This core market stuff has always been a bit of a myth. The average gamer may be 28 or whatever but its not like thats where the highest single concentration is by age.
In terms of gamers of a certain age out of all gamers who game its probably some kind of distribution like:
3-8 - 15% (Plurality of gamers are kids)
9-14 - 13%
15-20 - 11%
21-26 - 9%
27 - 32 - 8% ("average gamer is 28")
32 - 37 - 7%
38 - 43 - 6%
44 - 49 - 6%
50 - 55 - 5%
56 - 61 - 4%
62 - 67 - 4%
68 - 73 - 3%
74 - 79 - 3%
80 - 85 - 3%
85 - 90 - 3%
90+ - 3%
Wii probably has 30-35% of the male 18-35 audience, filibuster proof majorities of the female audience, and ~50% of men outside the 18-35 range. In the West. Japan sees probably a smoother 60% across all demographics. Sega, Sony, and Microsoft marketing have all focused on making their consoles seem 'cool' enough so that people over say...12 wouldn't feel ashamed of using a device a 6 year old uses.
When the average PS2 owner of say...22 plays PS2 do you think he wants to be reminded that there are probably 40 million PS2s exclusively used by children? Of course not. Thats the beauty of marketing. Nintendo's goal seems to be getting everyone to enjoy the same content so that there is no shame in doing an activity that a six year old does. If you don't think its possible, consider the accolade athletes in the major sports get for playing a 'kid's game'. It can be done, but the message and content has to be just right and Nintendo hadn't nailed it completely since the Game Boy and NES era until DS and Wii rolled around.
People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.
When there are more laws, there are more criminals.
- Lao Tzu
