Only if Nintendo didn't have to lose any profit chasing them, but the thing is they do, I say let MS and Sony fight over them and when they are spent and exhausted in a gen or two, Nintendo will just snatch them up without effort

Well, you told me you didn't know where the "avid gamer" myth came from: but may i ask you where the "money hat" myth is comin' from?

True, Sony and Microsoft sometimes pay to get EXCLUSIVE deals... Microsoft is the most famous in this case, just like they pay many gaming mags and websites to spread some propaganda, and look even better and stronger than they actually are...

But for most games (the big, multiplatform releases), console makers don't have to pay anything, it doesn't work that way... especially when you're the market leader, and do offer a very large userbase: you don't have to convince anyone to do profits, you know...

And these are the games i think should be released on a more powerful Wii ALSO, games like Resident Evil 5, CoD Modern Warfare, Batman Arkham Asylum, Assassin's Creed, Street Fighter IV, Final Fantasy XIII, Bioshock, Oblivion, GTA4, Orange Box...

Not that i want to play all these games myself: the only exception here would be Bioshock, and btw, it explains why i don't care about PS360 and only have a Wii... but because a "real" market leader should give such a choice to most gamers... the way the market is split, PS360 have secured some exclusives of their own, not with some "money hat", not by spending a lot of money, but just due to technical reasons keepin' Wii out of the equation...do you see what i mean?

That way, PS360 have attracted many gamers who on another side, could be playing all these games on Wii if the console was more powerful and "universal"... many gamers who ARE important, because they buy many games, and because they represent a viable market not only for the 1st party games, not only for the "mass market" games, but also for all the other types of "traditionnal" and "niche" games... and the success of the "niche" games on Wii is the only reason why i care...

I hope i'm not getting boring, but for once, i really try to explain how i view the gaming market... not always easy as english is my second language only, and i usually don't write anything in english... but well, for once, i have some free time (flue), and i try my best...  :)

Money hats aren't the issue, its development costs, trying to chase after the core market requires expensive hardware and game development, its why game costs are around 20 Million+ on the PS360, while a fraction of that on the Wii, in order to chase them, Nintendo would need to put in so much money, that the benefits from the software sales wouldn't be worth it

I don't think an "updated Wii" would be so expensive... it doesn't cost $600 to make such an hardware these days...

And Nintendo has already made billions and billions each year for a long time: they could easily release a more powerful Wii, and secure even more profits if any multiplatform game out there could easily get ported to their console as well... and the devs would see even more incomes for the exact same games, with nearly no addionnal costs, except the "motion controls" adaptation... many graphical engines are powerful enough to port the games anywhere if the hardware is powerful enough, the problem isn't there...

The only real problem here are the dev costs, that's true: that's why some "niche" games seem impossible on PS360, because the risks are too high: the potential userbase is often under the million mark, and if the game fails, or don't sell enough copies, the team goes down...

But if Wii can't be a viable alternative, because there aren't enough "avid gamers" and "niche lovers" amongst Wii owners, the exact same problem will happen on Wii as well: just on a different scale, because the costs are not that expensive... maybe they need 300k-500k instead of a million: but if they don't get these?

For me, it's really the biggest probem this gen: the originality and the creativity may be put aside, with all the money invested on "safe formulas" and copycats and sequels of famous franchises...

I'd like to see Nintendo doin' something really good, especially for the most creative japanese teams: promotionnal support, distribution deals, 2nd party deals, whatever... but when i see how Nintendo is treating some of their own games: Disaster not released in the US, Excitebots not released in PAL, just a couple of examples... then i feel sad: if there's only room for the biggest blockbusters, what will happen to Fire Emblem, or even Metroid? And all the other "niche" japanese games made by 3rd parties: if they're gone forever, then we're really missing something important, and i may just as well forget about gaming...

Cos you see, i don't care if Nintendo makes one billion or five billions a year: i'm not a shareholder, it doesn't make my life any better... see what i mean? I care for creativity, i always use to support my favourite artists, in the music world, in the animation world, in the sci-fi world... i see Nintendo as the last "real" console maker out there, as Sega and Atari are now gone, and i still enjoy Zelda and Mario and Metroid, and all the best DS and Wii games out there... but if games like Okami or Little King's Story become "unviable", and Nintendo doesn't care at all, i would feel... bitter...

Fall 2011 is the earlies we will see next gen. That is because Natal will be released in the fall of 2010. If Natal fails to catch on i think M$ will roll out the xbox 720 in the fall of 2011. however if Natal is a hit i think we will see the generation last till 2012. Atleast as far as the xbox is concerned

Perhaps if you owned a HD console instead of just a Wii you wouldn't feel that way.

No, First off Nintendo sells its consoles at a profit, even now, selling a Wii HD at $250 would likely result in a loss

They wouldn't net much money off of multiplat games, as most people who those multiplats appeal to, already own a PS3 and/or 360, so they wouldn't buy a Wii HD just to get those games.

Nintendo has made new IPS this gen, the Wii games are all new IPs for example, and have seen great success with them

Those games will always exist, and third parties will make them as long as there is some market, I just don't think Nintendo should chase those markets, let them come to Nintendo.

Ah, but you should care, Nintendo is the biggest hedge against a games industry collapse, and the biggest driver of the expansion of games, and this depends on Nintendo being healthy, and that means healthy profits

Err ?

So far this year in the US Nintendo is the single reason why the industry is down YoY...

HD consoles are actually flat or slightly up...

Microsoft gaming profit looks like it is up ( games are mixed with HD Zune but overall the profit for that division was up almost 100%).

Can't say for Sony yet, have to wait for their results....

You're mixing up stuff by the way.

How is the fact that Nintendo is making a lot of profit good for the industry if very few others players benefit from it???

Show me the third parties reaping huge amount of money thanks to the Wii....( Wii software sales are flat so far this year in US, 360 and PS3 software sales are up ( 360 up 10%. PS3 up 20%)