Yeah you can expect bits of information about Nintendo's new console from time to time now that the 3DS's released.

We've heard countless rumors that Wii 2 will support HD, but a new report has further indicated that it will still depend on optical drive as the primary medium for gameplay. If this turns out to be true and Nintendo fails to improve on its download service, the Wii 2 could be seriously disadvantaged considering the trend in online downloads for games. Valve's Steam PC platform has been enjoying huge success in this department, while Sony and Microsoft offer growing libraries of downloadable games through PlayStation Network and Xbox Live, respectively.

In fact, we feel that the PS3 and Xbox 360 have caught up with the Wii in many ways. These include motion-controlled gameplay with the introduction of PlayStation Move and Xbox Kinect, family-centric game titles and better affordability. It doesn't help that the Nintendo console is a far less versatile machine which lacks DVD playback, DLNA support and other advanced functions, too.

http://asia.cnet.com/crave/wii-2-will-still-rely-on-optical-drive-for-games-62114060.htm

Doomed as usual.

WTH is optical media? DVD's?Cd's?

What a terribly worded article. Its perspective comes in with the presumption of so many kinds of inferiority and superiority it beggars the vocabulary of our best gaming scholars.

Also why they ignoring WiiWare and Virtual Console? Ice cold.

they clearly didn't ignore WiiWare or VC: "...fails to improve on its download service...".

they are saying it is significantly behind xbl and psn as a service, and they would be right.

OT - maybe i misread this but i fail to see the correlation between using optical media and a lack of other techs.  i mean, both ps3 and 360 use optical media as its primary means of distribution....

You're ignoring the context here.

"Valve's Steam PC platform has been enjoying huge success in this department, while Sony and Microsoft offer growing libraries of downloadable games through PlayStation Network and Xbox Live, respectively."

This segment, coming after the one you quoted, implies that Nintendo does not offer a growing library of downloadable games. That's part of why it's terribly worded.

Why every journalist article out there today is a copy-paste from other websites?

The original article they linked to on Edge has a pretty interesting interview with a Nintendo rep that...

1. Never mentions anything about a "Wii 2".

2. Denounces the idea that digital download sales on smartphones are effecting DS sales in any way.

3. "“People who talk about the end of physical media don’t share the same daily reality as most consumers.” I liked that part...

So yeah... shit piece from C-NET!

obviously...

lots of places dont have the necessary infrastructure to support this kind of distrobution when games this gen can be up to 50 gb, let alone next gen when textures can get another upgrade

Wait... WHAT!? So they're not going for cartridges?

This might actually be the worst article ever. WTF are they going on about?

How does having optical media somehow prove online will be terrible, Xbox 360 has optical media as its primary form of selling games.

This just shows Wii 2 or whatever will have some physical substance that you insert into a detector or a hole on the Wii 2. It has nothing to do with Nintendo's plans for evolving the online service.