What's wrong with serious games?

I just read this article summarizing a talk at the March Serious Games Summit and San Jose. It presents the ranging opinions on the struggles of making serious games a serious genre in the game industry. In my last newsletter, I said that it would be a significant piece of the trillion dollar game industry in the next 10 years. Right now, this article asserts, it's revenue is nothing more than a "rounding error." How do I marry my beliefs with the current reality? I look at the overnight success of Brain Age. A game that clear has an educational purpose that is selling well in Japan. I agree with Gee when he says gameplay mechanics are most important. And by the way, it's the hardest to get right as my experience creating Outbreak has taught me.

The article mentions Diner Dash. I never thought of it as a serious game. But it does meet my definition of a serious game as a game that promotes real-world action. Everytime I'm in a restaurant I think about the game. I even sort of think about which customer I'm behaving as. Friday I nearly left this busy sushi place - business woman. Yesterday I waited patiently at my table for my sandwich - senior person. If you have no idea what I'm talking about go play the game.