If I was investing in EA the questions I would like to ask is:

How can you say that this is the only generation where the second and third place consoles are still meaningful? When you account for the difference in development costs there is currently (and probably always will be) far more risk involved in producing a HD game than there was to produce a Gamecube/XBox game or a N64 game.

How long can the HD consoles remain meaningful for? There is a significant risk (for the HD consoles) that the Wii will reach a tipping point (caused by increased third party support) where the Wii can pass 50% or 60% of total market share. Hypothetically speaking, can you really justify spending 2 to 4 times as much to develop a HD game if there is 1.5 (or more) Wii systems on the market for every HD console on the market?

Yes, because owners of HD consoles buy more games and the games are more expensive, giving larger profits.

If I was investing in EA the questions I would like to ask is:

How can you say that this is the only generation where the second and third place consoles are still meaningful? When you account for the difference in development costs there is currently (and probably always will be) far more risk involved in producing a HD game than there was to produce a Gamecube/XBox game or a N64 game.

How long can the HD consoles remain meaningful for? There is a significant risk (for the HD consoles) that the Wii will reach a tipping point (caused by increased third party support) where the Wii can pass 50% or 60% of total market share. Hypothetically speaking, can you really justify spending 2 to 4 times as much to develop a HD game if there is 1.5 (or more) Wii systems on the market for every HD console on the market?

I see this constantly stated, but when you account for the number of months of console ownership the difference in software sales is pretty minor across all consoles. On top of this the $10 extra for a HD game doesn't go (entirely) to the publisher, a large portion of this reflects higher licencing fees which are taken to recover the money from selling HD consoles at a loss.

dev costs are lowering and development times are going to shrink. Once engines are made there is only upgrades needed for future titles. An engine can take years to make but once your in the upgrade part it can take a month to upgrade and half the programmers.

Resistance 1 was in development for a bit over 2 years now Insomniac has produced Resistance 2 in about 2 and Ratchet a year. They are going to have the PSN Ratchet out in the summer less then a year after R&CF was released with improved graphics and gameplay.

Using Insomniac as an example there is zero reason for why any developer would turn away from either HD console. Developers who have to make a new engine for each game are the ones who suffer but the ones who just upgrade the engine, like Epic Games, see cheaper development costs and quicker development time or more time to focus on the game being made.

In the end there is the pay off. HD console games cost $10 then the Wii's due to the development costs being more but in the end after making back development costs profit flows in faster and in larger amounts.