Come on *bleu-ocelot* I'm curious to see evidence. Because in fact, Nintendo recently said their audience is hardcore

I think a good but not to complex (at least at first) RTS that has depth would go a long way to appealing to the over 40 crowd. Something like the first AOE maybe?

It's really not very hard to find quotes about Nintendo targetting casuals.

"If we cannot expand the market, all we can do is wait for the industry to slowly die."

"..he discussed marketing games, and the forthcoming next-generation Revolution console to casual gamers, families and a female audience.."

"The company is pursuing a strategy of enlarging the market for its software with plans to target casual gamers."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/nintendo-discusses-expansion-of-the-games-market

You still don't understand, niche does not mean low sales.  It means narrow interest.  A game can have a huge fanbase and sell millions yet still be niche.  Halo/GeoW cannot be niche because the genre they're a part of (shooter) is enormous and extremely mainstream as its popularity has grown significantly among console owners in this and last generation.  Super Mario Galaxy is not niche for the opposite reason.  While the genre (platformer) has been under-represented IMO so far this generation, the enormous branding power of Nintendo/Mario could practically pull the game out of niche status alone .

 okay.. from the nintendo published games that have been released and not mentioned in the post above and are casual.. first .. here are the titles listed above

Twilight Princess, MP3, SMG, SSBB, MKWii, SPM
Total - 6

wii sports, wii fit, wii play, mario party 8, big brain academy: wii degree, endless ocean, wii chess, marble mania
Total - 10 Edit: 8.. sorry, got rid of two that weren't published by nintendo (mario and sonic and super swing golf)

brute left out the following in his list of core games, although some may be in the grey area, 'core games' underlined (based on opinion) - links crossbow training, mario strikers charged, donkey kong barrel blast, battalion wars, warioware, fire emblem, excite truck, pokemon battle revolution
Total - 8, underlined -  4

 So in total, there are 10 core games, 10 8 casual games and 4 grey area games.. i think thats a pretty damn good balance

Edit: here is a link for reference

http://www.vgchartz.com/games/index.php?name=&console=Wii&developer=&publisher=245&genre=&keyword=&order=Hits

I've got to run and won't be back on for a week (work trip) but wanted to post one final thought.   

After seeing some of the responses and considering games that have come out with appeal to the demographic in question I think there two basic problems:

What to make?  Game designers have to think outside of their normal box for this crowd.

How to get it into their hands?  That's a big problem.  35+ crowd generally aren't looking at IGN or keeping up with what's coming out.  Shelf space is almost nonexistant for Wii now (I see everyone from Walmart to EBGames having to put some games with only the side sticking out due to lack of space) so it's not easy to be seen there.  Also a lot of companies have no clue how to sell their product with package design/name (looking at you EA!).   So non-traditional marketing is required.

In a nutshell, it's not easy to connect game to gamer for this demographic - yet.  But it's a large relatively untouched pool of cash sitting there waiting for some smart designers/publisher to exploit   So far only Nintendo seems to have any ideas on this and they are stretched far too thin to supply this market adequately alone.

Shadowgate Wii. DO WANT!

Mario is for older users.So are Zelda ,Pikmin ,Kyrby ,Yoshi and Wario.
If you think otherwise you must be someone who wishes he was more manly and was playing games with lots of blood and beating up prostitutes.



PS:From the bible of the good Nintendo-fanboy.

 I think we disagree here, because I'm sure we have a different definitions of casual and hardcore gamers.