I dont know why you guys keep arguing core games are big/relevant when you've seen that Wii outsold every machine with a traditional lineup in the history of gaming. The problem isn't that Wii doesn't have enough core games, its that it doesn't have enough "casual" games for Japan. In the west, the entire market is now based on casual games. Can any of you name a big, consistently relevant series in the west without a pick up and go nature to it that adds a compelling social element? Wii had that for a while - and Wii gamers in Japan want more of that. But Nintendo isn't used to churning out Wii Fits and Wii Plays quickly. Wii Music was a "bad" casual game which is why Wii sales are down. I don't buy the core-games will save Wii in Japan argument. Monster Hunter is big because it is casual. Not because its core. Look at PSP - if it had a hardcore following it wouldn't have changed the entire dynamic of the system all by itself, it would have had an RE5 effect - a big spike which quickly dropped off in a few weeks.
All of the biggest hits in the industry over the last ten years have some kind of social element to them that makes them "casual" at least compared to where the industry was in the 1990s.
You can count on one hand the games without some kind of intentional social element that have sold over 10 million copies in this industry. Most of the recent hits and biggest recent franchises in gaming - whether GTA, Guitar Hero, Rockband, DDR, Wii Sports, Nintendogs, Pokemon, Sports games, Racers, Wii Fit, Mario games, Brain Age, Call of Duty, Halo, have massive social elements even if they aren't "two player" or online".
TresTres there is effectively no information on the games in the PDF, I picked Cosmic Walker out of the bunch because Nintendo had it, along with the others listed under "launch of primary Nintendo products". If you go back through earlier PDFs, games like Animal Crossing and Pikmin were in the same position earlier in the decade. You seem to have the impression that the only relevant games Nintendo can announce are from existing series like Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Zelda, F Zero, Star Fox, Pikmin or offshoots of the Wii ____ line up. What is going to sell the Wii in Japan are games which offer compelling social elements to either the traditional audience or to the new audience. In the west tites like the music games and Mario Kart and Wii Fit have bridged the two, but in Japan it hasn't happened yet.
The entire first two years of Wii stuff was to draw in the old Nintendo audience - thats why Mario, Zelda, Fire Emblem, Batallion Wars, Metroid, Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, Mario Party, GC remakes, Big Brain Academy, have all launched already while supplementing it with more social games to keep evangelizing motion controls. Nintendo tends to come up with several new IPs or new ways to used established characters every generation to try to further gaming as a medium all people can appreciate. SNES had Star Fox, Pilotwings, F Zero as completely new series alongside Mario Kart. N64 had Animal Crossing, Wave Race, 1080 Snowboarding, NBA Courtside, Sin & Punishment, Tetrisphere alongside the Mario sports games, Mario Party, and Smash Brothers. GC had Pikmin, Chibi Robo, Geist as well stuff like Luigi's Mansion and Metroid Prime. Wii already has the Wii ___ series and Mario & Sonic.
The DS has seen the vast majority of Nintendo's efforts now that its almost five years old, and third party hits keep coming. DSiware probably takes fewer teams. Some advanced teams are probably making DS2 stuff, but the rest will be free to make Wii games now - and some of the games on that PDF are going to have strong social elements to draw in new people.
People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.
When there are more laws, there are more criminals.
- Lao Tzu
