I have a Wii and a PS3 is floating around my room (Literally lol). Anyways, I've bought a Wii "core" game made by a third party twice. No More Heroes and it's sequel. Multiplatform games I've gotten on the Wii include Rock Band 2...and that's it.

So where was the punchline Rol?

With EA's and Ubisoft's list you have a point, but looking at Activision and Sega's successes on the console, I don't think ignoring Wii with their flagship IPs is the best idea. Sure, CoD isn't selling in the 8-11 million range like the HD versions are, but they're easily making a profit with the Wii versions. And with Guitar Hero, well, Activison is making bank off the Wii with that as well (enough to give the Wii versions exclusive features). I mean, without the CoD success, I really doubt we'd ever see GoldenEye 007 as a Nintendo exclusive.

For Sega... well, Sega has easily seen the most success with the Wii. The Sonic games have done extremely well (even Black Knight has surpassed 500k ), and Sega only has two million sellers on both HD consoles (and one was massively bundled on the 360). So it's obviously important to them to keep working with the Wii and its audience (with the Nintendo exclusive Sonic Colors the most obvious example).

While you may not consider these games "core" (and if you don't consider Sonic core, then you are a meanie head), the point is that both of these publishers are supplying Wii with their popular, established IPs. And they're seeing success with it. I'm just saying that Wii could use more love from 3rd party established IPs.

@Jarrod and Qays

Can someone cut that Quote wall? That thing'll destroy us all at the rate its growing.

The barrier of entry to be competitive is rapidly rising, that generally squeezes out smaller devs, newer devs and new talent.  Yeah, when things cost dramatically more for basically the same or less return in business, that's generally seen as a "bad thing".  This isn't simple consolidation, it's the new economy. If you really think everything's just hunky-dorey with even the big publishers, I'd suggest you take a quick look at any of their IR sites and educate yourself.

And that's why this gen has been such an utter clusterfuck for developers and publishers; both Wii and HD multi each make for a poor replacement to the PS2 for 3rd parties, and each in their own ways.  On HD multi they have to spend big and maybe go broke in the process, on Wii they can face an apathetic/hostile market that's just going to go with the one brand they trust anyway (Nintendo).  The former is a result of market dynamics and technology, the latter's more a result of their own making, but the situation is equally bleak on both sides compared to what everyone had last gen.  This isn't a Renaissance for core game makers, it's the Ice Age.

1. When was the last time a major console launched that was as underpowered and underfeatured as the Wii is in comparison to its competition? The N64 is really the only one I can think of, and it also faceplanted vis à vis core gamers. It's a mistake to try to shoehorn in comparisons to the last generation, or to handhelds, or to PCs (WTF?): none of them are valid. The PS2 was weaker than the Xbox, yeah, but not all that much weaker, and for the most part the two consoles provided a similar experience. PCs are different from consoles for a whole host of reasons.

2. The DS is the heir to Nintendo's legacy of complete handheld domination dating back to the beginning of handhelds. "Core" handheld gamers have been shaped by this: they don't really seem to have much in common with core console gamers.

Edited: Killed quotewall.

" This isn't a Renaissance for core game makers, it's the Ice Age."

It's a renaissance for core gamers, though.

I don't get what more Nintendo can do to please some people. They went the hardcore/horsepower route last gen and their console received 20 million sales. So they go the complete opposite direction, and the hardcore Nintendo fans are whining that they "didn't deliver." To which I would say, where were you guys during the Gamecube days when Nintendo was making games completely for you? And it's not like they have been light on the core games this gen either.. But whatever, to each his own.

still talking about this, let it go people.  3rd parties dont want to mess with the Wii. Nothing anyone can do at this point. just buy a HD console or PC. This is coming from a guy whos bought more 3rd party Wii games than Ninty. The problem is that Ninty is still seen as the family system. Toy Story 3, Sonic games are all family friendly and sell better on Wii. Even though Toy Story 3 was better on the HD consoles. Look at those Carnival Games. Im not saying that its a bad thing, but it is what it is.  Hell look at WiiWare, Caterpillar ABCs???? You would NEVER EVER find that on XBoxLive or PSN.  The COD games always sell worse on Wii, not that a mil is bad but lower than HDs. Look at the recent Spiderman, way lower than HDs

1. Last time a dedicated game console launched as underpowered/underfeatured versus the competition as Wii, was... well, DS in 2004.  I'm surprised I have to repeat myself so much?

N64 was actually pretty popular with "core gamers" at least in America.  You don't sell 7m-plus of games like Mario, Zelda and Goldeneye without a strong core marketplace to do it.  Hell, PS3 still can't manage the sort of sales top N64 games got, I guess it's also a core "faceplant"?

And my PC comparison was just to illustrate, the core values you're pushing will always be secondary to content.  Hell, they're often even secondary to accessibility (which is also why dedicated consoles will never go away due to computers and phones).

2. The problem here is, that DS is behaving far more like traditional home console in terms of market than previous Game Boys.  Indeed, it basically ate the Japanese market wholesale and is generally seen as the successor to PS2 there... this is another problem with Wii "inheriting" what core content the market leader usually expects.  While the west decided to keep to their course in HD multiplatform R&D and throw outsourced ports and side projects at that rapidly growing Wii userbase, Japan decided to just make everything on DS for the most part (and PSP to a lesser extent, after Monster Hunter saved it).  Wii really had what core content it could've gotten lost from both ends, the west stayed "upmarket" and the east moved "mobile".  Had DS not effectively replaced PS2 in Japan, I think we'd have seen a lot more core Japanese content on Wii.

Also, prerelease it was widely expected that PSP would decimate DS, and the industry was looking at a repeat of PS1/N64 in terms of how Sony would enter the handheld space.  Development support overwhelming favored PSP upfront, with DS getting mostly GBA holdovers from 3rd parties... it wasn't until the latter half of 2005 and into 2006, after Nintendo basically threw the industry on it's head with unprecedentedly successful software like Nintendogs, Brain-Age, Mario Kart DS, Animal Crossing WW and NSMB, that the (Japanese at least) industry really refocused it's attentions on DS chiefly.  The western development scene mostly just slowly dropped out of handhelds as PSP faltered, at least until iOS came along.

@metallicube  cant really agree with you on the core games part. compared to the HD guys they have poor 3rd party support, IMHO I think GC had better 3rd party support. BUT im with you on others, where the hell were these fans last gen. GC was a fine system. hell after 2 years of Wii I still have more GC games

I'd hardly say that.  How many people do you really think prefer PS360 now over PS2 then?