What would a "next gen wii" look like?

[dschumm]

I think it is more reasonable to look at recent developments in the hand held space to get queues for the sequel to the Wii. They have already said that was their inspiration for the Wii.

Yes Nintendo is all about innovation, but if this generation is as dominate for Nintendo as it looks, then they will scale back the innovation a little to not scare off all the new fans.

Name: Wii Advance, Wii SP, Wii DS, Wii HD. Something of that nature.

Timeframe: It will be 5-6 years same as always.

Price: Anyone who thinks the price wont be between $199 and $299 is an idiot. I am willing to lay down a bet that it will be $249 and include a game. It is only MS and Sony fanboys that say this is cheap. It is those companies that have overpriced what home consoles are supposed to cost. Just look at previous generations of gaming systems by all companies. The ones over $300 lost. Period! I doubt the PS4 or 720 will be any more than $350 after this mistake.

Look: Expect whatever semi-chic color is in silver, black, white etc. Definitely will be small.

HD: Cost of it's inclusion will be a nonissue. I bet you they will even include an HDMI cable. But there will be SD outputs.

Graphics: Bigger Better just like every increase in the past. But only so much that they can make a profit from console 1. They wont have as much R&D funds into the controllers this time so expect a decent boost. I am guessing two 360s Taped together. Hehe. I figure if MS can make money at $279 it is not a challenge to think a slightly faster system can be made for a company in 4 years.

Storage: Flash or Hard drive. I say flash memory if as 10-20 GB should be cost prohibitive. If it is than I say a non-upgradable Ipod sized harddive with 40 GB a space is an easy guess. SDHC slots are an easy guess.

Backwards compatability: A must, but they may drop the GC ports and offer a shell controller that functions with it.

Distribution: Propriatary HD disc format. No fees to Toshiba or Sony, less piracy. They may shift gears into major digital distribution and up the hard drive space to 100s of gigs but I doubt it.

Other: I say wireless rechargable sensor bar. Improved Wiimote. But generally the same functions.

Innovation. Expect a camera, balance bar/mat, or other feature to step up the uniqueness. Maybe a tension sensing grip in the nunchuck.

One moonshot idea I have is the next generation will have full motion sensing built in to the next Gameboy DS whatevers. They will also have a port and cable which plug into the Wiimote directly.

So more than a DS to DS lite improvement but less than the Advance to DS Improvement.