Tetris was a great game, for all the reasons that made it a great game. Wii Sports was a great game, for all the reasons that made it a great game. So d-pad or wii-mote, it don't matter.

@bold. Yes I do and I'm glad you realize there is nothing wrong with that. Just as input has evolved, graphics have evolved. It really is in the eyes of the beholder as to which is more foundational. You call one a gimmick, I call the other a gimmick. GOOD FOR US. It doesn't help make our ideas any more clearly though and does present our bias.

If I call graphics a gimmick because I don't consider them a crucial as gameplay, is that reasonable? I might consider it lesser, but graphics a gimmick, really?

Makes no sense. As much as it makes no sense when talking about the controller(s).

I want to jump in and argue with you guys but I honestly don't know who is arguing which side anymore.

Why was tetris a great game? It had all the ingredients for success. Had a great puzzle gameplay and great graphics for its time period. Look at games like candy crush now surviving off of a similar concept today on facebook. It is a mindbending mainstay just like the rubix cube or chess to the non computer gaming crowd.

So are graphics really so foundational after all? The answer is yes, but it doesn't change the fact that Candy Crush is doing extremely well without the so-called fundamentally advanced graphics.

Tetris was a great game indeed because it had everything, it had the gameplay, it had the contemporary graphics, it had the contemporary input.

Again, I'm not arguing against graphics being fundamental, I'm arguing against input not being fundamental, of which the Wiimote and padlet are conceptual elements.

No? Constant delays, eternal droughts and lack of sales is bad for consumers and Nintendo itself.

While it's certainly possible that the Gamepad may never catch on regarding the masses, I love these people who are just so sure that it will never be an attraction. Remember people, the Wii had that killer game that sold the idea at the very beginning. WiiU clearly doesn't have that game... yet.

How soon we forget the DS, which had nothing demonstrative of its hook worth noting until Nintendogs several months later, and, most importantly, Brain Age, which came almost a full year and a half after the system's launch in the west.

The fact that the price of WiiU is still a bit steep for the masses further strengthens my point that there's still plenty of time for many people to gravitate to the asymmetric properties that the Gamepad offers... that is, if Nintendo does indeed deliver the right game that sells it.

Without graphics, videogames aren't videogames. Of course its foundational, the whole point of it being a videogame depends on it.

The Wii Mote, just like the Kinect, Eyetoy, Nintendo gun for Duck Hunt and other items are gimmicks. The Wii U controller wont make it to next gen, mark my words. Nintendo thought the gimmick would work on the casuals but they timed it improperly. Tablets have had a place in the market for years and no videogame console is going to drag the casuals over to Nintendo.

One of the major problems for the Wii U is that most gamers cant tell the difference between it and the current gen consoles, since all the offerings are on par with current gen.

Have fun with your gimmicky graphics without a controller or some form of input. Movies also have graphics, they aren't videogames.

Seriously I can't believe you're arguing this nonsense.