| Killiana1a said: I just don't see the sense in releasing a Wii with HD capabilities. Is HD going to convince your 360 or PS3 player to get a Wii? I don't think so. Will HD without Blu Ray broaden the Blue Ocean? I don't think so. Whatever it may be called, Wii 1.5, Wii 2, WiiWin, Nintendo's next console may, more than likely, start the next generation. I think Nintendo should invest it's cash now, as their quarterly financial statements report with a loss, in starting the next generation ASAP. If Sony follows their business model with the PS3, then they may release another $600 console further placing them on a path similar to Sega's demise. The path where technology and graphics mean everything, consumer price means nothing, therefore you have a portfolio of powerful systemss, but no one playing them in comparison to your competitors. Lets face it, in this economy if developed nations are all averaging 10% unemployment and falling incomes, video game consoles cannot be priced more than $300. If the PS4 was released in 2012 with a $400-600 price tag, it would do worse than the PS3 did in it's first year. This I would bet on. Do I think Sony will have the PS3 technology down to an affordable $200-300 level come holidays 2012 and holidays 2013? Without a doubt they will and they will start better by looking backward and learning from their past mistakes rather than getting fixated on the newest graphics technology, which would price a PS4 above $300. Same goes for Microsoft except Microsoft needs to learn how to make a console without it having such a high failure rate. |
I don't think Nintendo releasing an upgrade to the Wii, the fabled "Wii HD," would necessarily be an attempt to snag up owners of PS3 and Xbox360. A lot of us with those things already have them. The new Wii will likely be necessary to naturally move forward. While the Wii is gradually losing sales, but still doing pretty damn well all things considered, the Xbox360 and PS3 have had increasing sales. Neither Microsoft nor Sony will be doing anything like introducing next-gen machines for at least a year or two. Their sales are still going strong, 3rd party support is still strong as hell, and Kinect and Move will no doubt add at least another year or two of life to the machines--which is the goal.
But, Move and Kinect will both force Nintendo to move forward. Move is the Wiimote with Wii Motion Plus already built in, after all. Nintendo is going to want to differentiate and move forward. They'll want to maintain the momentum of the Wii, and they'll want to keep competitive.
This, by the way, is in addition to my theory that the new Wii is coming because Nintendo will have to naturally move forward to maintain technically competitive with their own 3DS.
A new Wii wouldn't just be HD for the sake of HD. It'll no doubt be technically powerful--probably even a step up from the Xbox360 and Playstation 3, jusgt not massive leaps forward--more like an incremental move like the GameCube to the Wii. But the new Wii would give Nintendo the chance to right all the wrongs of the Wii--better online, no more friend codes, curry the favor of 3rd party companies, truly appeal to both gamers and casuals, incorporate some kind of achievement/trophy system (which I sincerely hope and think might make it's first appearance in the 3DS, and I can elaborate on why I believe this to be true if you like), among other things. Let's not forget, the next Wii will not simply be a "Wii HD." Something big is going to change. I'm willing to bet, the next Nintendo console will not control like the Wii--it'll be different, but likely backwards-compatible (and with the popularity of the Wii, not being backwards-compatible will be a huge mistake).
