If the's any new platform it'll be a DS successor imo as with 125m units sold and the library it's obtained I wouldn't be surprised if they feel it's reached it's potential, it would also make sense for a new handheld to coincide with the rumoured new generation of Pokemon on the way. The will be no Wii Hd as that's not very cost efficient neither is increasing flash memory when they have an update to stream of SDHC cards, my guess is that the Wii's successor won't have a chance of showing up until 2012 earliest.

You said yourself why they wont upgrade. The 360 has significatly less value then the Wii. More people go out and buy Wiis and Wii games. In fact, the Wii makes up almost 50% of the total global market space. And it's weaker then its rival's systems. There is no reason to upgrade the Wii or the DS as they still dominate the sales charts and have a lot of room to grow.

Well, a reasonable person would think:

1) Either this is true and companies aren't announcing anymore games for the Wii because there is a new console/upgrade coming up.

2) Developers think the Wii is not worth the effort and don't plan on supporting it anymore.


I really want to think it's Nº 1, but Nº 2 is also possible, since we haven't been getting announcements for a long time now and the HD games just keep on getting announced every day. I think 3rd party devs already gave up on the Wii, they will just have an ocasional game here and there, or a bunch of casual games like they had in the past. Seriously, I made a thread about this about 2 weeks ago ( http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=98087 ), and 3rd party devs have almost nothing coming up for the Wii, the bulk of the games we are getting in the USA this year are games that took a long time to get localized and we are just now seeing them. Those same companies have about nothing else planned for the Wii.

The above gives this rumor strength, because considering there's almost nothing left coming up from 3rd parties, one could think all the games they were making for Nintendo's console were for this rumored one. Of course if the rumored one is a handheld one, then it will mean the Wii is not a console 3rd party devs see as viable to develop anymore.

I wouldn't get my hopes up too much, its probably just an upgrade to the Wii with WM+ or something integrated.

How does 1 or 2 matter? The desision to make a new system comes from Nitnendo, not third parties. Anything they think doesn't matter; Nintendo will truck along with or without them. The paragraph you wrote does not give the rumor strength because key software and desisions come from Nintendo alone. Nintendo is not out to help anyone else but themselves and if it looks like they are it's a mutual benefit.

Now, third parties have a reason for saying these things, but whether or not the rumor is true depends entirerly on Nintendo, their strategy, and where they stand in the market place. As their strategy is based on sustainability and expansion and their possition in the market place is the best, they have no reason to consider a new system.

There'd be no merit to them releasing a Wii+ with upgraded graphics alone at this point. Who would they sell it to? It wouldn't augment the Wii's software library at all, so the "hardcore" wouldn't budge, and it would just increase the price. It's a no-gain proposition.

You know what I think would be fun? If GDC comes and goes and Nintendo doesn't announce a new handheld or console.

Your post does not make a lot of sense. First the DS still has a lot of potential left. It just sold over 3 million units in December in the US at its current price point. Secondly, it's better to introduce a new Pokemon Gen to the current owners of the Hardware. This will allow the Pokemon company feedback as to whether or not gamers enjoyed the changes or not, it's less risky. Thirdly, the DSi XL has not been released in the west and wouldl actually boost the sales of the DS. A new model would mean developers and publishers would need to develop new software and more importantly it would be harder for Nintendo to sell the new hardware to consumers because the DS has been so successful that many people would not be willing to upgrade so soon.

Why would Nintendo announce a new hardware up grade at the GDC. They could announce new hardware at any point they wish. The DS was not announced at the GDC nor was the Wii. Why would they do it now? Why would Ubisoft be included in this mix? This all points to BS being perpetuated on the internet just for giggles.

Lol, win comment of the thread! xD

The Wii has had weak support from early on, nothing's changed regarding developer support. Apart possibly from the publishers that have been having great results on Wii (Sega, Capcom, THQ etc.) it's unlikely we're going to see any increase in Wii support. This is completely independant from the existence or nonexistence of a new Nintendo home console (which would be a dumb move for many reasons).