Ail, I appreciate that your posts on this subject were politely worded and reasonably stated. At the same time, the subject matter is another version of the "Wii is destroying gaming!" rhetoric that we've been hearing for well over a year now. With no disrespect intended to you, this argument has long since gotten stale. The gaming industry is experiencing phenomenal growth right now, and clearly much of that is being driven by the Wii. And for all the fears that developers will stop making big-budget games on the 360 and PS3, we certainly haven't seen that happen so far.
To go back to the point that Phendrana brought up, I think the prevalence of Wii "shovelware" articles of late is a sign that the Wii skeptics movement is in its third phase now. To recap:
- First response was the "Wii is a fad!" argument, quite popular throughout 2007. This is the whole "Wii hardware sells now, but it will stop at ___ date" mantra. Largely discredited by now, only a few diehards still repeating this.
- Second response was the "Wii sells hardware, but it doesn't move software" argument. Popular in late 2007 and the early months of 2008. Increasingly difficult to justify as every chart-tracking service continues to show the dominance of Wii software sales.
- Third response seems to be "Wii sells hardware and software, but it's all garbage/shovelware." I read this as a way of coming to terms with the ongoing presence of the Wii in the market. Obviously this is conjecture, but it's worth thinking about.
End of 2008 totals: Wii 42m, 360 24m, PS3 18.5m (made Jan. 4, 2008)
