Twilight Princess, while being easier than most Zelda games, is still harder than probably 3/4ths of the 360 or Ps3s games. Same thing goes for most of Nintendo's other games. Also the hardest game on home consoles this generation(Fire Emblem) is a Nintendo game.

Personally, I highly doubt that Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess or Metroid Prime 3 are any easier than previous games in the series ...

I know a few gamers (who have been playing games for longer than many posters on this site have been alive) that the Wii is their very first Nintendo system since the NES or SNES and they have all (seemed to) struggle with one of these games. One thing I do know is that there are certain design elements which gamers can (and do) becomed accustomed to, and if the gamer is experienced enough with these series the games will consistently seem easier and easier; this is actually true of most series, but there are few game series that have existed for 20+ years and had the same designers impacting the design for all that time.

Zucas, dont ruin Dark Knight for people, namely me. btw awesome scene

Welcome!!! Nice post dude you get my applaus!

Very good post, its about time someone compared the Wii to the gc within a set time frame for a good comparison.

Great first post and welcome.

Eh don't blame DTG.. i don't think he's even played any of those Nintendo games.

Wait... yes do blame him.

Anyone who thinks Nintendo games are too easy needs to play some Fire Emblem.

welcome to the site and great first post!

as far as Nintendo abandoning core gamers.... well, I have to admit I'm a bit uneasy about the Wii's success. I don't think they will abandon core gamers, but I can't get away from that nagging sensation that they really DON'T care about us..... gaaahhhhh.... oh well, time will tell I guess....

Funny how he likes to single out Nintendo for making games easier.

 Again I'd like to say Metal Gear Solid 4 is very easy when compared to previous titles. You get an absurd amount of tools and weapons, have instant access to a weapon and ammo shop half way though the first act, and you can actually heal to full health by lying on your ass, or just use one of your three sets of stackable healing items. Even getting the Big Boss rank is easier since the game doesn't care how many saves you use.

Modern in games in general are easier than the ones of the past. Probably because a lot of people don't feel like repeating the exact same challenge three dozen times to get one minor step closer to something more entertaining.

Thank you for clearing that up.  All this time I was enjoying the games Nintendo had released for the Wii and little did I know I was actually bored with how easy the games were, I might have gone on blissfully ignorant and happy if you hadn't said something!

OK, joking comments aside, how do you figure that difficulty determines if a game is "hardcore"? There are plenty of games that people would consider "hardcore" that were very easy. Take Bioshock for example, it was certainly a "hardcore" game, especially if you consider any Zelda games "hardcore" since it was far easier than any Zelda game I've played.  And yet despite its ease its still a "hardcore" game by any reasonable definition.

Ultimately nobody in their right mind really cares whether a game is or is not considered "hardcore" regardless of the criteria used so long as they enjoy it.  I mean, personally, I just can't imagine someone seeing a game concept in a demo that looks interesting and intriguing but then deciding not to play the game because its just not "hardcore" enough.  Why does this label matter so much exactly? 

It's really sad if people ignore their own tastes to try to meet some gamer image that they feel they need to conform to.  Of course, when I say it like that its pretty obvious which age group is susceptible to this and when you think about it that age group matches up with stunning accuracy to the reality of those who generally makes these comments.

Of course as the OP pointed out quit well, Nintendo is doing a great job of providing the games they always have even if they didn't focus on them at E3.  But in addition to that it seems like there is  one to  three new 3rd party games announced for Wii each week and more and more of those are games that are designed to appeal to the core gamer, although maybe the aren't quite cool enough to considered "teh hardcore".