i'm going to ignore all the crying and get right you the point.
"This was inspired by the thread about GTA Chinatown Wars, but this is broader than that. This is about the supposed notion that userbase is to blame for a game not selling well."
Wrong, it is the user bases fault. nintendo fans have flooded vgchartz lately with threads crying about third parties not bring the kind of games the market leader deserves. "oh noes, the developers are lazy" you say. "they didn't advertise enough" you say. "they aren't bringing their top tier franchises" you say. well too bad, GTA:CW is an amazing game from a great brand that had great advertising and still it failed. the reason: the nintendo userbase doesn't want the GTAs, the No More Heroes, the Red Steels, the muramasas...
Cry all you want but here is the honest truth of the matter. Nintendo is a great developer, no doubt about it. but nintendo makes a certain type of game: family friendly, cartoony, simplistic, with unique user interfaces. the userbase of the wii and the ds were created on the backs of great nintendo hits like nintendogs, new super mario brothers, mario kart, wii fit, wii sports.
now take particular notice to what those games are not like...they're not at all like GTA. but you know who is making games much more similar to GTA? Sony and Microsoft. consumers aren't stupid, consumers that want simple family friendly fair are going to buy wiis, consumers that what complex violent fair are going to buy 360s or ps3.
in the end, nintendo systems don't deserve games like GTA, dead space, assassins creed, ect any more then the ps3 deserves the port of EA active it's getting. the userbase just isn't there.
