QFT.

You know I'm just fine with the DS and Wii continueing to kick the ass of every other system out there. I laugh when I see the PS2 continue to outsell the 360. If this means more and more casual games and less hardcore so be it. Microsoft and Sony set themselves up for dissapointment, at least in this early portion of this generation. They are too expensive, and they aren't at all trying to really inovate the industry. It's just the same graphics leaps we see every generation. Nintendo is trying to do something new, and you know motion sensing will likely play some part in where the industry as a whole goes in the future. Now I'll get a PS3 or 360 eventually, but not until they actually have variety in genres that I want in a system. I say keep rolling on Nintendo; you took the risks and they are paying off big time.

The "Casual" and "Hardcore" debates is complicated because the terms are interpreted differently by different groups of people, and in most situations there is the assumption that "Hardcore" is better than "Casual" ... As always I will use "Core" and "Non-Core" gamer where the "Core" gamer refers to the traditional gamer.

Nintendo is still heavily focused on the "Core" gamer and we can tell this because in a bit longer than 1 year on the Market they will have released The Legend of Zelda, a Mario Platformer, a Mario RPG/Platformer, Metroid Prime, Super Smash Bros., a Fire Emblem game (tactical RPG), Super Smash Bros., Battalion Wars (a RTS/third person shooter), and many more 'conventional' Nintendo games.

At the same time Nintendo is targeting "Non-Core" gamers (whether they're lapsed gamers or new gamers) by producing low budget games with unconventional gameplay. The cost of development of the Brain Training games, Wii Sports, Wii Fitness, Electroplanktin and Nintendogs is far smaller than any of their core games and I suspect that the combined development cost of all of these games was less than the cost of one of their "Core" games.

Where Nintendo has an advantage and is heavily misunderstood is that many of there games appeal to both "Core" and "Non-Core" gamers; games like Mario Party, Wario Ware, Animal Crossing and Nintendogs appeal to a wide group of gamers which is (in part) why they sell so well.

If you define Hardcore gamers as FPS I'm not seeing a problem. Has anyone played a FPS on the Wii? I mean Graphics aside the control interface is just going to lend itself better to a FPS that a gamepad ever could in terms of fun, as for control it should be only rivaled by a mouse.

Nintendo just needs to convince people to make FPS for it.

That or make "Return to Castle Bowser". A Mario First Person Shooter. That would be hysterical.

Oh I severely doubt that ;)

That would imply that there will be NO shortage of Wii's this Xmas. And I think we all know what the odds of that happening are.

You will start to see the real truth around Feb '08 - when 360/PS3 sales drop post Xmas, and the Wii continues to sell out (at just about any rate that Nintendo can manufacture). 

...

With all this talk of Casual/Core - people should read those recent interviews with Miyamoto. Straight to the point, and doesn't lie.

Talks about not targeting any game at any genre - just making games that "as many people as possible would like to play" (sounds reasonable, no?). Also talks about breaking down the barriers between core/casual - such that games overlap both. Part of the idea is to get "core" gamers playing/enjoying casual gamers - and to get casual gamers trying out "core" (hardcore) games they wouldn't normally.

A game that motivates a thread with 1300 posts and counting, just out of shear anticipation, is hardcore: that's how.

I listened to the 1up show yesterday and they made a couple of good points during an extremely long podcast. It should be noted that those guys are more "hardcore" than most of us, as they play video games for a living. They generally pan the wii and pump up the ps360.

Firstly, drawing in more gamers is a good thing for the industry. I agree 100%. For years gamers have felt that there are people out there that would be gamers like themselves if they could just be drawn into it. It's going to help everyone involved in the business and it's going to allow gamers to be understood by more people. Anyone rooting against the wii is just ignorant not to see the potential for it to expand the gaming market and acceptance.

Second. This "hardcore" vs casual stuff is ridiculous. It's time to move past this stigma. They are all games. Sure, some of them may not appeal to you, but whatever, they are still video games. The more video games, the better.

chuck

The problem is that most FPS games are made for 360/PS3/PC, so those systems already have enough games to attract FPS gamers and have built hardcore FPS audiences already.  Sure Nintendo has MP3 coming out but that's like Microsoft coming out with Banjo Kazooie 3, those games will attract fans of their respective genres but people are kidding themselves if they think one game or even a few will somehow create an audience that rivals the other system's in those genres.  It's still more of a risk to bring a new game out for a system that hasn't seen a lot of other games in that genre.

For situations like this is usually takes a console's creators to be the ones who put up the money and take the risks in order to trailblaze and create an audience for such games but so far from interviews it seems like Nintendo isn't interested in creating FPS (outside of Metroid Prime).  I seem to remember an interview in which Miyamoto was asked about Halo and gave a statement saying he wasn't interested in producing such games.  So it seems they're leaving it up to third parties to do the heavy lifting and since third parties usually try to play it safe that may end up taking a long time to happen.

@Legend11

MP3 is NOT an FPS, neither was MP or MP2 it is a FPA

@thread

hardcore is in the eye of the beholder.