I hear what you're saying, we're not trying to be ungrateful... this is way past that point. Ever since the Wii was launched NoA have been promising games and not releasing them. Besides the ones Alfredo mentioned there is also NPC Pikmin 2 (wtf NoA??) and also some VC games like FF3 and others for the DS as well.

This in addition to the games neither Europe nor America got like the Fatal Frames, NPC Chibi Robo, Zangeki no Reginleiv and more, is by now giving the impression Nintendo care more about selling hardware than software and that if it isn't a 5 million-plus seller, it's not worth having on their console.

This kind of business approach is both anti-creative and self-destructive, because it guarantees a diminishing number of genres, so that eventually everyone will get bored of them, just like what's happening with Guitar games and CoD games.

The focus is on NoA atm because they are the worst offenders (both NoE and NCL do a pretty good job localizing unique games), but  the true issue is in fact that of having a global market which is big enough to support diversity, vs. a compartmentalized market where each part is too small to make a difference.
(If you want to put it in different terms, it's similar to how Al Gore lost the elections to Bush Jr. )

Personally I'm hoping this doesn't end with NoA, but rather continues into the start of the next gen, so that everyone can play whatever games they want. It might even help out some Japanese devs who think nobody outside Japan cares about their style of games anymore...

I agree with everything you said. I mean, even if you don't end up losing features by modding it, you still lose some of the 'magic' that comes from having a cohesive interface. I too am always in favor of supporting devs for their hard work by spending my hard-earned cash on their products, both in order to show appreciation and in order to guarantee I get more of the games I like (not to mention the whole 'stealing = bad' thing )

Anyway, I apologize for dragging you into this debate against your will

Hopefully when this is over we can give peace a chance, as the man said.

What would that be good for? Sean Malstrom and his legion are taking the same position, that Xenoblade and all those other games should be released.

Yes, they don't believe that. They are merely against games which have proven to not move hardware (and thus not growing gaming) taking priority which is something Nintendo has repeatedly been guilty of. The Malstrom idealism is about growing gaming into the biggest entertainment medium. Not in revenue, but in the number of people who consume these goods.

Also, if gaming grows, then so should companies involved in it. That would naturally prevent hitting the ceiling you speak of. More sales, more revenue, more jobs being created etc.

Yes, the industry is moving in the wrong direction. Blockbusters and shovelware without much of a middleground.

This is why it's necessary to expand the gaming population. The more people, the more probable it is for more different types of games to be successful and with that the middleground can return. Otherwise we'll be left with a key genres that see well made titles while all the rest is relegated to low budget productions. This is a trend that can already be clearly noticed on the HD consoles. If you remove first party games from the equation, then the results are even more damning.

I hope that's a rhethorical question. Otherwise I have a hard time following this conversation.