Well they haven't hit up Starfox, F-Zero, Pickmen, arguably Zelda, Kirby, Pilotwings, there is always Kid Icarus . . .

plenty of franchises left.

i think they might be holding them back for m+, or it could be you know, that the games arn't ready yet

 I really dont think they went all out in 07 and 08,

we had 1 game from each dev studio, and many of them can handle many major games at once (EAD)

FE (maybe SPM) - Intelligent Systems

SSBB- HAL

SMG- EAD Tokyo

Mario Kart and AC- EAD

Zelda was last gen and just ported, I really dont count they, it was supposed to be released in 05, but it was delayed.... to guess why? be released when it could best sell consoles.

One thing's for sure... Nintendo's studios aren't sitting around playing Wii Sports. Those 3000+ employees are doing something besides swimming in a pool of money.

I think the main reason they're holding back is because they learned from the Gamecube that you can't release you're strongest sellers in the first 2 years.

Nintendo has not gone casual, its gone non gamer. The Industy has been casual for years now. Why do you think reviewers can get away with bashing a game for having a learning curve. When you hear a "gamer" complaining about a game "being hard for the sake of hardness" or that "the devs are punishing the player" you know we have a casual on our hands. Every hardcore gamer has met that noob who always bitched about a game when he lost or died when it was obvious he just sucked at it and didn't want to take the time to learn the game. Thats what a casual is. He's that guy who only plays the games that are popular. He's that guy who starts cussing you out on xbox live when you own him. He's that guy who only plays games on one system and then some how just knows that *insert company here* makes the best games even though he's never touched any other games. And above all he's that guy who jacks off to 3D graphics and would never pay full price for a game with 2d graphics.......unless is suddenly became cool to like 2d graphics again.

If you aren't embracing the challenge and looking for new experiences in gaming then you are not a hardcore gamer. There's nothing wrong with being casual, if you don't take gaming seriously thats cool, just shut the hell up.

You're right, they don't have to hurry, as the Wii is already sold-out with its actual line-up...

But if newcomers have easily 5 to 10 "must buy" titles on their lists, and generate impressive legs for most Wii's top sellers and best games, core fans are becomin' impatient, and for good reasons...

I think some very good games are already done or near completion, and could have been released for christmas 08, but Nintendo is givin' these a "WM+" treatment, plus their usual "last touch" to make things even better...

All the good surprises will be for 2009, with a top 1st party line-up showin' the way to 3rd parties, as usual if i may add... :)

If Wii Sports Resort is the only Nintendo WM+ game we know, it's for a good reason, and all we can do is wait, and expect the best... after all, they have the extra money for the "extra polish", isn't it? :)

I'm just going to throw out there that anyone who thinks Nintendo purposely "gave" the third parties 2008 has to be either: In denial, or needs a reality check. Nintendo likes money, and lots of it. I'm guessing the huge overhaul of the next Zelda and Mario could be delaying some time, or just Nintendo's obsession with your grandma all of a sudden.

This. 

On top of giving 3rd parties a nearly empty slot. WM+ is just around the corner and if it's going to be as big as Nintendo wants, they need to give it a big push with every franchise they have.

Honestly, you rarely see more than 2 or 3 real blockbusters from Nintendo in a year. 2008 will be remembered badly because they front-loaded those blockbusters, but 2007 is remembered well simply because they back-loaded them. Metroid Prime 3 and Mario Galaxy in late 2007 vs Brawl, Wii Fit, and MKWii in early 2008

Which isn't to say they were the only games worth buying in either year (far, far, from it), but those are the real cream-of-the-crop kinda games that even the snobcore pay notice to. 2009 might look better than both because they'll balance their blockbusters out. Wii Sports Resort and Punch-Out!! in Q2, and Pikmin 3 with 1 or 2 other heavy hitters in Q4

The big games, the really big ones, do take time, and Nintendo exhausted themselves in the 6 months between Q3/Q4 07 and Q1/Q2 08, so that relatively "lesser" games fill the gap nicely