So yes Michael Pachter give up about his Wii HD, but others are already talking about Nintendo's new system for next year:

Analyst expects Wii 2 in 2011


Nintendo’s official unveiling of its brand new 3DS handheld will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of next week’s E3, but could Nintendo be planning a truly unexpected show-stealing surprise?

In his summary document for the LA event, Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian claims:

“We note that Nintendo is widely expected to deliver a Wii refresh in 2011, well before Sony and Microsoft come to market with new platforms, although this is unlikely to represent the launch of a new generation.

“Instead, we expect Microsoft and Sony to leverage their growing online content and services platforms, along with new motion sensing controllers, and to a lesser extent 3D and Internet-enabled televisions, as three pillars for growth over the coming 2-3 years.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/39363/Analyst-expects-Wii-2-in-2011?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+mcvuk/oXMK+%28MCV:+games+industry+news%29

Uh, the hype is killing me. Moar Hype, MOAR!!!!

I honestly think there is a great problem with 3D that everyone is missing -- GLASSES.

Not the ones the 3D displays make you wear. The ones that many of us have to wear to see -- making it impossible to wear (and have work) the 3D glasses.

I bring this up because to show that the pillars listed are built with sand.

Likewise, how different is an Internet-enabled TV to an Internet-enabled console?

And finally, what is the difference between today's motion control and the "waggle" of four years ago?

I think that everyone might be looking for something different sooner rather than later.

Mike fromMorgantown

When he says "refresh" he probably means something ala the PS3 Slim, which we've never really seen Nintendo do. Usually, Nintendo just goes with new colors or price cuts.

I'll agree with this, except his idea that Sony and Microsoft will make their platforms last much longer.

2012 will be the absolute latest for any of them. The myth of extra-long generations is just that.

you said it bro, "here we go again" :/

at least this time the rumors (or the "Analyst expectations") are really close to E3, so they can be proven wrong quickly :)

I have no doubts that Nintendo is probably working on a WiiHD--they'd be foolish not to be working overtime to craft the next iteration.  After all, they played extremely safe with the Wii--it was just a GameCube peripheral given the spotlight, after all.  Proof of this is that Nintendo just "supercharged" the GameCube engine and actually spent very little money actually developing the Wii compared to the engineering behind the GameCube or any other system, originally.  They played it safe, financially.  And if the Wii turned out to be a success, they'd reveal a new system that streamlines everything the Wii does.

After all, according to my personal view of console generations, this generation is supposed to be the "innovative stumbling block" and the next generation is to be the streamlined version of the innovative generation.  Just as the SNES/Genesis streamlined what the previous generation innovated, and the GameCube/Xbox/PS2/Dreamcast streamlined what the 32/64-bit generation innovated.

Everything will be tested here, the motion controls, waggle, interactive rumble whatnots, touch-screens, voice recognition, and 3-D visuals with or without glasses.  Once they know what does and doesn't work, the next generation will streamline those innovations. 

I fully expect Sony and Microsoft to stick with their systems for now, and focus on their expansion efforts with the 3-D and motion crap.  No matter what Nintendo does, it won't threaten Sony or Microsoft more than the Wii and DS do now.  At best, they'll just have a streamlined HD Wii with much more reliable motion controls and graphics on par with the Xbox360 and PS3. 

It costs way too much, financially, to jump to an all-new generation.  The leap to the current generation was financially destructive to many companies due in large part to extremely high costs of game development and very low installed userbases.  In order to actually move to a new generation in a couple years, the industry needs to find a way to transition more smoothly.  For one thing, they won't be able to do another "kill off the old, force in the new" like Nintendo and Microsoft did with the GameCube and Xbox.  That creates too steep a transitional step. 

Well, I expect it too.

NES - SNES - 6 years

SNES - N64 - 5 years

N64 - GC - 5 years

GC - Wii - 5 years

Wii - Wii 2 - why not 5 years?

But why mention the Wii specifically when a rumored X360 Slim is just around the corner? I think he means a hardware upgrade,  a "Wii 2", because else he wouldn't mention MS and Sony's next gen plans at all.

"We note that Nintendo is widely expected to deliver a Wii refresh in 2011, well before Sony and Microsoft come to market with new platforms, although this is unlikely to represent the launch of a new generation."

So what does he mean with the last sentence? I think he means that the general public won't see a Wii 2 as a true start of the next gen because he doesn't expect the Wii 2 to be significantly more powrful than the X360 and PS3, and thus it won't make publishers migrate to a next gen yet.

Are you often into conspiracy theories lol? Why would a Lazard investment guy (or whatever analyst he comes from) try to sell X360s and PS3s?

I fully agree he is downplaying Nintendo like so many others, but I don't know his motivation for it.

I played stereoscopic 3D at GDC using my glasses and it was gorgeous. I was playing DiRT2 without any problems. I don't think you understand how 3D works.