Nintendo has stated more than once that they're not following the old "new hardware every 4 to 6 years" model any longer, yet people still act as though they are... The impetus for a successor to the DS or Wii will be: 1.) gamer drift, or 2.) competitor disruption. Nothing else will warrant a new system.

And no, a competitor releasing a better-capabilities version of hardware that functions the same as the DS or Wii does not count as competitor disruption; that's the sustaining innovation/incremental upgrade route. And no, Nintendo will not release a successor system which follows that formula. They're done with that route, so I humbly request that at least those here at VG Chartz stop acting like that's their strategy. Thank you.

i actually would have to agree with that.

Whats the point making a wii 2 when the only advances are maybe its power, and it would probably be HD??

There may be an even smaller model, an HD model or something. but no official Wii 2.

Rest assured, the successor system to the Wii will be disruptive. In ways that will upset gamers even more than the Wii has (if you can imagine that). They have already shown their penchant for defying long-held beliefs ("video games need buttons to be played", "two hands are needed to use a controller", "hardware power is king", and so on). Which must leave one wondering: what belief will they conquer next? And what if they've already told us which one it is, and we don't even realize it? I seem to recall a quote from Iwata stating that Nintendo wished to change the way a home console game is played in terms of the visual experience... And you know he doesn't mean "make the visuals better", as that's entirely against his character and the character of Nintendo... Ponder on it and see if you don't spot the likely disruption he's referring to.

As long as the sales for the Wii remain the same as they are now they will never release another system. I was thinking that common sense says about seven years but the more I think about it and how the Wii is performing that ten years actually sounds about right. Only updates until then. I am preparing to put my foot in my mouth over this.

Why not, Soriku? The odds are good that the next Sony and the next MS consoles will either be rehashes of their previous ones, or be Wii-alikes. Though Nintendo may well lose some of the core demographic from the latter, it will still experience mainstream success over those two in that case. And if the successors are just incremental upgrades of the 360 and PS3, then they will be even LESS of a concern to Nintendo than the 360 and PS3 are now.

It all depends on who's sales slow down the quickest. As it stands the Wii is doing very well and could continue strong sales into 2012 especially with Korea and China markets opening. The PS3 has the Sony namebrand and blu-ray so I think it will remain a force to be reckened with. It is also gaining momentum in North America and Europe right now. Once FF13 comes out, it will be strong in Japan as well. That's why I see Microsoft to be the first to release there next gen system first. Gears 2 or whatever won't really boost 360 sales and the alignment with HD-DVD has hurt it. However if Microsofts motion controller catches fire, then anything can happen. I just don't see a large enough userbase for the controller that will make developers want to make games that utilize it. The prospect of a motion controller with HD graphics is pretty sweet you must admit.

Unless the DS starts to lag in sales ad games stop being made......

The DS is a good measuring stick on if and when Nintendo would release a new system. The edge is the consumer. If ithe consumer likes the Wii just fine (like they liked the PS2) it will keep selling and selling and selling both consoles and games (Atari, thank you. NES, thank you. PS2, thank you. DS, proving it again. Wii, getting closer).

If there were an easy, or hardware-induced way, of making Wii and Wii-2 games compatible both directions then it might be worth while to make two (kinda like DS and Gameboy, differences aside so that it would really work) or have Wii-2 games feature some games and controls that are beyond anything else (visor or spatial movement) but still be appealing to developers to use the 'still supported' Wii-mote on the Wii-2 as well as the other peripherals.

It's like a computer, really... if you had the ability to dumb things down on graphics in order to play it, go ahead. It's like playing 3D PC games in 800x600 instead of 1200x800 - just reducing power needs.

Perhaps the RE:6 game on Wii-2 would be compatible with Wii-1 by simply decreasing the area segregation in to more frequent loading requirements and containing a set of reduced clarity animations/graphics/polygons.

I dunno. It'd be neat to see some more backwards but FORWARDS comatibility attempts go on. When people spend $1000 on games and controllers, and only $250 on the console, they're more willing to 'upgrade' knowing their previous $1000 investments would be an 'addition' to the new purchase.

Whatever the result, I think Nintendo has been doing things very right for themselves (duh, hurhur) and their next decision will be just fine.

Me on the left:

This always happens when a market changes... The home audio core demographic failed to see the appeal of the Walkman, and figured that it would quickly be abandoned or would follow the same sales models as home audio solutions did (it didn't on either count). The movie core demographic thought that Star Wars would be a one-time thing and that film-making would return to how it was before. And now the gaming core demographic believes that the Wii business model will just pass on and be replaced by the previous one. Past examples keep showing this sort of idea to be wrong, but most don't seem to spot the trend...

Just wanna point out, Sean Malstrom DONT LIKE THE SNES:

Generation Four (16-bit Era)

MYTH: The "Console War" between Sega and Nintendo was the best thing since sliced bread. Such competition created the best games! Oh, why can't we have more console wars! They are so good for gamers and the business!

(The "Console War" was the worst thing ever for the industry and gamers. Instead of focusing on growing the market, as Nintendo was determined to in the 8-bit generation, the company began to lose its way inside the Red Ocean. The 'competition' resulted in crass advertising campaigns and games that mimicked one another. It was horrible for gamers as Sega threw silly hardware onto the market from Sega CD to 32x. The "Console War" mentality would, in time, destroy Sega and cripple Nintendo allowing an opening for newcomer Sony to take the market.

Luckily, the "16-bit Console War is awesome" myth appears to be dying this generation due to Nintendo's 'non-competitive' approach.)

Sean malstrom dont want to upgrade the existing market with graphics just to compete, thats why he likes the Wii. He dont like a new console just to upgrade the existing console at all.

I think there will still be Wii games sold 10 years after its release.
It's possible there'll even be Wii consoles sold after 10 years

But no, the Wii is not powerful enough to be Nintys only console in 2016