I think this holiday season will be Wii's peak.

Of course, the fact that Wii as been in short supply for most of its life might push that back.

"Beyond that, as the Wii demonstrates, the majority of consumers don't care about review scores and they buy the system they want because they want it ..."

Yes but that gets back to the point that a.) people want the Wii for no real reason or b.) the majority of people want something because they are ignorant.

Many examples of point b. can be found in Youtube user AngryLittlegir!'s videos where she gives excellent example of why Christianity simply can not be real, yet miliions of people still continue to go to church each Sunday.

yeah, christianty used to be cool, but then it sold out its hardcore fanbase (monks) and went attracting casuals instead/ sarcasm

When PS3 drops to $300

"yeah, christianty used to be cool, but then it sold out its hardcore fanbase (monks) and went attracting casuals instead/ sarcasm"

Wii fans trying to say LBP isn't for casuals...tell me what's more casual a game where you can sit in an easyboy recliner with your feet up while casually holding a game controller in your hands playing a game like Contra or having to do something like Wii Fit or Wii Sports where you can't sit in an easyboy recliner with your feet up casually holding a gamepad in your hand?

Lol, casual gaming and casual lounging are not the same thing.

2009 will be another good year for WII

I think Wii sales will slow once the PS3 reaches a price point of $300. When the PS3 finally gets the price cuts it needs to compete is difficult to predict though.

 But by the time the PS3 reach the $300, Nintendo could easily sell the Wii for $150...

One thing people forget is that Nintendo has still all the cards... just look what Nintendo can still do, and that PS3 and 360 has already done:

Price cut, twice.

Give expensive games for free (MGS4, Marvel and Forza, etc...)

New colors

Gift cards

Miscrosoft and Sony already used a lot of cards, and Nintendo is still outselling both, without price cut, without bundles, without discounts, without new colors...

Concerning the "casual gaming" myth that keeps getting perpetuated: there is no such thing as a "casual game". The extremes are upmarket and downmarket, and the difference between that and the "hardcore and casual" rhetoric is immense.

Upmarket games are designed with the discriminating gamer in mind: they are complex, they require a large investment of time to play, they have significant barriers to entry (aforementioned complexity, overly thick manuals, necessity to have played some previous game, etc.), and they are geared towards giving a "sophisticated" experience.

Downmarket games are designed with the idea of attracting new gamers: they are simple, require little time investment to play, have virtually no barriers to entry (aforementioned simplicity, don't need to read the manual, can pick it up and play it any time, etc.), and are geared towards giving a "valued" experience.

These are the true extremes which matter to normal consumers, and of course there are a lot of games that bridge the gap between them. A consumer wanting to get into design is not going to buy LittleBigPlanet. It's far too complex to build anything with it, requires a vast time investment to build anything even remotely interesting, and has controls that are far from intuitive (lots of menu navigation to do anything, and all with icons instead of descriptions, meaning you'll have to practically memorize the manual to know what to do).

LBP is not geared towards the "valued" experience, it is geared towards the "sophisticated" experience. If it were after a "valued" experience, it would eschew all unnecessary complexities (complex physics engine, necessity to construct things manually, overly complex menu systems, etc.) in favor of a simple and effective interface that anybody could intuitively grasp within minutes (if not seconds) of picking the game up.