1. Wow, games and hardware are down at the end of the generation?  And they peaked in the middle of the generation?  That is so strange.  I bet that never happened before.  I am shocked!  SHOCKED!

2. BREAKING NEWS.  NINTENDO LEAVING THE CONSOLE BUSINESS.  GOING THIRD PARTY.

Pachter is king, and he is again right.

I have been trying to argue this for awhile, namely that MS is making a HUGE mistake by investing in the casual market in next gen (it was already a mistake by MS to so blatantly ignore the hardcore in the last part of this gen as they lost nearly all their reputation of catering to the core gamer within just two years).

It's fact that casuals are easy to lose, that many of them now are on Facebook and smartphones.

PS4 will easily win next gen because they worked hard to strengthen their image of being a gamers console.

How is this guy still employed, 9 times from 10 he's wrong!!

Not this old chestnut again. Nonsense. Wait until the U is released and a two spear-headed advertising campaign is started by Nintendo, half aimed at the 'casual' demographic and the other aimed at the 'hardcore' demographic. It's going to fly off shelves, as will the PS4 and 720.

I think casual gamers will go with Kinect next gen. I don't see Wii U having the casual appeal. There's definitely a perception among the Wii Fit Mothers (at least those I know) that Kinect is better because you don't have to hold anything, and holding that Wiimote is now annoying and they don't even get the Wii out anymore. But Kinect looks neat.

Casual gaming on a device connected to the TV will always be around, and the more motion controlled it is the greater the point of difference from other devices. Kinect wins here because no controller = preferred for most casual games.

My own favourite casual games are Buzz and Singstar. For those a hand held input device is essential, though I suppose the Kinect mic could be good enough for a singing game, still lots of people like holding a mic when they sing.

I think the casual crowd has diminished for consoles, but there's still quite a few out there.

Well he's right up to a point but I could do without the hyperbole : when you say "never" you're almost certainly wrong technically.

Clearly a lot of people and a new generation are focused on portable and much less expensive experiences vs the more dedicated hardware and games - but I think he's a) making an assumption there is a clear and definitive demographic of "casual" which I don't believe there is and that b) he's ignoring that total HW and SW sales this gen strongly imply a market will certainly remain for dedicated devices and more expensive SW.

So I get his point - but as stated it's kind of vague in detail and too loose for my liking.

Pachter is wrong again as usual. No, Nintendo will not have the same level of success with casuals ever again, well actually they might but its doubtful. But Kinect proves casuals will purchase hardware even if it is in smaller quantities. Fact is if Nintendo can sell WiiU to the core gaming audience and have casual junk for the rest of the persons family, they will have a sale.

The trick is not focusing entirely on casuals. Because casuals alone will not maintain strong hardware sales. Instead putting the focus on both the core and casual. If Nintendo can sell dad a WiiU and mom WiiU casual games and little Johnny the latest Mario. Then Nintendo will have a gold mine! Fact is if any of the three want to dominate the living room they cannot do so without casual games. They need the soccer mom, the tweenage girl, the teenage girl and the children just as much as they need the core 35 year old male. Nintendo is doing the right thing at E3 by putting an emphasis on the core gaming demographic. Third parties have stated casual games are still coming and I have no doubt come 2013 E3 Nintendo will have WiiUFit ready to show off and maybe a BrainAge. Because Nintendo will need casual games to help them secure the living room. Going multimedia with the tablet having Netflix and TV shows and movies and eBooks and apps. This will go a long way to helping Nintendo dominate the living room which is essential for Nintendo to do next gen!

I think Pachter just says what he WANTS TO HAPPEN.

And that's how he stays employed. He leaves it up to the reader to fill in the blanks, which will then spark debates, which will then keep his name relevant until his next prediction. He's a god damn genius.

Well, many many hardcore gamers have already bought the X360 during this generation and it's still their main gaming platform because of Xbox Live, their Gamerscore and endless amounts of great multiplats coming out constantly.

So yes ,the X360 is still associated with hardcore gaming, definitely. But I think MS is not associated with hardcore gaming anymore and I think there is mistrust towards MS from the hardcore gamer regarding the future. So think "Xbox brand + future" and I think core gamers don't have the same trust they used to have.

But who knows, maybe MS are much smarter than I think and they will in fact strike a fine balance between casual and core gaming with the X720. Today I strongly doubt it.