Lots of good stuff here to talk about.
See, this is a good place with smart people... I like it.
Now ... Debate GET!
1. I'm aware that Nintendo has short comings. To me, online is their NUMBER ONE. I mean, friend codes are a travesty. And while I feel the pain of those who have had slow/faulty connections, mine has always been just as good as my PS3 experiences in terms of QUALITY. HOWEVER, in terms of interface? Yea, Nintendo has a lot of work to do. I mean, right now they are so concerned with keeping the online "safe" that they are essentially acheiving this by simply making people not want to play online!! That HAS to stop.
MH3 is, again, a great example. There's voice chat if you want it and FULL KEYBOARD support. Go ahead and censor stupid words like "after" ... I don't care if it means I don't have to deal with the Nintendo-brand method of chat where you select phrases from an awful list (Mario Kart, Pokemon).
2. I guess I should clarify part of my point on third party games. I think many of them are of high quality and, obviously for me, were great gaming experiences. HOWEVER, no matter how much fun I had with Umbrella Chronicles, it wasn't RE5. And frankly, given the experience I had with RE4 on the Wii and RE5 on the PC?? There's no g-darn good reason why RE5 shouldn't have been a Wii PRIORITY... let alone on the console at all.
That's the difference. As I said, TvC is great, but it's not SSF4.
So no, the sales will never be there if the INVESTMENT isn't there. Put out a game with less demand? You're gonna get lower sales. AND THAT'S ON THE THIRD PARTIES, NOT NINTENDO.
So why do the third parties do this? Do they hate money? No.
But more so than any other generation, modern gaming has a schism between what is "hardcore" and what is "not."
The Wii appealed to everyone. So it couldn't possibly be hardcore. It was marketed to happy, shiny families. Not the "edgy" males in their parents basements. Not hardcore.
Also, being hardcore apparently means having the highest tech possible. Arguing over textures and shading and other worthless aspects of gaming. Sadly, the stupidity of this technological obsession showed itself in the fact that these "hardcore" could not wrap their head around the fact that the Wii was actually the most technologically advanced of the three consoles!!
Yes, you heard right. The Wiimote was a more drastic and important technological advancement than just upping the screen resolution and the CPU.
This is why Sony/MS have had to emulate the Wiimote. Yet Nintendo has not (yet) had to emulate the PS3/60.
So ... the Wii wasn't "cool." Just being a male gamer and admitting you love the Wii has somehow become like admitting you love The Care Bears or Miley Cyrus. So, yes, no matter what the content, it's an uphill battle when you're trying to sell high tech to tech-junkies that only perceive it as a Care Bear.
I will never play an FPS without pointer control again. But I know all kinds of Wii gamers who couldn't bear the humility of un-learning dual analog enough to enjoy the bliss of point and shooting. That's a problem.
3. I was in a dress store with my wife this past weekend. Outkasts' "Hey Ya" came on the store's sound system and the very good-looking sales girl behind the counter blurt out: "Oh! I LOVE playing with this song on Just Dance!"
That's a big frickin' deal, people. Remember, if people like her are gaming, it DOES NOT MEAN you have to stop playing Dead Space 2. It just means there will be MORE GAMES. Period.
Also important in this conversation: remember five-ish years ago when Guitar Hero was for "real gamers"? I rest my case.
4. I love NWR and the podcast crew. I am deeply grateful for their existence. 95% of the time I think they really hit the nail on the head. So I really don't want to sound like a whiner. Just wanted to speak up when I felt the need to.
Rock on.