Well, then it must be third parties' fault, because they were making the decisions that brought themselves into the dilemma. I can live with that.

Not in Japan, except for MGS4, FFXIII, GT5 and that kind of stuff.

But the new problem that occurs is that the new audience (from here on out refered to as casuals) who is buying Wiis and DSes is said to be very unstable. When will they get bored of gaming? How many games do they even buy in the first place? When will the Wii bubble burst?

The truth is that the future of hardcore gaming is entirely dependent on those casuals. If they stop buying the cash-ins of third party publishers, they are initiating a chain reaction that is going to take down hardcore gaming. The only company left standing to deliver hardcore games could be Nintendo as they wouldn't be affected by people who stop gaming. They would make less money, yes. But they still have the funds to continue to make games, because they are making money off of everyone who buys their products, not just the casuals.

So it's the "expanded audience" that is going to save hardcore gaming?  Grandparents, soccer moms, etc, that bought a Wii for Wii Fit, Wii Sports, and other casual games are going to be the ones we'll be playing against in FPS games?  Seriously there's a reason why games like Wii Fit, Wii Play, My Fitness Coach, etc are trouncing hardcore games on the Wii (well the ones that don't star Mario).  The Wii is no more friendly a place to hardcore games than HD consoles.  Just ask Capcom about it or even EA since the reason their hardcore sports games are underperforming is because of the Wii and its marketshare.

As for HD gaming, sure it's expensive but at least companies like Microsoft are attempting to help third-parties and give hardcore gamers fantastic games until the size of the market can catch up and support HD gaming.  Nintendo's efforts?  They passed on The Conduit when High Voltage was begging for a publisher.  Yeah that's a real friend to helping hardcore efforts on their console.  Anyways this will all be moot next generation when all the consoles are likely to be HD.  In the meantime people can celebrate EA devoting half their resources to Wii.  I wonder how many Sims games, Wii Sports knockoffs, kids licenced trash, and other garbage will come of that when those games outsell their other efforts on that system, 

As for me I'll go back to playing Gears of War 2 and other kickass hardcore games and let others lament the so-called fall of HD hardcore gaming.

So it's the "expanded audience" that is going to save hardcore gaming?  Grandparents, soccer moms, etc, that bought a Wii for Wii Fit, Wii Sports, and other casual games are going to be the ones we'll be playing against in FPS games?  Seriously there's a reason why games like Wii Fit, Wii Play, My Fitness Coach, etc are trouncing hardcore games on the Wii (well the ones that don't star Mario).  The Wii is no more friendly a place to hardcore games than HD consoles.  Just ask Capcom about it or even EA since the reason their hardcore sports games are underperforming is because of the Wii and its marketshare.

As for HD gaming, sure it's expensive but at least companies like Microsoft are attempting to help third-parties and give hardcore gamers fantastic games until the size of the market can catch up and support HD gaming.  Nintendo's efforts?  They passed on The Conduit when High Voltage was begging for a publisher.  Yeah that's a real friend to helping hardcore efforts on their console.  Anyways this will all be moot next generation when all the consoles are likely to be HD.  In the meantime some people can celebrate EA devoting half their resources to Wii.  I wonder how many Sims games, Wii Sports knockoffs, kids licenced trash, and other garbage will come of that when those games outsell their other efforts on that system, 

As for me I'll go back to playing Gears of War 2 and other kickass hardcore games and let others lament the so-called fall of HD hardcore gaming.