Darn it, it didn't post anything I said.

Concerning the long-tail, I am sorry if I didn't make it clearer. I meant 100% of titles after November 2007. No cherry picking. The actual number of titles I included in the analysis was around 257 titles. I included the Microsoft blurb, because its pretty close to what it still is today (its a little bit better in terms of long-tail due to sales/price reductions and so on which boost unit sales).

You may be right about LIMBO, but I would of said the same thing for Trials HD being a game that should of dropped harder, as its still a mostly single player game. LIMBO had some jaw-dropping sales in December (about 80k units), which makes me think that it may have a great lifespan. Who knows, it may be the one that breaks the trend.

Concerning price drops/sales, it has been a boon for every market that has it. The 'Race to the bottom' is a unique iOS phenomenon, which is not experienced by XBLA, PSN, Steam, or even Android. Most titles that go on sale for any of the stated platforms usually see great sales boosts, and are almost always a net-gain in terms of platform health, and revenues for the developer. Obviously, there has to be a balance between sales, and cheapening the platform porfolio, but as long as your only having 1-2 dozen games on sale a month, it seems to be a great thing.

For the MSP comment - I was talking about Microsoft Points, not Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price :-p   

As for the Arcade visibiity of various sorting schemata - I think that shows why its so valuable to have multiple fronts for titles. Indie sales are really poor by comparison (both revenues and unit sales). Even if something like the Top Downloaded chart is the last in the list, it is still a list, which offers another feature space for a given set of titles. The more there are, the better, as fewer users are going to go through the process of searching for games, and then downloading them. That is one major issue with iOS vs. Android, I think, because Apple does a lot better job at displaying titles for sale.

Optimally, Microsoft should simply have 2 or 3 blades on the home page for DLC, Arcade, and Games-on-Demand content, rather than fill it with the other tripe they have. It'd go a long way, rather than have to click on downloadable content, then arcade, then indie, or whatever you want. Such a long conversion funnel can really hurt sales, and I think that every platform could benefit from such changes.

 I'm always going to be a skeptic when it comes to Nintendo and online, I just think they've got so far to go that it's hard to see them ever catching XBL or PSN in all regards - and this will always then hinder WiiWare sales. Sure enough it shouldn't be too hard to get WiiWare having a better apprearance and more space for promotions, but without the fully integrated online experience - friends lists, achievements, quick join features blah blah - people simply won't use Wii online as much, and less people using Wii online is less potential WiiWare customers. They might have an ace up their sleeve though.

I don't know figures for others you listed, but Megaman 9 was projected at 425000 sales across all digital platforms earlier in this thread. Even if it sold best on the Wii, that's still not far beyond 150000, which is a drop in the ocean compared to million sellers like Case zero and Battlefield 1943. Maybe other WiiWare games can boast comparable sales though? (I'm not trying to belittle Wiiware or anything just gather where it's sales potential stacks up)

Especially if there has been a 'drop' - but I think the drop can mainly be contributed to a lack of games (Which actually get promotion / garner interest). Nintendo never bother to put anything on there and actually promote it and aside from World of Goo which got alot of coverage, and those which are also on PSN / XBLA, I'm not sure I can even name any WiiWare games that came out recently...

 I know there were platformers last gen but non of them really ever sold or got much coverage, guess that was just the genres last legs really. Sonic is the only third party platformer still going from those listed in all honesty, and I doubt you can put them sales down to quality. Looks like the Wii is helping spark a few new ips though, de Blob and Mickey (As a platformer at least). 

 I'm sure Sony would love to do a Crash collection, but I think this 'collection' trend will likely be limited to PS2 games. You can stick a PS2 game in HD and add trophies and it's 'acceptable' but I think there'd be alot of criticism in doing the same for a game that looks like a PS1 game - besides they're all on the PSN store for like £4 anyway. It's a shame as I'd love to play them with trophies :P. We'll inevitably see Jak / Dextar and Ratchet/Clank collections though.

EDIT: Found some WiiWare 'estimates' from VGC itself, looks like highest games are around 500k tops (Albeit could be old numbers) with World of Goo around 300k and Pokemon Ranch 'top with just under 700k. Interesting reading but I don't wanna form any real opinion on that while I'm this tired. VC boasts higher sales however, albeit with pretty much just Nintendo games lol.

I think some of this might have to do with getting games approved for a disc. On wii, it is much easier to get your game approved by Nintendo for disc pressing than Sony and MS. I'm pretty sure the HD systems have requirements on the size of the game, and if it doesn't hit a certain size it becomes DLC.

New Super Mario, Kirby's Epic Yarn, DKC Returns; they are all great games, but can't be more than a couple hundred MB of data. They just re-use so many objects and the graphics are only marginally better than similar games which fit on a DS cart. In order for a 2D platformer to be non-DLC it has to be something as amazing as LBP or LBP2.

