Yeah, this thread is about the current state of the video game industry and how unimaginative it is, so nothing so far has been off topic.
I was thinking about Nintendo recently trying to figure out why they've been doing so many odd things. They brush off core gamers like they don't even matter, oblivious to the fact that they drive a large portion of the current video game market. They always are developing new hardware, and give less attention to their software. For example, Halo released four games in the time that Zelda released 2 and Mario released 3. They take their time with games and spread them out instead of releasing one sequel after another after another. On the other hand, they are always developing new hardware, from touchscreens, to motion controls, to 3D screens, to a controller with a large display.
It seems at first like they are just doing it for the hell of it, because they want to and they can. Microsoft and Sony are doing what some people call the 'smart' thing by cashing in as much as possible on popular franchises such as call of duty, Halo, Gears of War, etc. This is obviously the best short term strategy.
So I realized all of this and thought maybe Nintendo doesn't care about the short term, and instead is looking at the long term. In the long term, core gamers eventually fall out of love with the popular games, because they have seen too many of them before. They grow up, they think they are too old to play the same old mindless games with a bunch of little kids, they get tired, plain and simple. Gamers that reach that point drop out of the market. Sure, they will be replaced by a new generation of gamer, but the old one is now gone, and will never come back.
If, however, you are always mixing it up, appealing to different audiences, and always expanding the interactions with gamers, they will not tire out. It is possible to keep those gamers as customers for life. Thus while losing very few gamers and gaining many new gamers from a new generation, you can build a much larger and broader consumer network and get games integrated across society. I think this is what Nintendo is going for. They want to expand the realm of video games beyond teenagers and young adult males and include everybody. They want games to evolve from time wasters to an advanced art form that everyone can appreciate.
Now, I'm just speculating here, so don't take it too seriously. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if I started to see some big changes in video game culture over the next 10 years.