What?

What exercise? Are you saying I shot down that question quickly?

That was my opinion, HappyD. Take it as it is. 

Do you believe HW sales would have kept momentum had Nintendo kept releasing software?

Wii is different from PS2 (the anomaly) because it wasn't keeping on selling despite being the market leader, even if SW was lacking. This could probably be attributed to the new phenomenon of having a strong and thriving competition this gen. On a side note, do you think that had the HD twins been weaker, that Nintendo could have better afforded to reduce support for the Wii, more in line with a PS2 or GBA lifetime trend?

Minor critique: the PSP is doing well in Japan, but it is receiving solid SW support there even until now (7 years later).

I think what Nintendo is doing now is the best decision they could have made. Being Gen-8 Ready will give them a big headstart on the competition. They could test things out with their new console while not being totally scared of the others. I'm not sure what you are meaning by that last sentence, though. Sorry.

I understand. I wasn't asking about whether their decision was a good one or a bad one. I was asking, given a hypothetical (a "what if") decision (no matter whether it was good or not), given a decision to continue to support the Wii, what would have been the best way to serve the Wii: cater to casual/non-gamers, or cater to new markets (HD twins, other undiscovered markets, etc.)?

Two options if they continued to support the Wii:

1) Cater to the usual Wii audience

2-simplified) Cater to another audience.

What do you think would be better, 1 or 2, or both? What would be the resulting change in the HW trend graph in your opinion?

Catering to the Casual Market I would say would be a dead end. Like I said before, I think the Wii U is pooped. It's done. I can assure you the casuals don't even care about their Wii anymore. It's just there.

I don't know what that other audience would be? Are you trying to say HardCore Market?

I mentioned them in parentheses. HD twins market, other undiscovered market (option 2).

I don't think either way would help out. I just think the Wii has hit a brick wall. That's all.

Thanks Pie.

Of course.  Wii sold incredibly well at the start because it was a totally new product and a "must buy" item.  Then Nintendo continued to release compelling software for both the long time fans like Galaxy and SSBB, and software that continued to expand the market like Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii.

It wasn't until Nintendo slowed their software releases to a crawl that Wii sales began to decline rapidly.  2010 only had a couple of major releases like DKC Returns, with no Wii Fit or Wii Sports type games to continue growing the expanded marketplace.  And in 2011, just 4 full years into the system's life cycle, we got ONE major game from Nintendo in Skyward Sword, which only the hardest of the hardcore Nintendo fans cared about.  With nothing to sustain either the expanded audience or satisfy the core gamer's needs, Nintendo has essentially pulled the plug on the Wii long before its time had come.

Imagine if Sony hardly had any major PS2 software releases in 2005 and 2006 leading up to the launch of the PS3... it would be unthinkable, right?  They'd kill all momentum going into the next-gen, not to mention start to bleed cash, wouldn't they?  Well guess what, that's exactly what's happened to Nintendo now... the PS3 and 360 continue to grow, while the Wii's growth has been prematurely stunted by Nintendo's own neglegence.

As for your second question, if the HD twins were weaker, then that would become a non issue because we'd have already seen the start of the next-gen by now, as Sony and M$ would be much more inclined to kickstart the next gen asap instead of holding back and riding out the current surge they're both experiencing, which is what's prolonged this gen's life more than any others previously.

Very interesting stuff nightdragon.