No it's not the hardware's fault, but the fact that there have been so few good uses strikes me as having less to do with developers not wanting to make good use of it as much as the potential uses of it being limited. It can add to some genres, but no more so than a mouse would, and most don't benefit much. So maybe it's not quite gimmicky per se, but it's not the innovation Nintendo wanted people to believe when it came out.

Which is actually a trend with them lately if you ask me.