Working at a game store for years I can tell you that parents DO NOT take ratings into consideration. As time went on there was a rise in number of adults that actually took the time to read a box for the mental well-being of their children. I know there are many that would defend this behavior as the same behavior that their parents displayed with R-rated content, and if that is the wish of the guardians, then so be it. This article was right on the money with the "context". I do not like the character, but I understand the concept. The other problem is that most people that played games like Duke Nukem 3D on the N64 were children when they played it or at least teenagers. Most of the supporters of these games were fans (and kinda meatheads). The content of this game when it comes to women is vehement, but when women write a book or produce a movie with feminist under and overtones no one says anything....because they are telling the story from their point of view. What's got your panties in a bunch?

These two devices are both great in their respective ways, but as to assume that players do not want a system that does it all is ignorant, sure there are some hardcore dedicated fans out there that require physical media (thus the demise of the PSP Go and that GameStop virtually tried to kill it for obvious reasons). The thing is that the iPhone has become this garden of casual games, a sector that Nintendo coveted, but the iPhone still cannot deliver a deep traditional experience with soley touchscreen controls. That is the problem with iPhone, the problem with Nintendo is that people DO want a device that does all that other multimedia stuff-WELL! Not a half-assed browser! This is where I believe that this article had no bearing on anything besides a dilemna that has already gone on for a few years, what it should of instead focused on was the two new phones that may just do all that now. The Sony Xperia Play and I know that this site has not really talked about this, but the possiblities of gaming on the Kyocera Echo. I will say no more because even though I do not believe either of these devices will overtake these behemoths I do believe they will leave an indelible mark on our future of portable gaming in the next couple years.

It seems that many of you missed the point or power-read through the article. Now that I am done ranting however, I loved this piece. Good job. You are absolutely correct that Nintendo has alienated part of its core gamer to amass the untapped markets, it was a crucial and genius strategy considering they had been lagging with the previous two generations of home consoles. One of the things that industry critics had lobbied against the Big N was that it had too much control over third-party developers. With the Wii quality control went unchecked and these vultures swarmed the system with shoddy shovelware, that I believe is what many people have begun to realize finally. The Wii is an incredibly innovative platform with a good library of games for core and casual players but has been overshadowed by the glut of me-too cash-in publishers that eroded the joy of motion gaming and have converted the platform to a non-stop argument on these forums. The point is that while I agree that there is room for every type of player, Nintendo did indeed follow Atari's business model and incorporate ads with family situations, but in turn it also followed the flawed business model of leaving quality control from third-parties unchecked. Nintendo, realize that these companies do not have your long-term best interests in mind.

Wow, this is really hard to gauge. The fact that the PSP has been for the most part dead in the water for at least the last year should've deterred Sony. The PSP-3000 was a joke and a slap in the face to those that had upgraded the year before. Now we have the PSP GO. You know what? I'm actually kind of excited about this machine, no more lame UMDs that take up all the time and motivation I had to play the damn thing. Also DL is the future, say what you want about owning media, but developers and publishers are never going to see strong profit as long as GameStop is around to usurp their hard-earned cash. I like the size factor. Its finally a real upgrade. Maybe, just maybe Sony can begin to catch up to the DSi.