It doesn't need new hardware, the Wii is still selling well and outsold the 360 last week worldwide.

It doesn't need new games, this year alone we're still to see Donkey Kong, Epic Mickey, Sonic Colours, Mario Collection, Call of Duty: Black Ops and this year we've had Metroid, Goldeneye, Mario Galaxy 2, Just Dance 2, Wii Party and a host of other gems. What's more, Nintendo is the best selling games publisher every week.

It's down to price, the Wii hardware has never had a price cut, simple. An XBOX360 S costs just £189.99 over here, just £10 more than a Wii. Both XBOX and PS3 have slashed their prices to become more competitive, the Wii has always been the same price.

It's time Nintendo cut the price, just taking it down to £149.99 would probably do it.

Uhm, the Wii had a 20% price reduction last fall, remember? It was 250$ a launch and the new bundles add twice as much value at 200$. 200$ is pretty much mass market price, a lot of people seem to think that since the Wii has had only one price cut it has tons of leverage available if they cut it further. Thing is; lower entry price = less leverage for and with price cuts in the future.

As I said, it is already at mass market price since last fall.

Cool, I was just quoting the prices here in the UK. Over here we haven't had a price cut yet, I know they've added WSR to the bundle, but I still think when you can get the 360 4gb for £149.99 the Wii at £179.99 is not as competitive as it used to be. New colours should do fine then :)

Dropping price to $150 AND also offering bundles with Balance Board priced within $220. Move's competition is the least dangerous, as Sony deliberately chose to target it at an audience little overlapping with Wii, and anyhow WM Plus or WiiMote Plus compete well with Move, if needed, but judging from what Nintendo is most heavily advertising now, it's obvious that what it fears most is that Kinect could "steal" a share of Balance Board and party games gamers. Bundling Balance Board would minimize the games genres and subgenres that aren't catered for in the best way by a Wii system out of the box, while Wii would have the advantage in  every motion control games where more complete navigation and buttons controls are needed, and where balance is more important that movement (ski, snowboard, surf, windsurf, yoga, etc). For party games, well, doing them better and making people know is the right way to counter-attack. Extending Wii's life at least until Q3 2012 is of the essence, only then a new console more powerful than current ones, offering 3D HD and a complete set of motion controls, both hands-free or with controllers, depending on what's best for each game or for gamers' tastes, will be able to be priced within $300 while being profitable since launch too. And Wii is very profitable, BTW, so extending its life makes sense anyway. Not to mention that the more Wii sells, the more new gamers can become fans of Nintendo's franchises, increasing a faithful userbase that was already a life insurance for Ninty even in its darkest times.

Yeah, the price in Europe are fluxuating a lot more and there can be variations for certain countries (such as here in Norway where consumer electronics are typically really expensive). There's also the myriad of currencies to adjust to! As it stands, the Wii costs more here than a 360 Elite bundle right now and this has been going on for a while.

If anything will help push Wii hardware this year, it will be a red Wii in Japan and Americas, I don't think the EMEAA market is as strong as it used to be for Nintendo, software sales would suggest the same in some instances (Wii party did a lot better in Japan for instance, despite Japan being a considerably smaller market), Donkey Kong will also help out along the way. But the next true system seller for the Wii will be "Skyward Sword", I think.

Maybe, but I don't think too much.

I think Nintendo (and Microsoft and Sony) are just facing the reality that this generation is coming close to the end. Between the three manufacturers we have sold about 90% as many consoles this generation as were sold in the previous generation, and early in 2011 we will have sold more systems in this generation than the previous generation. While there are (probably) more people who have bought multiple systems, and there will have been some people who were "pulled into" the console market, we're rapidly approaching a point where everyone who is willing to spend more than $100/$150 on a console will own every console that they want to own. The only thing that can really change this is if there is a major reason introduced to buy a system that people don't own; but I have seen nothing on the horizon for any console manufacturer which would (truly) qualify for that.

Unless something drastic changes, I would expect hardware sales to decline across the board until the next generation of systems starts to be released.

Which manufacturer do you think will go first with the new console details? I would be thinking Microsoft, they only seem to have Gears 3 for next year and obviously are heavily reliant on Kinect this Christmas.

I know Wii has Zelda and Mario Sports Mix next year, but it also has a lot more big franchises like Starfox, F-Zero and Pikmin which are yet to make an appearance so I think Nintendo could last 2011 out quite easily, and very easily with a price cut.

Sony have Killzone 3, a new Uncharted, Resistance 3 and The Last Guardian which is a strong line up.

Pretty much what I've been saying all along; this generation will be a lot shorter than most people expected. All three manufacturers have equal incentive to be first and once one of them releases a new console, the others cannot afford to be left behind. 2012 will be the start of the next generation, this is pretty much in line with the two previous ones and I see no reason why this one would be ten years as some seem to think ("ten year plan" talk rewiring the brain? ).

Moving DLG and DLC will be something all console makers will need to grapple with, but none more than Nintendo which right now does not have a method to transfer items between Wiis as people move to replace older units.

My guess is a price drop of between $20 and $50 (USD) in April-May (perhaps announced at E3 -- especially if it is large). A new console for holiday 2012.

Hopefully NOE will work to correct the pricing issues that NOA and NCL do not seem to have.

Mike from Morgantown