Very good article, and well timed.

The Wii failed because it lacked an identity. At first it was for casual gamers, which sold Wii's but not games. Then Nintendo tried to release more hardcore games: Red Steel, Mad World, and Dead Space: Extraction, which alienated the casual gamers and didn't appeal to The first-party fans. On top of that, it was too late to appeal to hardcore gamers, because at that point, they'd be buying a new console and three or four games.

What the Wii U needs is a diverse mix from the beginning, so that they can grow their audience. Ports aren't the solution as people who want to play those games have them on other platforms. So Nintendo needs new inventive games aimed at different demographics that A) Make good use of the controls, B) Are good games and C) Have enough games that people of each demographic have choice (of the illusion of it, rather than having a game, such as DS:Extraction for the Hardcore audience that had to wait months to get a game that interested them, and even after they either had to replay old Wii games or wait for new ones).

But it does seem that the Wii U is going to be a make-or-break console for Nintendo because it will probably make far less money than the Wii, especially since the novelty of motions controls has worn off, and the controller-as-a-second-screen gimmick doesn't mean much for the average joe.

But hopefully Nintendo has learnt from the Wii, and has better stuff planned over time, stuff that isn't Mario, Zelda, Wii U sports or an /HD remake. New stuff, one can only hope.

While reading this I realised that when he said that violent video games didn't come into his household, he actually meant he followed age restrictions on games.

There's a point: Why doesn't the US restructure it's Video game rating system? Not only does it mean that kids are exposed to less violence (which they claim is the problem), but it means that there are less thirteen year old kids playing multiplayer, which annoys everybody.

Or it could just be the fact that I was raised to follow age restrictions.

I wonder how much Blizzard/Activision is paying this guy...

All he needs to say is that WoW makes better employees than any other MMO and Blizzard makes another million. That's how that works, right?