Alright, Stoney, I opened this can of worms so I'll respond once more, but if we'd like to keep discussing it I'd rather take it to PM.
I agree with all of the reasons you just described (particularly the first: I think many people are just used to a traditional controller, and learning a new one doesn't sound fun. That's clearly the reason why some don't prefer PC controls).
I would just state that it's completely fine to analyze things in a vacuum. I'm not suggesting that superior controls (if they are superior) should equate to everyone going out and buying that version of the game, regardless: I'm just saying there are superior controls. The end.
Whether people prefer the version with superior controls is another story, as you say, and another discussion in itself. I just want to see if we can establish that the controls are superior, before we get in to a much larger discussion. Using your "do not examine in a vacuum" methodology, we could literally never examine the motivations for consumers picking certain products. If someone picks Pepsi instead of Coke, why is that? To figure out why, we'd have to examine all of the qualities of Pepsi and Coke individually. Do people prefer the color of the Coke can? The sweetness of the Pepsi? The Six Flags coupons on every Coke?
None of these questions by itself answers the question: "Why did I choose Coke and not Pepsi?" They are part of a composite. However, in this case, I'm not asking "Why do you prefer CoD 360 to CoD Wii or PC?" I'm asking a much simpler question: "Do you think the Wii or the 360 version has superior controls?" If we wanted to get in to the larger discussion, we could, and I completely agree that many, if not most, would consider the possible benefits of the 360 version (better graphics and presentation, larger online community) to outweigh the possible benefits of a Wii version (controls). However, I really don't want to get in to this larger discussion, because the simpler question has already taken up a page of this thread.
