@Hardyhar: I went back to your first post to try to figure out exactly what point it is that you are trying to make in this thread and I've come to the conclusion that you don't actually know yourself.

You rebutted a single point in my post which is kind of pointless because taken in isolation I agree with you on that item. Advertising alone will not be enough to make a game sell and lack of advertising shouldn't alone be reason for a game not to sell.

My post indicated a number of criteria which I suggested were ALL required for a successful game and unless you can show me a game where all those criteria were met my point still stands. Conversely, show me successful games on the HD consoles where these criteria weren't met. My point is I think third party devs are the ones looking for excuses as to why their games aren't selling on the Wii, without even looking at and fulfilling the fundamental criteria that make games sell on any system.

edit: BTW: If you are trying to imply that they have done some of super duper market research that confirms that nothing but 1st party games sell on the Wii I call bollocks.

Vas-y - And what did Little King's Story do? 150,000 worldwide according to VGChartz. Another example.........

hsrob - We're past the excuse making stage. Perhaps you'd care to answer my question about WHY third party devs aren't willing to invest money in the Wii? Just what is putting them off? Do tell........

It seems odd as well that so many people will defend the Wii's games catalogue, while at the same time they will use the excuse that third party devs don't invest money into making AAA titles as to why games don't sell well. Seems a little contradictory to me!

why dont you go look for the answers you seek? ask third party devs why third party devs dont spend on the wii, not wii owners.

youre wasting your time here, you dont seem like the genuinely curious type

Even though it's not true (there are exceptions to what you say), here are some possible reasons:

- Lack of vision.

- The developers making those games want to make them on more advanced hardware (see for example Infinity Ward and their unwillingness to develop on the Wii).

There are plenty of good business ideas which companies were afraid to do but were still profitable when done right.

At such time as you bother to actually read one of my posts I might be engaged in further debate, because up to this point you clearly haven't.

The problem hardyhar, is you want to link your NICHE tastes of games, to PS3 and Wii and make a blanket value judgement of them.

AAA titles that have really shiny graphics and time consuming games, are NOT wanted by the majority of gamers, this might surprise you, but hardcore gamers are NOT the majority of gamers nor were they ever, they just deluded themselves into thinking they were.

I am a hardcore gamer, but my tastes are a niche market in the overall gaming market.

What is the proper mainstream market tastes? in every industry, the mainstream customers always have simple but refined tastes, they just want their product to do what it does, really well, without bells and whistles, simple and quick.

For example, TV, Hi-Def customers are niche, normal customers just want a TV that shows a nice picture, they don't care about Hi-Def.

99% of AAA titles on PS3/Xbox are, in the eyes of normal gamers, absurdly complex time consuming (to fun ratio) bells and whistles games.

A game, is about fun, normal customers want this simple, very good, and easy to get.
Thats why mario always sells well, thats why we see Wii Sports and mario kart sell well.

These games all share that same feel, simple easy very good arcade fun, not time consuming.

In contrast, hardcore gamers demand bells and whistles and for it to be time consuming.

In the eyes of the mainstream gamers, Wii is fantastic.
In the eyes of hardcore gamers, Ps3 and Xbox360 are fantastic.

@ hardyhar
This game should have sold better, you are right on there. But the fact that it hasn't been advertised at all and some retailers refused to stock it doesn't have to be ignored. You seem to be very negative about the Wii and in a certain extent it is legitimate to be critical about it. But why do you specify so hard on negative examples although 3rd parties found success with some of their games?

I think and hope Capcom will succeed with their new policy. Release less games but ones with higher quality. Probably other developer can join this way of thinking.

Shouldn't the kind of vehement defender of the Wii that posts on here be able to provide these answers though? They're ready and willing to give up the same old excuses when a game flops, but they're not willing to address the bigger issue of why third parties would rather invest in the 360 and PS3 than the Wii.

hsrob - I read your posts. This is how it usually goes with the Wii crowd: -

1. The game failed because it wasn't advertised.

2. The game failed because the dev didn't put money into getting the game up to a decent standard (yet when you ask about the quality of the Wii's games catalogue, of course this point suddenly disappears!)

3. A combination of 1 and 2.

I'm simply asking why no third party dev has yet to avoid falling into the trap of 1, 2 or 1 & 2 combined. The Wii is well ahead in sales so what's stopping them from throwing cash at it? This has never happened before, so there is a barrier there somewhere. Tell me what that barrier is. Did you even read the first post in this thread?

Asking why developers don't avoid falling onto traps is kind of a funny question... developers fall into all kinds of traps, and so do publishers. Why do you think so many publishers are losing money and laying off people in this generation?

PS: Please don't say it's because of the recession, because those trends were well under way before the recession started.

Sometimes devs don't make the money back on their games. The recession is a factor of course, but it's not all down to that. The point is, they DO invest in games on the 360/PS3, even if they don't always achieve the level of success that the developer hoped for. Nobody has given ONE SINGLE EXAMPLE of a game where a third party has done the same with the Wii, even after several years on the market.