a Wii tennis game. "They both got it right away," said Pidgeon.

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E-mail: bray@globe.com.