Looking through console sales figures for May I was struck by the fact that 4 of 5 Wii games listed for top sales were bundled with hardware. Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit, Wii Play and Guitar Hero III all come bundled with various pieces of hardware. Three of those are hardware specific to that game or a subset of games.

This is a departure from previous systems, where games requiring non-standard hardware were mostly fringe games. The only parallel I can think of through history with such wide appeal is the original Nintendo Zapper. Even in my own perception, it was only recently that I found myself more accepting of additional hardware. The most probable cause is that the unique controllers enable unique gameplay that’s actually fun to play, better human interaction.