Croal And Keighley's NPD Analysis, Late But Long

If you're looking to kill a good hour today, you should check out N'Gai Croal and Geoff Keighley's email exchange about July's NPD numbers. Sure, it's like two weeks after the fact, but the dynamic duo use the sales charts as a springboard to talk about everything from Rock Band to what third party publishers need to do about a Wii that only seems to get stronger.

I especially enjoyed the disagreement about who Nintendo is underserving more, the casuals or the hardcore. Witness:

Keighley: Should Nintendo have focused more on shipping Wii Sports 2 or Wii Health this year in the U.S. instead of delivering another Smash Brothers? I'm beginning to wonder why Nintendo's lineup looks like a hardcore gamer's dream but a casual Wii consumer's nightmare?

Croal: I zinged them for their lack of new IP announcements at E3, particularly those aimed at core gamers. Yet... it would seem as though Nintendo's decision to focus on titles with non-gamer appeal like Wii Fit rather than hardcore curiosities like the is-it-still-in-development Project H.A.M.M.E.R. was the right call.

They're both right! And both wrong. Nintendo knows what the two (four, really) consumer groups want. Core gamers need the Game Of The Month Club, because they race through new releases and quickly grow impatient for the next big thing. But casual gamers will keep buying and playing Wii on the strength of Wii Sports alone well throughout this holiday, maybe picking up a few extra games here and there. Sure, it'll eventually start to flag as a news-making curiosity, but that's where Wii Fit comes in.

Monday Morning Quarterback [Level Up]