14 million. That’s the number of Wiis that have been sold in the 12 months since the console, formerly known as The Revolution, launched in November 2006. It became the fastest selling console in history and even managed to put a decent margin between itself and the Xbox 360, which already had a year’s head start. Nintendo couldn’t be happier with its success; the console which inspired countless jokes about its name and had been panned by critics for being underpowered has blown through all expectations placed on it. While the games have been less than stellar with a slew third-party titles of questionable quality, the first-party games — games released by Nintendo itself — have been monstrous hits. Games like “Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess” and the recently-released “Super Mario Galaxy” have been among the highest rated, most anticipated games of all time. But is the Wii running out of steam or is it just getting started?

Sales numbers aside, Wii’s first year has been rocky, to say the least. In the first months of release, a Wii was next to impossible to find with stores often having fewer than 10 at a time. The long lines and late night/early morning waits outside toy and video game stores around the country seemed ridiculous after a while. With months passing by and the console still difficult to find, Nintendo fans seemed only that much more determined to claim one of their own. And so it goes, with Nintendo executives warning consumers that it will be just as difficult to locate one this year, as well. Whether that’s hyperbole or simply the cold, hard truth is difficult to ascertain, but it’s hard to argue with the facts — and the facts say that the Wii is still selling out at an unprecedented level.

Moms and dads — even grandmas and grandpas — all love the Wii. From parents’ perspective, the Wii offers them a way to enjoy playing games with their kids; from grandparents’ perspective, it’s a way to enjoy the activities of their youth without the trouble and stress that goes along with actually doing them. “Wii Sports”, the Wii’s pack-in game, was a huge hit and continues to be one of the Wii’s most compelling titles for gamers and non-gamers alike. But aside from the first-party efforts, Wii owners have been hard-pressed to find games that match the quality of “Wii Sports”. Early launch titles like “Farcry: Vengeance” and “Red Steel” left a lot of early adopters with a sour taste in their mouths. Many hard-core gamers were left to wonder if a first-person shooter could be done well on the console while the majority of mini-games and so-called “casual” titles left them out in the cold. Until “Super Paper Mario” and “Metroid Prime 3″ — once again, first-party Nintendo titles — gamers had a long wait for decent games to play with a dry-spell that lasted a few months. It was a difficult time to be a Wii owner, but at least there was the promise of better games just on the horizon. Until then, however, there were casual games… lots of casual games.

The so-called battle between the casual and the hard-core gaming audiences is a battle that shouldn’t exist. It’s a stupid rift and both sides come across looking rather desperate and ignorant. The heart of this battle comes in the form of an ill-informed opinion that the market for casual games is so great that software companies will begin to abandon expensive, time-consuming hard-core games and focus primarily on producing casual games that cost much less and require far less development time. The truth is, this is simply not how the market works. Hard-core gaming — defined by genres like first-person shooters and role-playing games — has always been niche. The difference is that Nintendo, wisely, has learned how to appeal to the casual crowd of gamers who are primarily made up of moms and dads and other busy adults who are short on time but still want to enjoy playing games. It’s not that the Wii invented casual games, it just seems as though the console is solely dedicated to them because of the number of people who have been buying them exclusively for the Wii. In the end, it’s silly to see this as anything worth losing sleep over when the truth is that the money developers make on casual games often gets funneled into funding for larger projects. There’s no law — written or unwritten — that says casual and hard-core gamers cannot coexist; in fact, the two groups aren’t even mutually exclusive — many hard-core gamers also enjoy casual games. And so, with more and more non-gamers getting into video games, the market, if anything, is better for it.

The real problem with hard-core games is that the term is usually a reference to games that are meant for a more mature audience — “Manhunt 2″ certainly fits that description. The title, slated for release on the PlayStation 2 and Wii, was, and still is, the center of a lot of unwanted attention. Originally rated “Adults Only” and then edited down to “Mature”, “Manhunt 2″ has come under fire by the likes of Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman, Sam Brownback, and Evan Bayh, who’ve set their sights on removing the game from store shelves by forcing the Entertainment Software Rating Board to reset their rating of the game to “Adults Only”. Most retailers won’t carry games rated “Adults Only — especially Wal Mart. Target decided that they won’t carry the game at all. Obviously, the trouble surrounding “Manhunt 2″ won’t be going away anytime soon, but with games like “No More Heroes” on the horizon — and promising to “up the ante” of what is acceptable in a game — certainly, the Wii has its share of violent, mature games. But the term “hard-core” doesn’t necessarily mean violent, M-rated games… it’s a title that fits games that are for fans who show a “hard-core” loyalty to their system of choice. For Nintendo fans, that means games that feature Mario, Link, and whole list of other recognizable characters that might not appeal to people who aren’t already familiar with them. Fortunately, these types of games are already available for the Wii with more coming soon. Expect sales to be through the roof…. Hard-core or not, Nintendo fans have a lot to look forward to.

As we head into the Wii’s second year, the question is whether it can continue its dominance. The PlayStation 3 is just beginning to pick up steam with a number of quality, must-play games coming out while the line-up on the Xbox 360 has been unstoppable. Only counting the last few months’ releases, we’ve seen games like “Bioshock”, “Halo 3″, “The Orange Box”, “Mass Effect”, “Rock Band”, and “Guitar Hero III” which have all gone on to see record setting sales and ratings. For the Wii, however, only a small hand-full of titles have achieved this status. Will there be a third-party hit for the Wii or will it continue to sell based on the power of first-party games? What happens when those first-party games begin to dry up? How long will the Wii last in comparison to its competitors? 2008 presents a number of challenges — not just for the Wii, but the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as well. Hopefully, the games of the coming year will be just as good, if not better than what we’ve seen in 2007. Here’s to the Wii’s second year; let’s hope it’s a good one.