Think about it and it makes perfect sense. Sega has spotted a niche - or a massive, cavernous hole - in the Wii market and reckons it can exploit it. Over the next three months, the company will release three, Wii-exclusive titles aimed squarely at the adult market. Familiar arcade shooter House Of The Dead: Overkill is up first, offering tongue-in-cheek scares and blasting action aplenty. It will be followed by stylised beat ‘em up Madworld, and futuristic first-person shooter The Conduit.
 
Speaking to trade magazine MCV, MD of Sega Europe North Alan Pritchard and UK sales director John Clark both said they saw room for more mature gaming on Nintendo's home console. And, as I hinted at in the first sentence, they have a point; although these won't, by any means, be the first adult-themed games for the system. The question is: will these titles be a success and pave the way for more mature, original titles to make their way onto the Wii?
 
You have to feel that the way these games are marketed is key. At the minute, Nintendo loves to trumpet the fact that the Wii allows loads of people to gather round, fling their arms in the air and have a grand old time. And there's no reason for that to change with these; except it won't be the family Redknapp having a laugh, it'll be a gang of 20-somethings having the time of their lives knocking the crap out of each other. Obviously, these being Sega titles, there may well be a different approach, with no input from Nintendo. But I think there is a real opportunity for the two companies to combine and push the fact that the Wii is, like every other Nintendo console, about gaming. Not exclusively kids' games, not family games and not adult games; but the sheer pleasure of being able to find a game that grabs you and won't let go.
 
I hope these games are, well, good first and foremost. But I also hope that they do good business. The Conduit in particular has piqued my interest as I'm a sucker for a decent FPS and can see the Wii-mote and Nunchuk working really well in this context.
 
The Wii's success couldn't have been predicted, even in Nintendo's wildest dreams. Let's hope that this new initiative from Sega can take the console to the next level and make it a viable platform for original, mature content.