If they had gone the route you suggest, the industry would have imploded on it's self already, and we'd be going through the second video game crash.

The industry still isn't really ready for HD game consoles, and Nintendo made the right call.

Going against the advice of every single analyst and releasing a console based entirely around unproven technology was the "easy option"? Huh?! 

On topic, I disagree, even within the silly parameters set in the original post. Mario Kart's steering wheel and Zelda's motion control sword fighting were/are my favorite parts of both games. And the games look more than good enough already.

Actually I'm just reffering to the "hardcore" franchises you cited, it was dumb of me however to assume you already knew that Nintendo is hardware software proprietary, meaning their hardware is designed to meet their software.

Wow are you serious? think this is one of the dumbest topics I have seen for a while here.

That's a big "what if Nintendo made stronger hardware" argument though.  The OP didn't say "the Wii should be more powerful" he said "Nintendo's games should be on the HD consoles."  I'm just talking about how porting current Wii software down to the current HD systems with more traditional control schemes would hurt the games.  If history had worked out differently and the Wii was much stronger, it would cost much more, and wouldn't have had as much success as it did (although it would still have a lot).

The Wii didn't make it look like a crappy PS2 port.  That was Capcom's job.  The fact that there are some really beautiful games like Mario Galaxy proves that the Wii can look much better and Capcom was just being lazy.

@RedHarvest, read famousringo's post.

I couldn't have thought of a more perfect flamebait topic.

I don't see why everyone keeps conflating the Wii's new controller with no HD graphics. It just doesn't make sense.

The Wii could very easily have a better processor and GPU, even if slightly below the PS3/360 (IE where the gamecube was last generation) and STILL HAD THE WIIMOTE. The Wiimote does not require 2001 graphics to function. It would still function quite well if attached to a machine that did not max out at 480p.

If you are going to argue for the Wii argue the merits in question here which are graphics not controllers. The Wii with better graphics and the SAME CONTROLLER would right now have Resident Evil 5 and a host of other HD games in their full versions (unlike the horrid dumbed down chop til you drop which took a near classic down to a pseudo joke game).

The Wii games would have been better on a Wii that had a real upgrade to next gen graphics.

Why didn't the GameCube sell? It was powerful and had Nintendos best games..

Are you saying they should have done the same thing again plus motion controls? Would that have done better than the GameCube?

Nintendo wasn't suspecting success with the Wii and there is no going back.

   When I think about it like this, I really wish Nintendo hadn't taken the easy option and instead produced a powerful console similar to the PS360.

  thats what the OP said at the end.  He didn't say port them over directly and use the PS3 controller to play Zelda or whatever, he says he wishes Nintendo had made a functional HD console instead of the gamecube+ which it did make.  You can still have your wiimote on a better version of the Wii, you would just also get passable graphics as a bonus gift (and more/better games).

Impulsivity, you bring up a good point about graphics and motion controls not being an "either-or" proposition. However, I think you're also oversimplifying the situation. Nothing comes without a tradeoff of some kind. Sure, the Wii could have had PS360 graphics included, but then it also would have required a PS360 price tag to match. How would the Wii have done if it retailed for $400-$500 at the start? I tend to doubt it would have been snapped up by the mass market, and we could potentially be looking at some pretty dismal times for the gaming industry had that happened.

It's all well and good to say, "Wii should be more powerful!", but it's also an unrealistic stance to take unless you can also come up with some way to justify the higher costs that would be the inevitable result. The only way that PS360 were able to have the graphical capabilities that they do came about through massive subsidizing from their parent companies... which is a pretty lousy way to run a business, IMO.