TheMadPeacock On The Sofa

I have a friend… yup, it happened.. anyway, my friend and I could debate forever on almost any subject even if we agree on 99% of the issue so as a rule I don’t give much thought to our chats once they are over but tonight was a more interesting one..

He is an avid Wii player, loves Wii tennis and believes that the Wii marks the end of the “power console” as a viable market. He believes Wii console sales will continue to grow unabated for the next few years because of its price advantage and it’s fun.. he basically believes everyone who has a TV will have a Wii and only us “hard core gamers” will pay $400+ for the latest and greatest + $60 a game.. but we will also have a Wii.

His position is therefore that Wii is doing to game consoles what the iPod did to MP3 players.. simple/easy/cool crossed the chasm from geek accessory to household item.

I don’t have a Wii and have never really liked Nintendo games (shock) I have simple tastes – gritty death, destruction and mayhem – so I have been a PlayStation loyalist for some time now.

I was arguing that the Wii craze that is sweeping the world is a fad. The vacuum left by the late arrival of the PS3 left gamers wanting something new and Nintendo filled the gap, they have definitely created a new sector of the game market “casual console” or “family console” and for that I give much respect but I personally don’t believe the Wii will be the dominant console in 2009.

But I am worried.. my day job has me visiting game developers very regularly, Wii development needs come up and at the end of the Wii love fest I ask if any of the (usually) game industry veterans around the table have a PS3 at home yet? and the answer is typically no!

Has Wii disrupted the console market forever? Are we all doomed to play nice games as a family around the TV each evening?

What do you think - Wii, Disruptor that has permanently altered the console gamer landscape or Fad?