One of my sisters likes the Wii because she's played Wii Sports. That's all, seriously. My mom wants a console this christmas, and guess which one? My dad is into the 360 more than any other console, same with myself. I do want all three of them though, I grew up with Nintendo but have yet to play many games by Sony.
I think the Wii hasn't captured the hardcore audience because for the past 10 years before the PlayStation family owned both casual and hardcore gamers. Nintendo for the most part has focused on a family-friendly image, but did have enough for the hardcore audience too. When the PlayStation came out there were games for people who grew up with the NES, and also some for new gamers. The N64 was the start of Ninty veering away from hardcore games (not completely of course) and the GameCube only verified that more. Meanwhile the PS2 had both types of games and came out with a lot of them, and people who grew up with the original PS were showing their kids the console because of the kid-friendly games (like Kingdom Hearts, Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter) but still playing it themselves because of the adult-oriented ones (like GTA, Devil May Cry). The Xbox was pretty much a hardcore console. Did anyone who owned one play Otogi, Oddworld: Stranger or Psychonaughts? Didn't think so.
When this generation started, Nintendo was all about innovation and a family experience. Since moms and sisters usually aren't into the violent games that the teenage son/brother plays, the company realized that they could include a whole new audience this time 'round (and hopefully make a s***load of money). But I think they veered of into this image a bit too far. While they have released hardcore games like Metroid Prime 3 and two Resident Evil games (and soon Super Smash Bros. Brawl), they haven't sold as well as something like Halo or Assassin's Creed.
Microsoft is doing well off of the hardcore market, and their software is often on top of worldwide sales charts thanks to America, the most hardcore market. Sony has lost a lot of ground in both markets thanks to the 360 and the Wii, although they still have games for both audiences. Sure Nintendo's console is selling the most hardware, but software belongs to Micro$oft, most of it being games geared towards... Well, you know. If the big N can somehow advertise those types of games (maybe offer online support?) then the chances of them being overtaken will be around .0001%. Alienating an audience can have drastic effects. That's why third-party developers turned to Sony over the past 10 years: many older people played games and not just kids or teens, so making games for a console with both audiences meant big bucks.
(Oh btw the console my mom likes is the 360, amazingly enough)
