Like I said it before, Don't fear the Casual Gamer, it will become the Core Gamer.

booyah,

cars are still not a very good comparison.
Pricing is even more off this time. Purchasing a car is not like purchasing games. a car is a purchase that is more than likely necessary, will last (hopefully) many years to come and that you will have to spend a fair amount of time in over those years. a game you can go without. you would likely be surprised how many people would just buy a car on looks.

it isnt simply that the games are shovelware. you have to look at whos buying them. the wii added a new base. for a lot of them, if they dont like it they will move on. not just to a new game or system, but simply back out of the gaming market.

great post man,and welcome

Everyone starts like a casual, thats pretty obvious, so Nintendo is in fact creating potential hardcore gamers from all the non-gamers who buy Wii.
Also Wii is expanding the hardcore audience with a lot of great games already available.

noname2200,

so i had a look at the video...but im not sure how its meant to counter my point. it sounded like he was talking about a perception of difference. the wii isnt just a perception of difference. what im talking about is whether these "soccer moms" and "old people" will play more advanced games. and whether or not they would even want to.

@Mr. Bubbles: Why do you assume every new gamer is either a soccer mom or an old person?

Majority of Wii owners are adult males, so sorry to burst your "bubble", yes pun intended.

wii is also bringing pc gamers who ahve never played a console before

"Casual" gamers CAN become "hardcore" gamers.

"Hardcore" gamers CAN'T become "casual" gamers.

Erego, the casuals win every single generation.

For example: NES, SNES, PS1, PS2, DS, Wii.

On the contrary. Whilst I'm impressed by talk of "values" I'm reminded of the fact that they are simply fancy terms designed to complicate matters. I on the other hand would rather talk economics, which are themselves a set of fancy terms that complicate matters but luckily also have relevance.

The quality of a game is almost completely objective unlike the likes of movies and music. Hence, games are almost reviewed as "great", "good" or "bad" (check Rotten Tomatoes for proof and comparisons to movies) instead of the largely mixed reviews often associated with most movie and music releases. This by itself suggests that your notion of new and old "value" systems is largely a creation that does not reflect facts. Wii Sports, Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii are all games that got solid to great reviews - which would surely be contrary to your imaginary "value" system if it existed. Videogame reviewing takes place from a techical point of view, rather than an artistic point of view - there is therefore no value system involved despite what some might think or desire.

 However, I digressed here is where the issue is and this is where my point stands (and shall continue to stand as it's unambiguously correct). True casual games designed to appeal to non-gamers or very casual gamers (therefore not including the likes of SMG, Halo 3, GTA IV etc that must necessarily have casual appeal) are on average low quality affairs and take resources away from other potential uses, its what economists call opportunity cost. In simple terms, every time a Nintendo makes a Wii Sports or Wii Fit they could've instead uses those resources on a new Mario, Zelda, Metroid - or god forbid a new high quality franchise. Every time someone makes a "High School Musical" game or a cheap movie tie-in they are using resources that could've been used to make something else, something potentially better. Therefore, its no surprise that long time gamers hate so called "casual" games as they use up scarce resources best used elsewhere.

Afterall, what do you think of Wii Fit as a game if it cost you a new Zelda or Mario game? Probably not as highly as you do when you consider it in isolation.

Anybody talking about games in terms of "objective technical values" versus "subjective artistic values" needs to play Tetris. That shit's in 2-D! It's still the best game ever though.

Reviewers who only look at the technical side of things should be fired. Luckily for us they look at all the important aspects of a game on the advertising side of things instead.