If you were to say some games/genres definitely benefit from 'good' graphics I could agree, but to say that they need them is going too far.  We've just seen COD4 on the Wii, a game that at the time many people said couldn't be done on the Wii. Is it pretty, no, but the gameplay is intact.  Graphics can be a nice complement, sure. Necessary?  No way.

Well with the 'necessary' part, I suppose it boils down to the individual. I for one simply cannot play COD4 for wii after playing it on PC. Doom 3 was a rubbish game imho, the graphics were the only thing that made it worth playing at the time.

But I suppose that's why I couldn't live with a Wii alone, whilst others can.

That comment assumes we are claiming graphics are irrelevant, which is untrue.

And the claim about getting all the games isn't true either. They could have suppoted the GC far more, and very few games from that gen couldn't have worked with multiple discs. Developers aren't going to flock to the Wii HD. They just want Nintendo to stop proving them wrong about HD being the obvious future of gaming.

Well it's subjective. For me, if we have a multiplatform game where the gameplay on the Wii doesn't benefit from motion controls, I can't help but feel like I'm cheating myself by playing the Wii version only. I mean if you have two of the same thing when one looks clearly better....why not go for it? At least that's the way I think

You are making the assumption that everyone can make that choice.  What about the 13 year old who's parents bought his Wii for him and he doesn't have money of his own to buy another system.  If he can't play COD on the PC/360, what's wrong with him wanting to play a still very decent version on the Wii, and by extension a Wii version of AC or other graphics-dependent titles?  I don't think it's unreasonable that these games could be made for the Wii.  Some compromises would certainly have to be made but we haven't seen such leaps in gameplay this generation to make me think that most gameplay experiences couldn't be authentically reproduced on the Wii.

Now, i really should go to bed, it's late.

When you consider that Modern Warfare 2 has noticeably higher polygonal detail, texture detail, better shader effects, is rendered at a higher resolution (1920x1280 vs. 720p) at a higher framerate (90fps vs 30fps) with better post processing (AA and AF) it is difficult to argue that a high end gaming PC is not as far beyond a the HD consoles today as they're to the Wii. Just look at the comparisons that are available online, and it is (somewhat) reminiscent of the differences between World at War for the Wii vs. the HD consoles last year.

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=http://www.pcgames.de/aid,699195/Modern-Warfare-2-PC-vs-Xbox-360-vs-Playstation-3-Der-ultimative-Grafikvergleich-Update-Benchmarks/PC/Special/%3Fmenu%3Dbrowser%26mode%3Dnormal%26browsersize%3Dfullscreen%26article_id%3D699195%26entity_id%3D-1%26image_id%3D1220187%26page%3D1%26order%3D&prev=hp&rurl=translate.google.de&usg=ALkJrhjZw5hU2EiD2nydl1NDsUtX8VKgsA#top

My point is that isn't that it makes sense, or is practical, to buy one of these high-end gaming PCs ... In fact I would say my point is the opposite, that since the industry sees so little value in pushing the limits of new hardware and consumers still seem entirely happy with "Obsolete" hardware (Wii, Nintendo DS, iPod/iPhone, PSP and PS2) that the "Need" for more advanced hardware for Nintendo is only in the mind of a small minority of the gaming population.

That's not even remotely close to your original post.

You said that certain games NEED good graphics.

You've fallen off that point now... and gone only with "Well it's exactly the same... it's better if it's clearer."

More often then not i'd pick up the HD version as well... but when it comes to FPS i'd take those on the Wii over HD any day.

The IR motion controls are so much more of an advantage then slightly more defined graphics.  Which is what it is, not really "clearer".

Well that is... assuming there isn't a PC version.  Since i'd get the PC version since MK is even better then IR pointer.

Really, your second post illustrates the matter though.  Graphics due matter... the only thing is.  They matter ONLY when all other things are equal. 

Which isn't really going to be the case real often.

Sorry if i came off unclear there.  I meant the main authors point.  No HD game actually needs HD graphics.  Or at least if they exist the ones he picked aren't them.

Indeed, but some would argue, you get what you pay for. But, is the price difference that big again these days? Not really, but they may have bought it when the gap was larger. It's not unreasonable at all for these games to be made on the wii. I just get the feeling over the years that devs just doesn't feel it's worth it....it's only established franchises that eventually make it past 1 million....other great core games struggle to make it to 500k. While this is still is profitable I'm sure, you can't blame the devs for looking at those figures as compared to what it would have done on the HD consoles. New good IPs sell 1, 2M+. Mediocre games might break 1 mill. All this on systems with much smaller market shares.

You also speak of compromises, which is something the dev would decide on whether or not it'll still be good for the franchise if they take out this and that...and while devs use this as an excuse for laziness or whatever, sometimes they do have a point. What will be the draw distance on AC2 if they ported that to the Wii? It's one of the strong points in the game that you could see almost endlessly.

Anyway all I'm saying is that what PCWorld is saying is not entirely unfounded. Some ppl think that certain games would be broken if they tried to port down to 480p, and I agree, it's just a minority amount however. They can't use that excuse for everything.

Ok I'm glad you cleared that up.

But didn't the GC get more support for multiplatform games? Splinter cell, dead to rights, resident evil, metal gear solid, final fantasy, killer7, soul caliber, prince of persia, burnout, turok, hulk....some of these franchises won't find the light of day on the wii now unless it's some dumbed down port that might get bad reviews...