Grampy on 16 May 2008
I think your take is far too pessimistic. The game developers didn’t have anything ready for the Wii at launch because they had been told by virtually all the industry experts that it was doomed to fail. It took a good part of the first year for it to become clear that the system was taking off. Then the 3rd party developers took notice. Unfortunately, believing the myth of the casual gamer and with their top people already committed to projects on the other platforms, their first response was to rush out a bunch of crap. After all, these were casual gamers, they wouldn’t know the difference. As Miyamoto himself said “it would be that a lot of times it seems that when they're putting games out on Nintendo hardware, those games are being developed by their third-string team or their fourth-string team.” He went on to say that this meant they were at a great disadvantage competing with Nintendo software which was always developed by their top people. It turned out that the Wii users, many of them adults and more than most people seem to realize, veteran gamers and ex-gamers, did know the difference and wouldn’t buy crap. They would however buy a good product like Guitar Hero III which did extremely well. Now the developers HAD to get serious or write off half the market. There is significant lead time so this new commitment is only now starting to bear fruit. Some good games are starting to show up and initiatives like EA Sports’ to produce games written for the Wii and really fully realizing the motion controls potential will soon show up. Serious games like Brothers in Arms are being rewritten for the Wii. After results like this month and probably next with Wii Fit, this trickle will become a torrent. That’s because game developers follow the market. And according to most of the reports and interviews in game developers’ trade papers there is no strong dislike of writing for the Wii. The costs are lower and the turn-around is quicker. Many designers prefer working on game play to the rather tedious work of texturing in high resolution and a lot of them are excited about working with a new control system. So don’t worry, good games will be coming. 
Look at it this way. You are operating a game design studio always worried about the mounting cost of development. You are essentially presented with the following choice. Do I reach half the market by designing on one platform that is easier and cheaper work on? Or do I reach the other half where I have to design on two separate platforms that are more difficult and more expensive to design for? Duhhhh
