The problem with his argument is that if they make really good games that appeal to the casual gamer, and even though Wii Sports was enjoyable, I'm talking incredible games, then he will be eating his words, because basically what he is saying is that the Wii is a gimmick and not a real video game system.

Third party games for the Wii like The Godfather and Manhunt 2 are few and far between and since The Godfather: Blackhand Edition tanked on the Wii, and no it wasn't a bad port it actually got good reviews, it's up to a very few games like Manhunt 2 to convince third parties to continue making those kinds of games for the Wii.  If Manhunt 2 fails it's likely that studios will start just cloning song, minigame, etc, or porting movie related titles to the Wii.  If this starts happening and they make money at it then it definately does spell trouble for gamers like the guy mentioned in the article. 

I seriously want to throttle anyone who thinks Gears of War (or any similar hardcore title) is "deep." It's easily my largest pet peeve in video games.

It's like people who think "Wheel of Time" is in the same stratosphere as "Hamlet" or "Brothers Karamazov," or that "300" is profound in the same way that "The Queen" or "The Last King Of Scotland" are. I loved Wheel of Time, and will read book 12 when it comes out. 300 was enjoyable enough. That's not my point. They're fun enough, just stop acting like these are serious, deep works. They're books/movies/games for children and/or 18 year olds.  

FPSs will suffer from horrid controls

I thought they already did, in all the other consoles. At least compared to PC, they really do. And you really expected that Wii FPS would be perfect since launch??? Cmon, people should have some patience.

It seems to me that the PS3 has the same problem, having few games and are very far between. Third party developers should be able to turn a profit from developing games for the Wii. Ubisoft is doing it.

Like I said from an earlier post:

"Nothing is going to die or go away. People said this about 3D gaming, that it would kill side scrolling platform games or other 2D games. But 2D games are still being created to fill in the void. It's not what it used to be, since 3D games are better for most games, but they are still there. If everyone started making compilations of mini games, then that segment will be saturated. Not everyone makes Honda Civics, I still see Lamborghinis being made."

Companies do gravitate towards ideas that are making money. Although, that doesn't stop them from making other games. When fighters were hot in the early 90's, everyone made fighters. Take Capcom for example, they made several new fighters once Street Fighter 2 was a hit. However, it didn't stop them from making more Resident Evils, Mega Mans, and whatever else they were making back then.

What a mangled argument: Essentially attempting to blame Nintendo for lack of quality in games for rival consoles....what rubbish.

Nintendo is "so powerful" guys that even though it came out last this gen, it had so much mojo that it made the other systems games essentially impotent!

Note: I'm being sardonic.

As it stands 360 and PS3 game lineups are not THAT steller ( Just look at the sales for the consoles...) We all know deep inside that is Nintendo's fault right?

For fairness sake, Wii's isn't THAT fantasic either. And we've all seen how poorly Wii has faired...

So to be fair, when Gamecube was getting beat terribly by PS2, Sony was to fault for all the lack of quality in Nintendo's work...er, I mean, whoops....

So the way I read the article is that he thinks that the expanding userbase will change the market for games. In a way, he is right. Take the first personal computers. They were generally expensive, required much specialized knowledge to use, required building them yourself, and sometimes even soldering equipment together by hand. Then, various companies started selling them prebuilt with included software, etc. When new users bought these new computers, the market was heavily expanded. Where you previously had some disparate operating system, with disparate hardware and disparate models of execution, the software you used would usually come in source form and only work with certain platforms. Along the same lines, it generally required a certain level of knowledge to use it.

Then the personal computers came around. All of a sudden people were clamoring for software that would just work, that did what they wanted it to without technical know-how. The market expanded to give them what they needed.

Now, did that kill all knowledge of the internals of computers? Or make it so that if you had a computer, you would no longer be able to do the things you previously could? Hell no! The expanded userbase meant that most people would be content with what they could do without being immersed. The majority, as it were, would be content with their 'minigames'. However, a smaller section of those new users (this is the section that includes me) got tired of the sandbox that was given to them. This small section joined the previous users of computers, taking their experiences and adding on to them. The market for 'hardcore' knowledge of computers only grew. Most of the Open Source Community was made by these people, the people that entered late and just became enamored. Sure, you'll always have the people that are content with their shallow experiences. But t the same time, some portion will add into the pre-mass-market community, and if history has shown us anything, its that this tends to *help* the old community -- at least those that can adapt and accept that while things won't be the same, they can, if allowed to, be equally as good or better.

and I also see Ferrari Enzos being made and those cost 1.5m each but we arent talking cars.

yes side-scrollers are being made, but unlike the flat 2D environments it was upgraded to include 3D features but the upgrade from 2D to 3D didnt remove gameplay elements we know and love but a total shift in the way we control things will if the Wii wins. I dont want to play a console RPG and to perform an attack with the next gen WiiMote using mega motion tech (yes making up what Nintendo would call it lol) would be spin the controller clockwise, thrust it forwards, slash it to the right, then press the A button while spinning around in a circle.. yes I made that all up but thats where things will be heading if the Wii wins. Im sorry but do you really want to look that retarded when playing a game? People already look stupid playing Wii Sports and Wii Play.. how retarded do you have to look till you realize that the gameplay isnt worth you time and energy. If you want a work out, play DDR. Its been out for years, play the Eye Play games with the PS2 eyetoy, their fun and can make you work out more then swinging around a piece of plastic.

One question I haven't seen asked in this discussion is "How healthy would the gaming market be if the Nintendo DS and Wii were never created?"

Certainly, there will be people who keep their heads in the sand and claim that the industry would be very healthy because games like Grand Theft Auto and Final Fantasy can sell millions of games and easily cover their budgets regardless of how big they're; personally, I'm much more skeptical.

Majesco has been a strong supporter of Nintendo's strategy with the DS and Wii. They are (currently) producing many simple games rather than the big budget games they used to but this isn't because of the popularity of the Nintendo DS or Wii. A few years ago Majesco produced a game called Psychonauts which was critically acclaimed and sold so poorly that they lost a ton of money on the project. The depressing thing is the Psychonauts flop is not unique ...

The PS3 and XBox 360 have much higher development costs than the previous generation platforms did, in particular for games like the one Tyler B is talking about. What would happen to these games if publishers start betting their entire company on the success of a couple of titles?

That's ridiculous you have a joystick with two buttons on it and a wiimote with 2-4 easily accessible that's a total of 4-6 buttons to use that you don't need to move at all to do so you can sit there pressing looking just as retarded home alone playing an rpg. I mean seriously how many buttons were you using in FFXII ssj12 you open the menu with one button use one button to scroll side to side one to confirm and one to cancel in game confirm and cancel control your attacks. And if you want to throw in that well the games will be shorter you have 9GB at 480p compared to 25GB at 720p I really don't think your going to get all that much more content just a more photo-realistic setting. As to the topic its ridiculous to think it will have that much affect I agree with DKII anyone that thinks they are seriously going to just ignore the segment of the gaming population that helped them get to where they are today really hasn't thought this out very well. Long story short expanding your market means your production possibilites curve shifts out plain and simple you don't lose what you had before you keep it and gain more you hire more employees b/c your now able to make more money and those less intensive projects like cooking mama don't need your best programmers on them but they also aren't going to get every single programmer at the company working on them b/c as some have said that's just going to cause market saturation I'd say its likely if you lose any games at all its going to be a few of the ones that had ratings very close if not below 7.5 they aren't dropping any games like Gears of War hell their not dropping any games at all if they can that make them money.