Metroid doesn't appeal to the core Halo demographics though. Testosterone junkie Frat Boys and Ignorant 13 year old kids who think using prophanity when their mom's aren't around is awesome and think shit talking and corpse humping are required playing activities.

The answer is pretty easy. X has different audience than Wii or GC. Halo suits X users and  that's the reason of success. Metroid was a good game but this fact alone is not enough. Metroid 3 will bomb totally because Wii users are much more casual then GC's. Nintendo doesn't need Metroid franchise. They feel much more comfortable with all this child oriented stuff.

 I'm a lurker on these forums but this person's comments got to me.  I'm a Halo player and I'm offended that someone would call me and my friends junkies and ignorant 13 year old kids.  It's very insulting and this person gets away with it time and time again.  I don't see people calling Wii users bad things getting away with it.  This is my first and last post, you don't even have to worry about me taking up any bandwidth even lurking.  I'm off to forums that are friendly to gamers of all consoles.

-signed

Angry Lurker 

Halo defined the Xbox as an FPS console. That is why it sold so many games. It had ground breaking features, but in reality the levels were poorly made. Often copying previous ones. It did have the greatest ending that any one game has ever had. The online was rather bland, thankfully the mod community made some better online material for it. Metroid was made far better than Halo, but Nintendo doesn't attract an FPS audience, and Metroid was expected to be a failure. Thus, it undersold severely. Halo got the audience that Metroid should have. I only played the PC version so I only criticized the level designs. I really have no idea if the online didn't suck as much on the Xbox.

I actually never heard anyone compare Metroid to Halo before. It makes sense I suppose since they are both shooters but metroid gameplay is not like Halo's aside from the fact that we are in 1st person and we shoot a gun. Halo has almost no strategy involved, you simply shoot anything that moves with the biggest gun you can find and enjoy the results (flying bodies, big explosions etc). Metroid traditionally required some strategy, patience, and perception (like finding enemy weakness) as part of its appeal. To garner the kind of numbers Halo receives, Metroid would have to adjust its philosophy to expand its player demographics to Halo demographics which are much larger and wider than Metroids. IMHO i wouldnt want Metroid to become like Halo, nor would I want Halo to become like Metroid. If Nintendo wants to compete against Halo they should do so with a new IP and not dissapoint loyal Metroid customers who like the normal game style. Anyway, I think Metroid & Halo are dissimilar enough that they will not interfere much with each other. I do think that this Metroid will pass 3mil in sales fairly quickly.

I do agree with everyone else in that Metroid will be a huge influence on FPSer in the future. If its as good as I imagine it can be, I wouldnt be surprised to see all next gen consoles with similar control features.

I didn't say all halo players were that, just that this description was the core audience that made the games so successful. Seriously, If I had to count the number of times the word "sick" was used during halo matches... sigh...

You don't understand the Wii demographic. Casual doesn't mean child-oriented. I'd say the majority of Wii owners are actually people like me in their mid-to-late twenties or early 30's. Unlike when I was a teenager, I just don't have the time (or the interest) to spend hours upon hours gaming, but I'd still pick up this game. I really liked MP1, but I had lost interest in the GC before MP2 came out. I picked up MP2 used a month ago, and I'm now trying to get Batallion Wars (which I also never played), as the Wii resparked my interest. 

Anyway, I think MP3 will far exceed expectations, but it won't be able to catch the Halo juggernaut.

1. Metroid Prime sold 2.77 Million on a console that only sold 24 million units. The Wii will sell a hell of a lot more than that, so if the game were merely "Just a Metroid Sequel" There's no way it would bomb

2. It's not "Just a Metroid Sequel" The Wiimote completely changes up the gaming experience, making it a new beast; one that will do amazing if the game executes it properly, but one that will bomb if the controls don't work up to expectations, ence the meaning of this thread.

3. Isn't it a little early in the Wii's life to define it's audience?

4. Of course, if we must dictate who a Wii owner is right now, I'd say it's probably someone that bought The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess. And not someone who bought a child oriented movie license game (Because they all failed miserably)

The Metroid Prime games in my opinion are amazing games, and the first Prime is one of my top 10 favorite games of all time. The appeal of Metroid however will never be close to that of Halo. Metroid Prime appeals to a certain hardcore demographic, while Halo appeals to a larger hardcore base plus a good deal of casual gamers. I think MP3 could bring some hardcore gamers over to the Wii, expecially if the controls end up being ground breaking. Nintendo's goal is probably to have MP3 be the best selling Metroid game ever, which is reasonable. Sure it won't come close to Mario or Smash Bros, but if sells 3-4 million world wide I think Nintendo would be very happy.

Is Sony/MS supporters can't have the sales figures on their side they're sure as hell going to try and make sure they have the "hardcore gamer" image on their side. A defense mechanism really. In a sense fancying themselves the "hardcore gamers" who play the more expensive "adult systems for big boys" is one method of coping with Nintendo's out of the blue success. Their justification after the fact is that its okay to have a less successful system because the more successful one is for kids and theirs is for adults so naturally theirs will appeal to a more select crowd. No different then how they try and use the Wii's graphics as a means to seperate it from the competition with the 360 and PS3. They're just really grabbing at reasons to try and put a cushion between themselves and the Wii's success.

Don't mistake this as my suggesting MP3 will beat Halo, but it sure as hell won't be the drop in the pond the two previous ones were. It's only been hyped now for how long for a console starved of games that can't stop selling.