You don't know why I'm complaining exactly, but I appreciate your opinion on the matter. I am aware of the Commodore 64 although the earliest piece of gaming equipment I've ever gotten my hands on was an Atari. All I'm sayin is that is seems like they've kinda lost the corner of the market they had. I'm not sayin it's total garbage or anything. They were the ONLY big dog in the yard when they hit the masses, and many of the people I've talked to (gamers of all ages) are just kinda let down by the direction they took. If they can improve their "tech'n'toys," then more power to them. The term "gamer" applies to anybody that has the capacity to pick up a controller and enjoy themselves. It's not a numbers game or an age group. I was born in 87 so I missed the "median age" I suppose, but I can assure you there are more people between the ages 10 and 25 playing simply because of the abundance of consoles and games. It wasn't as readily available in the late 70's/early 80's as it is now. Ask any kid what he/she wants for their birthday and I'd be willing to bet that games and consoles would show up more often then it would on the lists of people in the "median age" group. Regardless of age or skill, gaming really only boils down to what you like. Nintendo does care about the zombie lover as is evident in the releases of the Resident Evil titles that have graced not only the Wii, but the Gamecube as well. The Wii has alot of titles that are aimed at people like your girlfriend who have either neither played or have played very little. The controls were simple enough for beginners to get into, but the new hardware updates may leave the rest behind. My stepdad rocked a Commodore and an Atari. He, my mother and my little sister have mastered their Wii, but put the 360 controller in any of their hands and chaos follows. In contrast, I can't play Wii to save my life, and believe me I've tried countless times only to have my little sister spank me at Wii Sports. I'm not really worried about Nintendo failing because I doubt that will ever happen. I just think they may stumble upon an entire new gaming crowd if the hardware is easy enough to operate. As you stated, you recently picked up the Wii kit when it was a sensible price. New hardware drives up prices just like new consoles themselves. So if the price is too high and the controls are hard to get used to, it may hurt them in the long run. But the median age of gamers will soon be younger than both of us anyway, right? I've more or less given up on consoles (but that's because WoW has stolen my soul) but I would not hesitate to jump back in if new and better things are released. I may try the Wii U, I may not. But in the end it's all about what you like on an individual level. If the big dogs worried more about that then their bottom line profit, they could rake in a whole new crowd. Too bad we don't own a major gaming company ledow....we'd have it all covered.
