Nobody knows how to make video games for the masses like Nintendo. It's almost embarrassing how completely they dominate at this point, and how clueless the rest of the games business remains. Sony and Microsoft haven't got a clue how to appeal to families or lapsed gamers. The Expanded Audience was something they ignored and derided for years; and now they are stumbling out the gate with half-hearted motion-control machines that no one will want to buy.
I hope I'm not being too partisan in my thinking, but I'm willing to predict that Wii Party single-handedly defeats Microsoft's Kinect and Sony's Move. This will be especially true if Nintendo of America wisely includes a pink Wii Remote in the package, as is being done in Japan. Here is a game that appeals to everyone, regardless of age or skill, encourages multiplayer mayhem and cooperation, and continues to find new and novel use for the motion controllers.
How and why the game industry lost touch with families and chose to exclusively pursue 35-year-old males will remain a mystery for the ages. It was an astonishing blunder. The industry will continue to decline and companies will continue to lose money.
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