Originally posted by Sir Auros
See this post. Think that covers everything.
Nintendo made a few good steps in the GC cycle, mainly bringing back the metroid franchise with a vengance and obtaining the resident evil franchise for three years. But having 5 or 6 mature titles isn't enough anymore. The demographics of video game buyers suggest that the majority of purchasers are the 18-25 male crowd and as much as it is a great game, the majority of these people wouldn't take a Paper Mario over lets say, Doom 3.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my GC. Spending time with Mario Kart and Smash brothers were some really well spent video game time. But the fact of the matter is that the market generally cannot support 3 or more console developers (NEC got bounced out by Sega and Nintendo in the late 80's, Atari and panasonic got destroyed by Sega and Nintendo in the early 90's and Nintendo and Sony outlasted sega in the late 90's/ early 2000's). And from prior track records from the last generation, Nintendo looks like the weak player here.
Its not about what is neccessarily good quality, its what sells. And right now, the Microsoft and Sony brands are a better sell than Nintendo.