In an interview with IndustryGamers, Wright said that the Wii “really is more into what I would call the toy market, because most of the Wii games I’ve enjoyed felt more like toys than like games.”

Of course, the system still offers quite a bit of fun, Wright admits, but for a game developer the Wii isn’t the normal platform for delivering the games we’re used to.

Meanwhile, Wright went on to say that the game industry is indeed looking at a shift, where it’s uncertain when the “next generation” of gaming devices will emerge.

The huge losses that Microsoft and Sony have suffered in getting their consoles into the hands of gamers at a (sort of) affordable price are a sharp contrast to Nintendo’s huge success and profitability with the Wii. While the high-end consoles came at a high cost for both the system developers and consumers alike, Nintendo was able to out-sell the competition with a cheaper, albeit less powerful system.

“I think the results of this cycle will have a strong influence on the next cycle, in that cheaper consoles will be expected,” Pidgeon explains. The massive popularity of casual gaming on Nintendo’s console, as well as with simple games like Guitar Hero is already changing the way game developers approach the industry.

Pidgeon goes on to suppose that the entire industry may shift from hardware-focused consoles to lighter appliances that depend on the Internet. “The platforms of the next cycle may not be a console at all, but software distributed by network to convergent devices like PCs, set top boxes and smart phones,” he explains.

Pidgeon goes as far as to suppose that the Sony PlayStation 3 may be the last console to incorporate “cutting edge” hardware. It may be possible that the video game console will create a greater divide between casual gaming platforms and dedicated, technically superior platforms. If not, hardcore gamers may need to rely on their PC hardware to deliver more powerful games.