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Final point before I go to bed.
The video game market is actually waning. Halo set records, but most games really aren't selling like they used to. The 360 has a phenomenal attach rate for this gen, but it's on par with the XBox from last gen, which wasn't even the leader. People are buying fewer games. Part of it's probably simply the economy, but it really does look like "Hardcore" gaming is waning.
There will always be HALOs, and the top titles will probably all sell well enough to merit them, but that doesn't mean the market's supporting the systems very well. This actually kind of benefits Nintendo, because they've usually only got a handful of titles that sell really well per console: A Zelda or two, Smash Brothers, the main Mario titles. They're actually not going to be very hurt by the trend.
This is a generation of record highs, but also lackluster lows, and a lot of them. And the glut of unimaginative clones of FPSes and such probably serve to do nothing but hurt the market. They will apply to a narrow base, but for the most part, they alienate the rest of the userbase, as they already have. Video games, if marketed this way, become more of a specialty market. Nintendo, on the other hand, is appealing to a base that's less likely to shrink, because even novelties appeal to a wider audience than most specialty hobbies.
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