Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Wii Play and the rest are among the best games ever made.

Not because of their audience. That just opens up the arguments about guillable consumers and doesn't clarify why those games are moving hardware.

Rather, because of the JOB they perform. Think about the real reasons you play the games you play; the jobs that those games perform for you. Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Wii Play and the rest perform different jobs--like being fun at parties, or motivating you to exercise, or yes, just being a novel experience. A game that is better at letting you kick your friend's ass online or in giving you a sense of adventure, is probably a terrible game for those other jobs.

A lot of hardcore gamers hire games for a few, very particular jobs. Instead of trying to take all the games this generation and order them in terms of how well they perform only those particular jobs, look at the whole spectrum of different jobs games can perform. You'll see that Wii has the one or two top games of the generation in a ton of different categories, while 360 and PS3 have tons of the top games in one or two categories.

Looking at jobs will also eliminate those terrible words "casual" and "hardcore" which don't illuminate anything.

And remember, providing a fun "social" experience is not a single job any more than providing a fun individual experience is a single job. Wii has the top games for a party atmosphere, for a more intimate atmosphere, for all-out competition, and more laid-back competition, for including all skill levels and for excluding the inexperienced, etc. etc.

Sorry, I ment the announcement of it seemed a little early to me. But you are correct.

san andreas came out on PC 6 months after the PS2 release and PC version was anounced few weeks after the release of the PS2 version, i remember it well because i didnt own PS2 at that time and was waiting for the PC version

You make a good point, Sullla.

 I havent seen "Nailin Paylin", but I am fairly certain that it isnt Oscar caliber.

Wii has strong horizontal differentiation

Just reading this thread makes me sick, and i own a wii.

It's getting a little late and I didn't read all that, but I'll go over why I think the Wii 1st party software sells well:

1. Userbase
2. 1st party consumer preference
3. Lack of choice
4. Marketing
5. Price
6. bundles
7. hype
8. quality
9. innovation
10. wise choice of genres
11. nostalgia
12. Trends/Fads

...that about covers Nintendo 1st party.

I can absolutely guarantee that Nintendo spent tons of money on Wii Sports and Wii Play.  Nintendo makes really weird and freaky-deaky decisions all the time, and while some are huge successes and others are huge failures, none of them are mistakes.  They wanted Wii Sports to be the game people would see in the corner of their eye in a mall kiosk and go "Holy shit it's real bowling and golf and baseball I have to have it!" and they wanted Wii Play to be practically an edutainment game that teaches you how to use the remote.

The reason Wii Play was the "how to play with IR pointing and motion sensing and buttons together" game was because it designed from the beginning to be the game that comes with the 2nd controller.  The nerd in the family with the Wii already knows how to play games, but if they want to play a 2 player game they need 2 things: another controller, and an opponent who knows how to play.  Wii Play will teach their non-gaming friends how to play, so they don't go "this turd has 30 buttons on it, I'd rather play Snood."  It's a brilliant gaming strategy, marketing strategy, and market-expanding strategy.  I really wish it came out earlier, because by the time it hit America I already had 4 controllers, and I think it's really fun.

And here you're dead wrong.  Best originaly screenplay is in the bag.

Nintendogs has sold 20m copies. It:

1. launched into less than 10m console base.
2. aimed at non-traditional customers with no preference.
3. has plenty of pet sim alternatives
4. had less marketing than many of their titles.
5. has a standard handheld game price.
6. has been offered in limited, optional bundles.
7. was bashed by the hardcore.
8. was high quality.
9. was based on an old concept and utilized old technology.
10. ... huh?
11. had no nostalgia factor.
12. "capitalized" on a trend/fad that had seemingly died 8 or 10 years earlier with Tamagotchi.

So that's 2 of 12 it qualifies for.

Maybe instead you should analyze how Nintendogs:

1. helped create the huge userbase.
2. helped create a 1st party preference among non-traditional audiences.
3. influenced all those pet sims to come out, even as it kept outselling them by millions.
4. was marketed virally by WOM initiatives.
5. was perceived to have value far exceeding its price.
6. was put into bundles because of its hardware-driving power.
7. reached the fever pitch of hype within non-traditional audiences years after launch.
8. succeeded in being a high-quality experience despite being Nintendo's first foray into a new genre.
9. used "lateral thinking of withered technology" instead of a sheer innovation focus.
10. ... again, what does this mean?
11. was a breakthrough hit at a time when all of Nintendo's traditional franchises were declining, and
12. created a major new trend/fad.

You've thrown out a long list of words, but it really does nothing to explain Nintendo's success.