There's outer core, and then there's inner core (true hobbyists). Outer core wouldn't know, but inner core would. Inner core is a minority I'd estimate at some 20mil.

Outer core (people who buy what we call core games) seems to be much larger.

Not to mention the Wii version of Tomb Raider: Underworld had a really frustrating game-ending bug.

You're kidding, right? They down-ported Dead Rising and it was about 90% of the way to the 360 version-hell, it was probably even more fun because it didn't rely as much on being a tech demo as it was on 360.

The point being that, as is almost always the case, all devs do with more power is up the graphic detail and then proceed to give us the same exact games as last gen. But prettier. Yay. This means that down-porting is a joke because all you really need to do is pare back the visuals and, bam, same game on a much less powerful paltform. Really, when you think about it, it's actually pretty pathetic (on the part of game devs, who whine about wanting more power but really only want it to make the same games we've been playing for nigh-on a decade, but with prettier pictures).

I don't believe that all gamers that identify themselves as "core" pay so close attention. Playing games regularly doesn't automatically equal keeping up on all the news, and I've seen cases of core gamers who play games regularly, but focus on certain genres or franchises, so they have a bit of tunnel vision concerning different types of games. Don't assume that all core gamers are uber-informed like us VGChartz afficionados.

Now, those who pay extra attention to PoP (the fanbase) are the ones who are most likely to pick up the Wii version of TFS in any scenario (and I imagine many ploncking down the cash for both versions), so this is a good test to see how many really informed, dedicated gamers follow the series. Or (and this is a total assumption that doesn't matter) perhaps some people don't bother with reviews so much and would rather play a game of the platform of their preference even if the version isn't as good, meaning there are a large number of people in the fanbase that I really don't want to associate with. Actually that might explain why people are saying CoD was comparable on Wii (not me!)

what is a competitor product to red steel on the HD consoles? Yakuza? Red Dead?

"Wii gamers have often been forced to make do with a substandard product for their less powerful system. This time, they get a great game built from the ground up to succeed." - GameInformer

This is what 3rd parties didnt do enough of on the Wii, building games from the ground up to cater for the system. I would have much prefered this than any down ports. Game like Assasins Creed could have existed and succeeded on Wii if they were built specifically for that system, Goldeneye Wii is a perfect example of this, a solid shooter built for Wii hardware and it sold really well.

Red Steel? That piece of crap? Probably Yakuza, which is good in its own right.

Red Steel 2? The good one? That's a more difficult comparison. Strange structure, unusual gameplay, Westen/Samurai setting...

...it's more like a spiritual successor to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Zan:_The_Samurai_Gunmanthis game than anything else.

If a game is treated like it will succeed (decent marketing, decent resources allotted), there is a greater chance that it will succeed.

Again I must post moar screenshots because I don't get enough opportunities to discuss this game, which is one of my top 10 favorite Wii games. One of the best-looking games on the system for sure, running at 60 FPS. Ubisoft didn't hold a lot back.

I stand by the bolded and anyone who says that games never materilized, all they have to do is look at the numerous multiplat games that did release on Wii that sold worse, NFS series, SW FU, the Spider-mans, just to name a few

Ive never even heard of those terms, but i still wager that even those people know about what is better. Look at a screenshot for a wii game then look at the HD version of the same guy, almost night and day in each instance, if this were true why didnt Wii versions of games do as well as HDs if the true hobbyists is such a small number?