The Wii is, quintessentially, a casual gamer’s paradise. Nintendo has undoubtedly taken that expanding market by storm. The company may lack in third-party titles or extensive libraries, but it surely sells a whole hell of a lot of the current offerings. Due to gaining such substantial sales it is no wonder that Reggie and company have become entrenched in said market.

The question remains however, what’s the next step? Nintendo could most surely profit from new users with more Wii (insert activity here) titles, but what happens to current owners of the system? It is highly debatable as to whether owners of the Wii will grow weary of simplicity and possibly move onto a more advanced or challenging type of gameplay. On one hand, there exists a group that can only spend limited amounts of time with the system due to busy schedules, family, friends, etc and want nothing more. The other hand, however, may hold a group that got used to mashing buttons and joysticks and are now ready for a game like Gears of War or Resistance.

With this in mind, can the Wii then become a gateway drug for gaming? If anyone thinks this the case, it’s Microsoft. Catching a glimpse of their E3 conference can show how this may be so. Microsoft has time and time again said that they wish to cater more towards the casual market. The execs have even made comment concerning how some Wii users may want to graduate their experience onto something more.

Car companies have a long history of offering low end models to first time buyers so that they may move up the line towards luxury as they age and purchase more. Microsoft is not very far off here as the Arcade SKU, now priced the same as the Wii, starts with simplicity and ends down the line with the monster that is the Elite. Many argue that by doing so, coupled with newer games and dashboard updates that Microsoft is trying to directly compete with the Wii. I sit on the fence about this.

Microsoft has introduced their avatars, and guess what? They look like Miis. Well, DUH. This makes perfect sense if Microsoft is trying to capture those Wii owners ready to make the jump with something familiar. With the price drops going hand in hand with the announcements of Netflix, Xbox Live Primetime, and more family friendly titles, it only makes sense. In this way it seems Microsoft is trying to capture both markets then: those who want casual simplicity and those who want to upgrade into something more.

Nonetheless, Nintendo has such a stranglehold on the former group that any cut in market share would seem most likely minimal. The advantage, however, is their dual threat approach: One console for the whole family.

Peter’s Perspective:

After viewing all of the E3 press events, I can say that Microsoft and Nintendo both are making strong runs at the potential mass of casual gamers out there just looking for an excuse to buy a video game console. Microsoft’s focus on online community-building, plus the introduction of its Xbox Live Primetime service and the announcements of games like Scene It: Box Office Smash, Lips, and You’re In The Movies seem to cater more to the less-serious gamer and all of these were important points of Microsoft’s press event. Nintendo, meanwhile, announced a sequel to Wii Sports and took the wraps off of a revamped Wii Music, de-emphasizing high scores in favor of accessibility.

While Microsoft’s Arcade SKU is similar to the Wii in terms of price, it’s the recent drop in price for the 20GB Pro model that may reignite sales of the console and get undecided casual gamers to make the jump. A hard drive is basically a requisite to take advantage of the full spectrum of features that the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live have to offer, although the relatively small size of the hard drive may lead to “fridge cleaning” which is similar to what Wii owners have been doing due to the small amount of on-board storage space within the console. I still think that the magic price point for Microsoft is $250, though. Considering what Microsoft has to offer in terms of online community, multimedia and high-definition functionality, and a wider spectrum of games, it could be a much more difficult choice for consumers at retail… especially in light of these challenging economic times.

The battle for the casual gamer is really just beginning, and it will indeed be interesting to follow its progress over the coming months and years.