Wii will rock you...

I'm guessing that most Giant Robot readers if they own a current games console, own a Nintendo Wii (or more likely, a DS). The Wii has been a juggernaut, still a difficult product to find that sells out everywhere it is stocked. It's success has been so staggering that it has created a new attitude in the business side of games, where expensive narrative heavy titles aimed at adults are now seen as hardcore and a niche market while it's much easier to make money off of what they call the casual gamer. Nintendo's success has bolstered this claim, and given that those niche titles cost a lot more money even in art development assets to create, one could say that their success is a staggering leap backwards. Grand Theft Auto IV cost admittedly around a hundred million dollars to develop, while Metal Gear Solid 4 was at least some 30 million. But there's an important distinction there, where Nintendo's vision has gaming something like playing with a toy, and those other titles aiming for a whole new medium.

Now, I know playing plastic instruments evokes in most people a response similar to what an episode of South Park did: that it makes you a total loser. But somehow Nintendo, with their aim at casual gamers, in which gaming is more like playing with a toy than becoming immersed in an experience, have made even playing Rock Band look cool if you ask me. From yesterday's E3 conference, a yearly event where games companies ply their wares to the media:



An event that most commentators flat out agree upon, Nintendo made the worst showing at.