Borkachev said: I hope this ends the myth that HDTV and HD support don't matter.

Actually it doesn't end that "myth" at all. All it does is show that plenty of Wii owners keep using it with HDTVs, ignoring the fact that other consoles can look better because they personally enjoy whatever games they choose to play on the Wii. The fact that the Wii is tied with the 360 basically implies that HD support doesn't matter to them.

Furthermore i'd put forth that as this console generation goes forward HDTV rates amongst gamers could infact decrease for each console. Early console adopters who paid $400 for a launch 360 or $600 for a PS3 (or more for either considering eBay markups) are far more likely to also have not only the type of disposable income but the desire to play them on a better HDTV. Once the Wii gets even lower and the 360 and PS3 make it to $200 or less more people can buy them but they are also the type of people who wouldn't throw down hundreds or thousands for an HDTV.

That theory is of course assuming those mass market consumers waiting for price drops don't also jump on HDTVs which can continue to get cheaper and throw my theory completely out the window.

I think it depends on which side of the market you're dealing with. For Nintendo, who is selling Wiis faster than it can make them, adding HD support couldn't have made any difference. For them, you could argue that it doesn't matter. But for the consumers, I would argue that the fact they all have those TVs shows that higher resolution does matter to them. Not enough to dissuade them from buying the Wii, obviously, but the lack of support may well be detracting from their enjoyment of it. And if they also own one of the HD consoles, it may affect their software purchasing decisions when two similar games come out.

For the PS3/360, I've heard a whole pile of people say that these companies' decision to include HD support was a waste of time and money, because the customers don't care. That myth I think should be thoroughly debunked by this.

The REAL question is what percentage of people who only own a previous generation console have it hooked up to a HDTV?

The people who will push the Wii (or any console) past the 30 Million mark are NOT going to be the early adopter gamer type, and are probably far less likely to have a HDTV than those that already own a next generation console.

The HD market has exploded here in Scandinavia, and in a few other european countries as well. I personally know only a handfull of people who don't own an HD set yet.

Borka said penatration. huh huh huh.

Just because you have an HDTV doesn't mean you need HD resolutions. I think it wasn't until the N64's ram pack that console gaming matched 640x480.

Mummelmann said: The HD market has exploded here in Scandinavia, and in a few other european countries as well. I personally know only a handfull of people who don't own an HD set yet.

I'm one of the few people that still dont have HDTV. We have only 5-6 HD channels in Sweden and the majority seems to have HDTV crazy.

You know, most of the people who are buying HDTV:s, buy them to watch TV on SD channels (which by the way looks a lot crappier than watching SD channels on SDTV), so why would picture quality all of a sudden would matter, when people choose to watch TV on a crappier picture quality than before. I haven't yet seen a single HDTV with HD tuner, they all have SD tuners built-in. There are 2 main reasons why people buy these TV:s. First reason is because they look a lot better than the tube models, so they fit a lot better for decoration. Second reason is because all over the world channels are going digital and you need to purchase either digital TV or digital set top box. So, when combined with "first", purchasing a HDTV starts to make sense for most.

And earlier this year, august perhaps, there was a worldwide poll in Everybody Votes Channel, about is your TV widescreen, and only about half of the voters had widescreen, meaning half was still playing with 4:3 TV:s. And assuming that the people who have their Wiis online are more tech orientated people, the result was surprising. So, i'm a little sceptic about the research in the OP. It could be possible, but i still see the number a little high.

Yojimbo said: Mummelmann said: The HD market has exploded here in Scandinavia, and in a few other european countries as well. I personally know only a handfull of people who don't own an HD set yet. I'm one of the few people that still dont have HDTV. We have only 5-6 HD channels in Sweden and the majority seems to have HDTV crazy.

 I know, I saw it was the same in Denmark when I went there this summer! I don't own one either, yet... The prices on HD sets has dropped dramatically here lately; the Bravia I have scoped out for myself has been halved in price in about 14 months!

HDTV's are are too shitty for the price they charge, they provide very little increase in the quality of the TV/movies/games that are played on it. A nice SDTV is better then 90% of the HDTV's that you can buy. And yes i have seen them played using HDMI.

The numbers listed are just pulled out of their ass, under 20% of Gamers have an HDTV. Go ahead and ask players when you are online in a game, the same goes for Surround sound.