Nintendo has promised that new titles to be released on the Wii during 2009 will make hardcore gamers “stand up and pay attention”.

The Wii console has previously appealed to more casual gamers, as well as Nintendo’s core gaming audience.

Speaking to MTV Multiplayer, Cammie Dunaway, the firm’s executive vice president of sales and marketing, said that the Wii can appeal to hardcore gamers.

“I feel there are titles that should make that group stand up and pay attention next year,” she remarked.

Dunaway claimed that Sega’s upcoming first-person shooter The Conduit is “really pushing the edge of graphic capabilities on the Wii and doing things that people didnÂ’t think were possible”.

She also pointed to stylised brawler Mad World, which has a distinctive graphical appearance of black, white and blood red alongside a particularly mature content.

Dunaway said she believes that the titles will make other developers “stand up and take notice”, as well as motivate consumers to think, “Huh, maybe thereÂ’s something to this”.