Wow. This got pretty brutal since i observed it, long ago.

i do agree that graphics arent important to a game but to be far, art style and animation are key when it comes to selling the character.

also imho i think Nintendo Wii killed hardcore game.....but not alot of people on this site will abmit that.

 You need to read some Sean Malstrom...

Having reread the entire thread I would agree my assessment was off, I missed some posts that encited the responses from Rol. 

I still maintain though there is nobody to blame other than developers for the problems they're facing.  Hiding behind the HD graphics excuse is pretty lame when you consider PC developers have been using high resolution textures for years and many of them have survived well enough.  The third parties that are losing money are those wasting it through bad budget managment and poor analysis of the expected market for their games. 

I'm sorry I don't buy that the Wii and its large userbase is saving the industry argument.  If you wanted to be truly objective then the argument works in reverse that if the Wii didn't exist then more users would have been investing in HD consoles and hence a larger userbase to sell games to.  Therefore through this perfectly analogy, Nintendo has killed off the third party market.  Of course this is an insane statement but its no more of a bad assumption than Rol's original point either. 

I respect your ability to admit coming to a hasty conclusion. I also feel that TP devs are partly responsible for their predicament but I would not say wholly. It can get pretty complicated, but TP's definitely overshot their target, as did their primary platforms.

I don't think Wii is killing the hardcore, but they are killing the industry as we know it currently. Disruption is real.