As part of a report on the casual boom in 2007, the analysts at DFC Intelligence also briefly discussed the traditional, hardcore gamer's market – "the complex epic game with the $20 million development budget and $60 retail price tag." While an investment in these types of games is an increasingly risky proposition for some publishers, and the casual market has seen a big surge, DFC believes "a huge and growing chunk of consumers are out there waiting to play these type of products." In fact, DFC suggests that 2008 "could be the year of the epic game."

"Products like Devil May Cry 4, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Theft Auto IV could be the big stories for the first half of 2008, and all these products are coming out for the Xbox 360 and/or PlayStation 3 (but not the Wii)," the firm points out. "The key challenge faced by Microsoft and Sony is to avoid the Nintendo 64 syndrome of being locked only into the market of serious gamers."

And while the PS3 and Xbox 360 face the challenge of not being quite as casual or mass-market as the Wii, Nintendo's console must deal with the opposite scenario: a lack of hardcore titles. "Going forward, the challenge faced by the Wii is that it is not that strong when it comes to the more complex epic games," DFC says.

Sure, Nintendo provides hardcore fans with Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, etc. but those kinds of games are far outnumbered by the Mario Party 8s and Wii Plays of the world. It's a strategy that's certainly worked for Nintendo thus far, but it'll be interesting to watch how it evolves this year.