C3PX said:
The statement that Nintendo needs to get over Mario, Zelda, and Metroid is kind of an odd one though. I think Skyjedi said the exact same thing on the last page as well. That is pretty much like saying, Sony needs to get over God of War, Final Fantasy, and Grand Theft Auto. That's crazy! Those games sell and are always sure to be great quality games. Why should any company adandon its most lucrative titles.

I didn't mean Nintendo should abandon their classic franchises. The problem is that Nintendo keeps throwing all their eggs into the Mario/Zelda/Metroid basket, which is why they're always at the mercy of third party developers to come up with original content. Zelda doesn't sell systems any more, at least not like it used to. Nintendo knows this. GTA and Halo are system-sellers.

So this time, they came up with a gimmick, slapped it on vastly inferior hardware to keep costs down, and marketed it to people not savvy enough to know what they're buying.

Don't get me wrong. Wii is fun with the right people because it encourages social gaming. But the lousy graphics mean that even the best looking titles look like shit compared to what the 360 and PS3 and throwing out there.

Sure, Nintendo is staying afloat just fine with their newfound audience who suck up the mini-games like there is no tomorrow. But they have pretty much lost those who remained loyal to them over the years. Instead of incorporating their new audience into the mix, they have pretty much left their old audience and started over. Not sure how wise of a move that was.

The gimmick got them by this time; my guess is that a 1080p Wii isn't going to sell anywhere near as well as the first one did. This new audience won't buy a new console every generation for graphical improvements. The hardcore gamers will...but as you said, Nintendo abandoned them.