Please, cubedcanuck, I can refute these in my sleep.
Congress has gotten on game companies' backs for advertising mature titles to children. It's one of the reasons the ESRB was formed.
I've said many, many times that the industry will be hurting from a creative standpoint, as a dearth of unoriginal and over-hyped titles flood the market. Remember, it's what killed the industry in 1983.
Read the reviews for Metroid Prime. I'll give you some help:
GameRankings.com: Metroid Prime. Ask people on the forums what they think of it. It is almost a consensus: Metroid Prime is not only good, but freakin' awesome.
As for your last point, that one is worthy of some consideration. Yes, it is true that Sony and Microsoft are aiming for the largest consumer group in America, and doing well because of it. Yet the groups Nintendo is aiming for, the groups that would accept its games, aren't becuase of
image. What does that have to do with competition? If capitalism forces companies to make glitzy, shallow titles, much as how most of Hollywood operates, then it is not doing its job. Theoretically, capitalism forces companies to make better products to compete. In a creative format, however, where 'better' is subjective, it often turns to companies making "cooler" products. I
don't think that capitalism is infallible, certainly not in a market involving creativity.
Logically, there is no alternative (you can't
force people to buy good games). However, it is incredibly frustrating to see it fail so miserably. Nintendo makes the best products, right? (I don't even want to hear it this time, cubedcanuck). Then why don't they sell better? Image should not control the market, but it is. But unfortunately there is nothing we can do about it-for it seems that good games will not change the mind of the general populace, not while it remains ignorant to truly good games.
Note: Yes, Grand Theft Auto 3 was good. I'm not arguing that. But as Denis Dyack said, it wasn't
that good. Not revolutionary-sell-8-million-copies-and-be-a-cultural-phenomenon-good. Okay?