Eh nevermind

Nintendos blue ocean strategy works.

I think that's great, and I hope it's a succes. But women do love Singstar.

I'm surprised no one seems the slightest concerned about this. While I agree with JL and Schwarz on it's meaning there's a flipside too:

As the percentage of women (and other new gamers) increases, the chance of major 'core' games coming to Wii likely decreases.

While this is only one chain in one country so far, it's could set up a disturbing trend of stocking only Nintendo merchandise. Shoppers carries no 3rd party games whatsoever. Possibly people who originally buy there might goto EB Games or such for more games, but possibly not.

So while great for Nintendo this is not necessarily great for us gamers with Wiis.

@Gamerace

Disturbing isn't it how almost nobody else on these forums sees what you just brought up. I would say its almost a case of 64 syndrome and that should be a definite concern. Where the 64s library became too soft as a byproduct of a expensive format, and having a smaller user base. The Wii might manage the same feet by appealing to a larger segment of the population who are not core gamers.

Nintendo has been marketing their console as a machine for everyone. The downside is obvious its a console that does not cater to anyone in particular. So while the console might sell one hundred million units in its life time. There is a real chance that the core gamers on the console will make up a smaller user base then on either of the other two consoles, and especially those two consoles combined. Its a realistic assumption that those consoles should at the very least make forty million in sales, and probably more likely over fifty million.

Your concerns are justified, but I suppose its victory at any cost that matters to most posters. Ironically I think the Wii software lineup is already much weaker then the previous two Nintendo systems as it is. I certainly do not see Nintendo really catering to either core or hardcore gamers, and the thought that even more Wii systems are going to be sold to non core gamers is rather depressing.

@Dodece and Gamerace

I did realize that when I was typing my responses, but I purposely chose not to mention it. As has been discussed to death already, we've got to accept that if we want the industry to be accepted as an art form and a general form of entertainment, we need a wider variety of games. To use a movie analogy, just because we get 20 'Are We There Yet's and 'Bee Movie's, it doesn't mean we don't get blessed with Pirates, Lord of the Rings, Spider-Man, Shoot-Em-Up, I Am Legend, and Sweeney Todd.

Millions upon millions of non-gamers own DS's, but does that stop it from getting stuff like Contra, Castlevania, Mega Man, Dementium, Call of Duty, Medal of Honour, and all these other awesome games.

I think it's fairly obvious that we have no idea what's really in store for Wii next year. However, out of the four big first-party games we know of, Wii Fit, Smash Bros, Mario Kart, and Disaster: Day of Crisis, the type of game, I'm only seeing a positive mix. We have ONE game that's supreme-casual, one that's MEGA-hardcore, another shooter, and a racing game that has historically been very popular with both flavours of gamer.

We've also got Fatal Frame and Monster Hunter known--although, like with Nintendo, we really don't know what TP's have in store for Wii yet (in fact, I don't even know if many TP's know, themselves). Sqare has done many double-takes with regard to Wii recently (hence the discussion of whether Kingdom Hearts will be on PS3 or Wii), and I'm 100% certain we will see more of this going further in this year.

So no, I don't believe that we will get less hardcore games going into the future.

They should import the Japanese game teaching how to make up, and come up with titles on what medicine you should eat :)

this will have no negative effects, in fact there is a high chance that these women who buy a Wii have husbends and kids. Now there is a Wii in the home they might just get a game for the Kids and one for Dad too. So they buy SMG, RRR2, and UC : )... and there you have it, 3+ games sold that would have never been sold had Mom not wanted a "health product"

this means that it will help wii and DS sell even more

I noticed them at Shoppers Drug Mart as well. My guess is they caught on to how well the Wii's and DS's were selling and figured it might help profits somewhat. I can't really blame them, I wouldn't be surprised if some other stores try a similar strategy over 2008.