I know the big focus on the Wii is "motion control".  The belief is casuals happen to LOVE motion control, because modern controls are just to difficult for them.  However, what I do see with the Wii is that it gives the gamers a controller, and I believe Nintendo had it set up as something that is meant to eventually transition non-gamers (casuals) into regular gamers.  The control is a gateway.

If this is true, however, I am curious how effective Kinect will be at that.  What I see here is a divide between the Kinect controller, and the 360 controller... a fairly wide divide.  While Kinect does hold promise to get non-gamers who couldn't even get into the Wii to play videogames of some time, how effective will it be to bridge the gap between the Kinect and the regular 360 controller and say games like Halo or even Castle Crashers?

Anyone see if there will be any chance of transitioning, or is the 360 with Kinect now something that will have two paths, the "casual" and the "hardcore" that won't cross paths?

Well I don't think the Wiimote worked to transition non-gamers into hardcore franchises. All these years after Wii's launch and party games and casual games continue to be Nintendo's big sellers. Sure a few of those casual's have adopted Nintendo's first party titles like MarioKart and NewSuperMarioBros. But for the most part I think the non-gamers are more attracted to games core gamers don't consider real games.

I think if Kinect does manage to get a large amount of non-gamers to purchase it, that they will end up with the same results Nintendo has. Casuals won't want to go hardcore they will want more casual games and inturn Microsoft like Nintendo will create more casual games.

I guess some would argue that with the Wii and soon to be Kinect. The hardcore gamers are becoming the minority they are becoming the casual gamers. While the casual gamers are becoming the new hardcore. Fact is the hardcore market we know today are interested in the older genre's platformers, shooters, RPG's. While the new gamers are interested in fitness games, sports titles and mini-game compilations or as Miyamoto calls them pick up and play games.

In the end us old school gamers (Hardcore) are going to be replaced by N00bs (Casual) and the companies like Microsoft , Nintendo and Sony will eventually move from catering to us to catering to them.

This whole schism between "casual" and "hardcore" gamers is a complete fallacy created by basement dwelling nerds who see their hot younger sister and her boyfriend having a fun time with Wii Sports along with the other physical sports they engage in the bedroom nightly. In effect, it is an unhealthy borderline personality type reaction to others getting laid based on one's own social inadequacy.

I am 25 now and was 11 years old in 1996. Was I a casual gamer because I was playing and loving Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, and other 2D platformers? Not to mention, I purchased Earthbound when it first came out in the big box, was there for the excitement when Secret of Mana came out, bought a N64 for Super Mario 64 and bought a PlayStation for Final Fantasy 7, though I still think Kefka would win 10 out of 10 rounds against that little emo biatch named Sephiroth.

I can understand the term casual gamer as it relates to getting one's sister, mother, father, and grandparents to play a title such as Wii Sports. That is where the discussion ends.

Titles such as New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Metroid: the Other M, Red Steel, and on are not casual titles. If it has Mario, Metroid, or Donkey Kong in the title then we are not talking casual, we are talking old school gamers who grew out of videogames, but have purchased the new "Mario" title because it brings them back to their gaming days in the 1980s and 1990s for an experience they can share with their children.

Congratulations on calling yourself "core" or "hardcore," now go into PC gaming because that is where the majority of the cutting edge titles have come from since Diable and Fallout in the mid 1990s, through Far Cry, Half Life, and Crysis.

there is always the possibility of a cross over... it would be more story driven titles that focus hard on the story and less on the action

I can understand how the Wii controller transitions people into playing controller based games.  I don't get how Kinect will do it, and thus not work as a gateway into more traditional games.  I see Kinect being something that would have its own kind of games and its own kind of appeal, but separate from the stuff we are used to now.  I figured I would ask regarding this.

I believe MS is taking an approach of focusing directly on the so called casual gamers first with Kinect and then will reach back out to the so called hardcore gamers later on.  I believe they have in the labs a add on controller to go along with Kinect for movement and a trigger.  They could have came out with one at launch, but choose to go the completly controllerless route to not cloud the message of Kinect.  Next year you will see Kinect with extra stuff and games that will be more interesting to hardcore gamers.

It is also important to point out that the area MS wants some of the cut in are the fitness/casual sports gamers.  Look at the software charts each week and Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, WiiFit and now Just Dance are in the list nearly each and every week.  It isnt because they are phenominal software it is the Motion control and the allure of people moving.  Please dont argue that those games sell because of the software.  Wii Sports is fun because of motion. If you replace the motion with a button the games would be awfully boring.  Kinect Sports, Kinect Adventures, UBISofts Your Shape and Dance Central all look like high quality titles in the casual genre that are going for the casual crowd.