Wii Motion Plus- Wii's second coming? Third parties awakening??

[Arius Dion]

I've previously spoke about the origins of the stigma of Third parties not being successful on Nintendo's systems. I don't think it is any surprise that many third parties missed the Wii train the first time around. The cinderella story that is The Wii (and Nintendo) has been called "the single biggest coup in gaming history" I recently read articles from 2006, before Wii's success was so certain. Sony and M$ both applauded Nintendo with an heir of dismissiveness (they've still tried such tactics but it looks sort of ridiculous when the company they're dismissing is is destroying them in sales yr in and yr out) Bottomline is, no one and I mean NO ONE saw this coming. I don't even think Nintendo knew just how huge the Wii would become. The name being revealed left many forums laughing at Nintendo's seemingly moronic decision. Iwata himself recently spoke about how Wii's success must have been most shocking to the Third parties.

This is where the Wii's dominance has been unprecedented. Many people still refuse to understand the heft of "betting on the wrong horse" and the time needed to shift resources, some may even believe that it is too late to change course (I disagree with that). There has never been a situation where the market leader was so unexpected.

Which brings me to the topic at hand: Is Motion Plus the Wii train's attempt to pick up stranded passengers? Is there anyone who believes many of the third parties are going to want to miss out on the Wii's money tree, again? I can understand the first time being caught with your pants down, but now that the Wii seemingly has a foothold on 1st place is it smart on any level for these companies to treat the system as a step child?

There can be another discussion of "chicken or the egg" when it comes to third parties, but two years in and the biggest third party effort was a port of a last gen gem (Re4 I'm really generalizing here)). Things are looking up, and I believe WM+ will allow third parties to get a grapple on the Wii audience as long as they treat it like the marketleader and not some throw away system. From the looks of financial forecasts it seems like they may be in a much more humble mood this time around.