The casual audience definitely went from PS2 to Wii, and as the PS2 slowly rides off into the sunset, the Wii will continue to capture the vast majority of current PS2 owners, especially the late adopters who picked up the PS2 Slim.

Statement of the year!

Some people did, but it wasn't exclusive.

To be honest the girls I know that had PS2's got Wii for the most part and the guys got 360's.

i already know 2 people that owned a GC last gen and now they are XBOX360 gamers!!!

I think alot of people bought the Wii, after the PS2, but then decided to buy a 360 or PS3 because of content.

I think the past affects people more than you give it credit for.  We aren't talking about new gamers, this thread is about old gamers who were gaming for prior gens.  A lot of people had moajor complaints about the Gamecube.  I don't think anything about the Wii suggestsed that those complaints had been addressed.  When you saw that the Gamecube had lack luster 3rd party support and the vast majority of AAA games weren't M rated (I don't see this as a flaw, but a good number of people do) and Nintendo franchises basically made up the entire good games list... If you had issues with that, there was nothing about the Wii pre-launch that seemed like it fixed that.

I think a lot of people bought a 360 becaue they loved the xbox and decided to stick with MS.  I think a lot of people went with a PS3 becuase they loved the PS2 and decided to stick with Sony.  I think a lot of people loved the Gamecube and decided to stick with Nintendo the next time.

Like I said before, I think the past has a lot more weight than you give it credit for.  If anything, I think it's rare for someone to go in with a clean slate every gen and totally ignore their past experiences.

I only ignore previous gen when the current gen doesn't have BC. That effects my choice more than if I had the previous gen or not.

I know that the past plays a role, it's about the brand. PS1 to PS2 was a clean switch for everyone, as people already knew what it was.

However, GC to Wii is norhing of the sort. This is not "GC2" we're talking about here. Nintendo's marketing completely changed, and it's likely most people that bought the PS2 don't even know that the Wii succeeds the GC, hell, they may not even know what the GC is!

The last statement may be exaggerated, but I think you assume most people are more informed than they are in reality. While those with an Xbox or GC were probably more aware of what kind of gaming is out there, many people that had a PS2 basically had the only console that mattered (it was the only mainstream console).

It depends on the type of PS2 gamer. I was rooting for the Wii at the start of the gen because I felt that the PS3 and to a lesser extent the Xbox 360 were alienating gamers with their pricing. $500-$600 for a console is ridiculous and while the 360's $300 core model was a reasonable launch price, I felt that the selling point of the Xbox 360 was the "Next Gen experience" (HD, online play and downloadable content) and with the $300 Core not having HD cables, a headset or a hard drive, it was reasonably priced but didn't offer the "Next Gen" experience that we were craving for. I felt the $400 Premium was a bit too expensive (if you adjust for inflation, the PS2's $300 in 2000 is equal to around $340 in 2005. So I felt $400 at launch was excessive for a console. And the PS3, even moreso obviously) and I resented that the 360 bumped games to $60 a pop.

But after seeing the Wii distance itself from the type of gaming I grew up with by replacing the gamepad with the motion controls almost entirely and seeing that all the big third-party titles were going to the Xbox 360 and PS3, I couldn't justify getting a Wii. So I waited it out and saw the 360 go down to $300 and got it.

Yes the Wii has some great third-party titles but it's not that good for third-party games I grew up with. For sports games, advantage Ps360 (unless you want to count the more fun Tiger Woods port and Wii sports). For action games, advantage Ps360. For jrpgs, the Wii took forever to get that ball rolling (and the DS blows everyone, including the Wii, out of the water in that category). For wrpgs, advantage Ps360. For fighters, advantage Ps360.

I wouldn't rule out getting a Wii eventually (for stuff like NMH2, Madworld, Muramasa, Brawl, Mario Kart, etc.) but it's definitely not a #1 choice console to me. Even though the Wii exclusives have lower metacritic ratings, I'm leaning more towards a Wii rather than a PS3 since there's a lot of overlap between PS3 and 360 and I already have a 360. I'm not crazy for AAA blockbuster stuff. Something like NMH2 appeals to me more than Uncharted 2. As crazy as it sounds. But I'm just like that. It's the same reason way how I prefer stuff like Taxi Driver (Travis Touchdown is a lot like a modern Travis Bickle if you think about it) to The Dark Knight. I don't buy into the hype trains.