I’m part of the problem. I bought a Wii. My excuse for buying the Wii is that Nintendo sold it to me as a system where I could play Zelda and Mario with these great new interactive controls. Now it is 2010, and my Wii has not been turned on since playing Resident Evil 4.
The Wii lured in the hardcore with Zelda and Mario but turned their backs on them as soon as USA Today came running to them to talk about Wii Sports and how it should be Game of the Year. Nintendo is filled with people who truly pioneered how we play and view video games today. They have the greatest talent arguably in the industry, but they don’t use it. Nintendo could make a great game for Wii that I would enjoy, but they’d rather play to a casual audience and release a port of a DS game for their big Holiday release.
Nintendo has lost the hardcore. Sure, they will buy the next Zelda or Mario game, but that’s it. So, who will be there on day one when the next Nintendo console is released? The casual gamers? Not likely, because they see the Wii as something they can play bowling on when their friends or relatives come over. The hardcore? No, they have been betrayed by Nintendo. The hardcore have realized Nintendo no longer cares about their opinions and would rather rake in the cash from Wii Fit then please the people that made them what they are today.
The hardcore see the Wii for what it is to throw ports of PSP and DS games on. The only people that will be waiting in line for Nintendo’s next system are the diehard Nintendo fanboys that have brain washed themselves into believing they don’t want things like achievements, good online play, and decent third-party games. So the real question is, will Nintendo be able to compete in the next generation with its current strategy?