I don't really want to get into the 'casual' argument, but $50 or $60 for a 2D platformer is too much IMO for those Wii games when I can get Halo, COD, Fallout, etc. games for the same price. You have to know that way less development time went into those 2D games. Keep all those games as DLC unless it's something phenomenal (LBP) or aimed towards kids and discounted (Kung Fu Panda).

You clearly don't know how DS capability and  how DKCR graphical quality is.

Saying that you're implicity assuming that platform is an unworthy genre...I finished Fallout 3 in about 15 hours and never played it again for 60$, atm I'm playing DKCR which I bought for 50$, I've played it for 20 hours and still I'm about at half of the game, it seems like a much better deal to me.

As for develepment costs,I care about how good the final product is, not about how much they spent to make it. That's a developer's problem, not mine. If they don't think their product is appealing enough without tons of graphical development cash-burning is their problem. Also DKCR and SMG2 took 2.5 and 2 years to be developed, not different from many hi-quality HD games.

Last thing, if you consider LBP as a creative tool it's great, but if you consider it a platformer it's embarassing.

@jarrod i find it interesting that you believe the whole "Ninty sabotoged their own VC" argument. that seems like something a Ninty hater would say. IMHO thats probably true but I dont want to believe it, because that is a pretty stupid tactic that i would never expect from Nintendo, MS sure, Sony maybe, but I thought Ninty was above doing that. What makes it worse ist that the WiiWare games is of usually poor quality.

@bobbert excellent points I think even think of the size of the games being to small. I mean when your dealing with DVD/Bluray discs you just cant slap any old thing on it and send it to market. There not that cheap and I guess they want their money's worth

i agree with everything freebs said

also, wii platformers are "50 - 60" they are 50 flat, wii games dont price like HD games do unless they have a pack-in. also, "being phenomenal" isn't some sort of concrete goal. you think LBP is phenomenal, while others think DKCR, SMG, or KEY are phenomenal. regardless, the sales of all the platformers mentioned show that wii rules the genre.

I really have no idea where this thread went in terms of discussion (too lazy to read StickBall and Jarrod's giant posts ) but as someone who just loves platformers, I couldn't be happier (well... I'm still missing Banjo and Conker... but what can ya do?) with their little renaissance on the Wii.

Seriously, I have 2D/3D Sonic (and Sonic Colors is a totally fun game. So happy to see the Blue Blur getting better and better), 2D/3D Mario (Galaxy was actually my favorite 3D Platformer ever... and then Galaxy 2 came out. An incredible game.), Kirby (this is the most adorable game I've ever played. It's also incredibly fun... I love the firetruck transformation!), Donkey Kong, Wario, Klonoa, de Blob, A Boy and His Blob, Epic Mickey (while not exactly a pure Platformer, there's plenty of fun running and jumping and exploring), and the LostWinds games. I'm totally happy with how this generation is turning out as far as the Platformers go, and I'm hoping that the genre's resurgent success keeps going.

I'm surprised you never picked up NyxQuest; it's certainly better than the first Lost Winds (albeit not as good as Melodias).

To be honest my WiiWare purchases (and playing time) aren't anything to write home about. I still want to get NyxQuest, Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth, Bit.Trip Runner, And Yet It Moves, and Dive: The Medes Island Secret. I also really want to get Shatae on DSiWare too.

My playing time has been dramatically down this past year unfortunately. To be honest, the next purchase I want to make is a decent sized (prolly 32") HDTV to put into my room. That way I'll have even less excuses to not play.

X360/PS3 games are $60, that's why I say $50-60. On wii, they're 50, on HD systems, they're 60.

The XBL marketplace for indie games has different pricing based on the size of the game. If it's less than $50, you can charge 80MSP, otherwise you have to charge at least 240MSP.

I'm glad you spent 20 hours on DKC:R, some people have spent more than 100 hours playing Farmville, and that's free. Much better ROI than Oblivion, I can't believe I bought that piece of junk...

I'm just saying, we don't know if Wii rules the genre, because so few (almost none) platformers are released on the HD systems on a Disc. If the game was 500MB, then it would be released as DLC whereas the Wii doesn't even have the choice because it would overfill the on-board memory. Limbo sold 300k copies in its first month, without having to press & ship DVDs. LBP was mentioned in the OP as a multi-million seller. Face it, MS and Sony would never allow NSMB, DKC:R, or Kirby on a Disc and it would be DLC. Less profitable = less marketing = less sales. I'm glad you like Nintendo charging you full price for something that woudl be $15 on XBLM, and apparently a lot of people are willing to pay that price.

What you're basically saying is, because of Mario, DKC, and Kirby, the wii dominates platformers and the HD consoles don't stand a chance. IMO, any Mario, DK, or Kirby game will sell millions because of nostalgia, 2D or 3D. As far as New/Other IP goes, check the posts above for sales and you'll see that there's nothing proving the Wii outperforms sales-wise. For me the problem is 1) ability to get the game on a Disc at full price, as LBP is the only one on the HD systems that comes to mind and 2) advertising for the game, which will only happen if the game gets on a Disc.