Wii 2

[Zeta]

http://kotaku.com/5057222/american-site-its-time-to-talk-new-wii-out-in-2011

So apparently, there's some mumblings by Nintendo that they're starting to work on the Wii 2. With the following emphasizes:
* Return to competitive graphics against Sony and Microsoft.
* Huge-ass hard-drive and expansion of WiiWare games.
* Backwards compatibility
* Highly improved controller.

Sounds like reasonable goals to shoot for.

 

[TTEchidna]

The Wiiquel, eh?

I guess that if the 3S comes out before that it'd put it in 2010 or 2011. And that means, since it has backwards compatibility, it'd be able to connect with the 3S, DS, and GBA.

Hopefully that doesn't mean GSDS is out due to upcoming launches. If Crystal can come out the same day as the GBA... anything's possible.

 

[Eevee 7]

GSDS has nothing to do with the Wii. If your worried about remakes you should be watching out for a DS sucessor. Anyway with the rumors of a MP3 DS I think the Ds might last a bit longer. The Wii 2 sounds good from the article, I wonder if 3rd parties will take the Wii 2 seriously?

 

[bell02+]

As long as they make it region free I'll be happy, lolz. Really though, it feels way, way too early for Nintendo to be talking about Wii2, even for 2011, we really have 3 years until then and Nintendo's going to want to sell Wii games during that time. So this will stay a rumor for a long, long time. I say it isn't much worth talking about yet..

 

[Dogasu]

"Starting to work?"

They would have started working on this the second their first Wii came out.

 

[Trainer-c]

I believe Dogasu is right. I recall reading a few quotes that Nintendo had started development on the next console shortly after the Wii hit the markets.

 

[Rayne]

I believe Dogasu is right. I recall reading a few quotes that Nintendo had started development on the next console shortly after the Wii hit the markets.

Right and the link Kotaku pulled the source from, What They Play shows that Nintendo has increased spending on R&D by over ten times in four years.

In 2003, Nintendo declared that $34 million was spent on R&D. This figure steadily climbed to $103 million in 2006 and the following year bumped dramatically to $370 million.

Pumping in this amount of serious dough, they must have something substantial in the works. Perhaps the Wii was an experimental platform, so instead of risking big money on a flashy system and new gameplay, they stuck with just the gameplay.

Perhaps the Wii2 or 'WiiHD' as its dubbed will take on components previously lacking on the Wii and now proven to work with this generation, obviously such as the HD format, increased onboard memory and hopefully greater networking capability. Nintendo has always approached these extras cautiously, but maybe this time Nintendo has learned its lesson.

Of course by the time 2011 rolls around and the consoles are being pushed to the street, Nintendo may overlook yet another feature that seems to be a nobrainer at the time.

I think the reason why 2011 is speculated is because this is when Nintendo's partnership with ATI expires, and thus logic being they want to roll a product out the door while they still have the graphics company in house.

Still all speculation aside, the info looks good.