I guess that’s true. It doesn’t really apply in San Francisco-sized apartments, like my own. 
I have a 40" screen that’s 15’ from my couch, and there are certain types of content I would never consider watching in SD.
Hell, I have a DLP projector that goes up to 100", and I hardly ever bust it out anymore, because it can only handle up to 720p - I’d rather watch it in crystal-clear 1080p on my 40" screen.
HD is better, there’s no question. I am really looking forward to an HD-capable Nintendo console, but I don’t expect it to be tacked on to the Wii so close to the end of its cycle; it just wouldn’t begin to make sense.
I’m not sure why you quoted me me, as nothing I posted was contrary to anything you said.
And? You stated that there has never been as big a change to a console as adding HD to the Wii would be. Both those are larger changes because they break compatibility. That it was planned before launch doesn’t change that. And that the games that take advantage of those upgrades will have a DSi-enhanced! starburst or whatever on the box also does not change that.
The N64 expansion pack was only required for two games: Donkey Kong 64 (which came bundled with the add-on) and Zelda: Majora’s Mask.
Perfect Dark, too.*
*Ok, not technically required, you could play only the single player campaign with worse graphics. But since multiplayer was the best part of that game (and I’m one of five people who thinks it was better than Goldeneye’s,) then yeah, I’m going to say it was required.
Edit: And didn’t Gauntlet: Legends have some sort of extras that needed it? Like only multiplayer with the expansion?
Damn…now my post makes me sad cause I miss all those highschool weekends where my friends and I would stay up all night playing Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Gauntlet, Etc…
Close The single-player campaign also required the Expansion Pack. However, you could play 1-2 player multiplayer without it.
A late bump, but here’s a fantastic video posted by Destructoid regarding this very topic:
No, that video is dumb. Graphics or gameplay isn’t a choice, as has been said. A game can have one or both or neither. “Ugly” games can appear on the Xbox 360, so the Wii’s existence as a platform that allows cheap games isn’t really necessary or beneficial to the world in that sense. If anything, XBLA and its Indie Channel is more beneficial on that front. The advantage of the Wii is its unique control system. Anything on the Wii that doesn’t take advantage of that control system probably would be better on another platform.
But it can be. You think the graphics budget exists independently of the rest of the project?
Beyond that, the video addressed much more than mere budgetary constraints.
Not for retail-priced games, such as The Last Story, as cited in that video. (btw, the sales for games on the indy channel have been abysmal.)