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To wit: The current direction of the gaming industry is to cater increasingly to a specific group of people, which alienates everyone else and will ultimately prove harmful as genres continue to become overspecialized (thus appealing to a smaller and smaller core group). Nintendo is trying to move outside that shrinking hardcore constituency using hardware innovation. In other words, the company is defining its own terms of success -- especially since games for Nintendo systems cost far less to develop than those on competing systems, meaning developers and publishers can make a healthy profit with fewer sales, thus freeing them to go after less clearly-defined audiences.
This is, I think, exactly why the fanboy press is so baffled by Nintendo's continued existence as a first-party hardware creator. The company increasingly refuses to cater to them. And I guess that's why I tend to gravitate toward its creations, too; at some point I think I fell outside the "primary hardcore" circle of the Venn diagram. I still can't muster up an ounce of enthusiasm for God of War, but Trauma Center looks pretty rad. (Hopefully admitting that fact won't get me fired.)