Seems about right. Wii launched Xmas '06 - meaning they would have got almost 6 Xmas's out of the "old" Wii hardware.
All they need to do with the Wii II:
- lots of storage (crystal system, potentially terrabytes of data)
- backwards compat with current controllers (definitely), also potentially reduces the cost of the device
- possible NO disc drive, digital dist only
- HD visuals, roughly on spec with the 360 (to make it easy for companies to port 360 games to the Wii HD)
- full virtualisation (runs GC, N64, Wii, ... games)
They wouldn't necessarily dump the Wii - just phase it out over 2-3 years. Price cuts, entry device, etc.
One interesting thing they *could* do with the Wii HD, is release a "raw" bundle - no controller (unlikely), if it fully supports Wii controllers. This way a $249 / $199 price point is more than possible.
Gesta Non Verba
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