Nintendo basically says, "There is no mafia."

[greenmedic88]

Those attach rate numbers come from my own casual observations of various households with video game consoles that are not "gamer oriented" households.

Most gamers know what that entails since they probably qualify to some extent: various consoles from different generations attached to multiple TVs is usually an indicator, as is a rack full of games on display in plain sight by the living room TV. More than one of the same console hooked up to different TVs in the house? Check. Multiple consoles attached to the living room TV? Check. Peripherals in plain sight rather than tucked away. Regular community gaming nights? That's a givaway.

Core gamers are less likely to finish games, simply because they buy more than they can play in their spare time. That's typical unless it's a gamer on a budget who likes to marathon every game they buy and plans every game purchase months in advance.

You'll typically find the opposite in a casual gaming house. Most likely one console hooked up to the main TV and no games on display because you'll probably only find a handful of games tucked away with the DVDs or inside the entertainment console. Old consoles usually end up in the attic, or were traded in, donated, dumped or e-bayed after the household stopped buying games for the old console.

These are the people who will typically only purchase a handful of games over the lifetime of any given console. They generally lack the collector mentality of the core gamer.

People that specifically buy accessible games like Guitar Hero, DDR, etc. generally only play other accessible games (which includes most Nintendo franchises like just about anything with Mario/Galaxy/Kart/Smash Bros. You might find someone who specifically has all those for the Wii, but what you probably won't find is a copy of No More Heroes or Okami.

Wii Fit and Brain Training aren't in the same category as Guitar Hero, DDR or Sing Star. The use of popular music in those games are what creates the built in accessibility (to both casual and core) in addition the self explanatory game play. And yes, DDR features a lot of obscure J-Pop, but I'm not even going to start trying to examine the broad appeal behind it.

Call them (Wii Fit) casual if you will since they are typically of limited interest to the core gamer, barring the truly hardcore gamers that buy just about anything different or new that isn't complete crap (but may buy it anyway just to confirm their opinion that "yep, it's crap!").

Even if games like GH or DDR are all selling in the millions, which would be expected as they also appeal to most core gamers, they do not suddenly represent the new core game demographic. That's like saying casual is the new hardcore.

As I said before, the game industry is not counting on these gamers to keep the industry afloat into the future. They know there is a segment of their console buyers that simply doesn't play much. And unless the overall number of gamers continually grows indefinitely, at some point, some of them are going to have to start increasing their buying habits, which would effectively turn them into a core gamer. But even a relatively static core demographic is essential in selling a broader range of games to include the really difficult ones with sharp game play that virtually all core gamers like. So it's not as though the popularity of casual gaming has suddenly made them irrelevant.

The truth seems to be that many hardcore games (better described as traditional games) mainly sell to the same demographic that they've been selling to over the last few generations of consoles, barring the younger players who still have to get their games through Mom and Dad. Of course now a young Mom and Dad likely grew up with video games themselves and are just as likely to game with their kids.