If i take my own experience, I purchased a Wii before a PS3/Xbox because of the new controller system. To begin with loved the control, then over a short period of time started to become very disillusioned with the games for it (appeared too childish/graphics poor) and the total inaccuracy of the device, so then moved on (only purchased a few games for the wii before selling it).

The problem was two fold, the power of the machine and the userbase. Many of the games were aimed at the younger/fitness or dance groups of users (casual) who very rarely buy many games. Many more core gamers who wanted bigger better games, found the machine wanting after rushing out and buying it for the "control" system. So that left Nintendo fans who buy nintendo games in big numbers... great for nintendo, but not much use for anyone else.

Because the machine was woefully underpowered, 3rd parties could not bring out the same games for the machine, so games like on the rails games were made. Further causing issues for core users, why buy a on rails game when you can get a bigger experience game on the other two consoles.

In the end 3rd parties did two things, they made casual/waggle games for the wii in the hope they make a game that could sell big numbers and made normal games for other consoles. You cant blame them they went where the money was, there was no point in trying to make big/expensive games for a console that couldn't handle it in terms of tech or in terms of userbase that was willing to buy (paradoxically even with the massive user base they didn't have the core who go out and buy 3rd party games) .

The wii-u is in a much better place in terms of tech and the ability to get 3rd party games BUT only for the current gen crop of games... but the "core" have already purchased an Xbox/Ps3, so any game released on a wii-U will do very low numbers. Thus making the question of developing games for the wii-u very difficult indeed.

You won't see them in the same boat with the Wii U thanks to Nintendo's forward thinking with regards to their choice of GPU and architecture. It's going to be much easier to port to and from the Wii U, PS4 and 720 than it currently is to port between the Wii U, PS3 and 360. And you'll probably find the Wii U being the lead platform for multiplatform titles if publishers want a Wii U SKU. My reasoning behind this is quite simple. The Wii U is going to have the largest marketshare, it's going to be the least powerful of all 3 consoles this gen, it's got a standard rendering pipeline and a similar architecture to the other two. The second in that list is the most important of the lot. It makes sense because doing things the other way around means you could end up with a game too large in scale for the market leader to handle. That's why the vast majority of 6th gen games had the PS2 as the lead supplying up-ports to the PC, Xbox and Gamecube.

I can tell you now, there is no way this is going to happen. No one is talking about the wii-u being the lead platform for the next set of consoles, because Nintendo decided they were going to put only a similar hardware level to the current Ps3/Xbox consoles. They will be working like they normally do, with the intention of releasing the games on PS4/Xbox720 and PC, If there are PS3/Xbox duel releases then the wii-u might get them, but Nintendo have waited too long to release the Wii-U and it being underpowered means that it will get left behind by 3rd parties again.

They really have screwed up imho, they should have released the wii-u maybe 2 or 3 years ago then they could have looked at jumping ahead of the next gen. All they have done now is release a console that people view as a 6 year old tech machine. If i was looking to buy a console now and didn't have one, the pad might persuade me, but the PS3/Xbox being cheaper and having a massive library of cheap games would definitely be the decider. When the Nextgen consoles appear, the current machines will get a price cut and the games would probably be even cheaper, making the task of selling a wii-u on the user base even harder.

Ps- sorry for all the text, wish there was a preview option :)

But that's just not... logical! Wouldn't that mean that when you're deciding between a Nintendo game and a Sony game, you automatically choose the Nintendo option? Even if it's for two different systems?

Well, considering the extremely slow start of the Wii U, I'm starting to doubt it'll have a 10m lead... I thought so in December, I thought it would have 10-12m units head start, but I don't anymore...

Yeah, the term "hardcore gaemzz" is stupid as fuck. Is it hardcore because of the difficulty level? Is it hardcore because it's a Mature title? dafuq?

From what I can tell on these forums. Hardcore is either FPS, violent game or something that has been put on 360/PS3.

I myself have over 100 Wii games so I am not sure what is 1st or 3rd party lol.

At the same time I have well over 80 PS3 games and about 50 or so 360 games. So plently of games to be had all around.

sooo... that would make you a hardcore gamer then? Since 50+80=130PS360 games>>100 wii games...

So, could we consider the Wii U a hardcore system then? FPS: ZombiU/CoD. Violence: Batman AC/Darksiders2. All also appears on PS360 except ZombiU...

Its a circular chain yank, a sort of perpetual "who started it" argument.
I think part of the fault lies with Nintendo since the NES and SNES days, they have very much alienated 3rd parties for a very long time since they had the main position of power in the industry. There's also their constant persistance in utilizing unfamiliar, clunky, old-fashioned and downright illogical gear and architecture since the N64 days, this has hardly helped (mini-DVD's, cartridges, poor storage, poor online, a lot weaker hardware with the Wii).
The other part lies with the 3rd parties themselves, they lack ambition on Nintendo platforms, the gamble was a lot smaller financially on the Wii than on PS360 in the 7th gen, yet many developers took chances with the HD twins (some suceeded, others failed).
The last part, not to be forgotten, lies with the consumers, they yell at both Nintendo and developers for lackluster efforts to bring 3rd party fare to the table and then simply fail to take part in what is offered (not all 3rd party Wii titles were shit, some were pretty good actually). This also goes for multiplats, even the good ports and versions got short-sticked by consumers and sold mere fractions of their HD counterparts.

A complicated problem with a (presumably) complicated solution. What that solution might be, I have no idea to be perfectly honest.

wii and wiiU has plenty of third party support. what's weird if you guys don't like nintendo style games without the nintendo branding.
"another 3rd party mini game collection?!? why do they treat us like crap?"
"awesome, another nintendo mini game collection!! DAY-EFFING-1".

Haha that's actually quite telling!! I've personally never bought a Mario Party game myself, but I've played one or two, but I much rather prefer Raving Rabbids really... Think I got 2 or 3 of those laying around...

yup nintendo won't recover from this, nintendo wii is very uncool brand with gamers, its partly the tech and motion controls which gamers just don't care for, the casual audience that nintendo won, are not dependable, they don't really buy games or really care for gaming, for example my sister and my girlfriend don't care about games, never have and never will, yet they really liked the wii cause you can use motion controls.