I think you've hit a good point, Clok. If Nintendo or Sony tried to do a Kickstarter, I think it could still be a hit as long as the prizes were really decent, ultra-rare collectibles or some such. I wouldn't personally go for it, but wouldn't think badly of someone else who wanted to.

The big advantage to this is that it's eliminating the need to go to investors to fund off-the-wall projects that are highly risky. Maybe Sony has this crazy idea for a new handheld that no investor would touch. So they take it to Kickstarter and ask for millions. A lot of people who probably wouldn't go near an OUYA campaign or the like would feel a lot safer about this, since Sony is a big company that isn't going to suddenly disappear overnight. Now imagine for a pledge of $500, you got one of the prototypes and got to play with this thing six months before anyone else had one. You can't tell me the Sony fanboys wouldn't be lining up for that.