Is this game over for Sony?

[Lord N]

Erik Aston said: Compare the amount of third party releases on the systems. I mean, games can't sell if they don't exist. The Wii is not the Gamecube, and the PS3 is not the PS2, and now that some vastly superior Wii sales numbers are out there, along with the fact that Wii development is faster and cheaper, its going to mean lots of Wii support. We're hearing about studios starting Wii development seemingly every day right now... If Wii is the best selling system, it poses the least risk to 3rd parties, regardless of the GC.

You have to compare apples to apples. Multi-platform titles sold very poorly on GC because everyone bought it for first and second party titles and nothing else. Developers scaled back or completely ceased support for the GC because it wasn't profitable for them. Even though the Wii is the best-selling system right now, it's still risky because Nintendo is putting everything on the Wiimote. The DS(Lite) put everything on the stylus and touch screen, but that was less risky even if those things didn't take off. The DS was the latest Nintendo handheld and had a huge install base to draw from. A lot of people would have gotten it just because they had a Game Boy Advance. There's also the fact that it doesn't require much power to run handheld games, and Nintendo's first party titles are very befitting a handheld because they appeal mostly to kids and most handheld gamers are kids, and it would still have support from third-parties, so it atleast had those points to fall back on. The Wii is more of a risk. If the Wiimote thing is seen as a fad/trend and becomes passe, then everyone will end up buying it for its first-party titles and nothing else, which is exactly what happened to the Gamecube. Third-parties would have even less of a reason to support it due to its lack of power. As for your point about casual games versus "hardcore" games and established games, the latter are more important. The reason those casual games are selling so well on the DS is because they are on the same system with Nintendo's flagship titles that have defined them for so long such as Mario Kart DS, Kirby Squeak Squad, New Super Mario Bros., Metroid Prime Hunters, Mega Man ZX, Tetris DS. Take the Wii for example. No one would care about Rayman or Elebits or Excite Truck if they weren't on the same console as Legend Of Zelda: TP. It's those well-known titles that carry the console.