Wii HD is coming this year, says Pachter >_

[HappySqurriel]

txrattlesnake said:

HappySqurriel said:

For argument’s sake, it is entirely possible that Nintendo could release a new console or handheld this year; but there is no way Nintendo would release a new console and handheld this year. Realistically, most companies would want at least 12 months between major hardware releases that have an overlapping user-base; and would most likely be aiming for an 18 to 24 month split between the systems. The reason for this is pretty straight forward, that a company wouldn’t want its most dedicated users trying to decide which system to buy; and they would want the early adopters to have bought into one system, and the system to be in a position where it is self sustaining, before they release a new system.

Now, if Nintendo was in a rush to release both new systems I could see a spring/summer handheld release followed by a Q4 2011 release of a new home console; but this seems more like the act of a console manufacturer who is desperate rather than a company who is currently the most successful console manufacturer ever.

 

I wrote about this before at length.  Basically, I think Nintendo could release a 360 or PS3 powerful console this year that could appeal to hd game developers more than the Wii does and have launch games like a Super Wii version of Final Fantasy XIII, and versions of Epic Mickey, Metroid Other M, and Mario Galaxy 2 and Zelda Wii on it with PS3 / 360 quality graphics and probably 3rd party offerings like Fallout 3, Assassin's Creed, Modern Warefare 2, and GTA IV on it that don't appeal to the bulk of Wii gamers but that do appeal to people that don't like the Wii's current offerings.  A trade-in option of Wii's towards a purchase of this new console as someone mentioned would be a good option.  Then keep the casuals buying the Wii with the types of games they like.

 

In a couple of years, Ninty could bring the casuals on board with Wii Sports 4 etc.

The question is why would they?

They're currently selling more hardware and software than the HD consoles, which costs Nintendo far less to produce; and the negative impact of not having HD visuals at this point in time is minimal. The longer Nintendo holds off of producing a new console, the more processing power will be available at a lower cost and diminishing returns on processing power will translate into it being dramatically more expensive to release a meaninful improvement on the system; you could argue that we're rapidly approaching that point being that a $100 graphics card at the end of this year will be 4 to 8 times as powerful as the GPUs in the HD consoles but holding off a couple more years will put a cheap low-end laptop GPU in the range of running a game like Crysis at 1080p @120fps with full detail and few customers would care about graphics beyond what that chipset would produce.