Q4 2012 release at the very earliest; not sure what the problem is considering 3rd party support for the Wii has more or less dried up as far as major releases go.

Does anyone really need to see Super Mario Galaxy 3 on the Wii or another Mario Kart?

Most of Nintendo's major IPs would be better served on their next gen platform, ideally taking advantage of whatever major additions they add beyond the obvious faster CPU/GPU, more RAM/VRAM and the obligatory HD output.

As for anyone who doesn't want to buy another platform, given the success of the Wii and the low production cost, there's no reason why Nintendo can't or won't keep it in production with nominal software support for at least another 3 years as a low cost legacy platform.

Remind me again of the release years of the SNES and the N64, oh, but it has slipped my mind

hoping for a glorious swan song of SS, kirby wii, pikmin 3 and maybe even localizations if ninty throws us a bone. 

It's not the release, but how long before discontinuing. The N64 and GC lasted about 5 years, the SNES/Super Famicom lasted 8 (1990-1998), and the NES about 10.

...

Why? That sounds a bit harsh on a console we don't even know exists

I remain skeptical, but it's far more likely than any other year IMO. And after what Reggie said (in reponse to Wii2- Wait until E3), it seems like now or never

I  don't think a Wii2 is any sign of compitulation on Nintendo's part.  A five year lifespan was always in the cards for Wii from day one.    

That is why Nintendo went without HD.  Five years ago it wasn't relevant enough but Nintendo knew in five years time it would be but by then they'd have another console out. 

Unlike MS and Sony which both experienced immense losses on their consoles at first this gen, Nintendo profitted off the Wii from day one.   MS and Sony are both making money now, but if either one suddenly jumps into the next gen (with another loss leader) then this entire generation, and in fact, their entire video game histories will be for naught because they will have both lost more than they earned.     Both MS & Sony need to milk the current systems for everything their worth for as long as possible.    

Nintendo on the other hand can move ahead, as planned all along, without that consideration, and in fact benefit from being the new 'it' thing for a couple years before 720/PS4 come along.

Also, Nintendo always says they'll bring out a new system once they're out of ideas for Wii.   Well, every major franchise has now been out on Wii, many twice (3d Mario, Metroid, Kirby and Zelda will have their seconds out soon).  Yes, I know, Star Fox and F-zero.... I'm guessing we'll see Star Fox Wii this holiday season (much like Zelda OoT 3DS heralds Zelda:SS so might StarFox 64 3DS.    F-zero has not had impressive sales, and would make a better 3DS than Wii game anyway.  Pikmin is already promised to Wii too but again, not a big seller.

Normally I'd be concerned about the daught before the storm of a new system, but Nintendo has so many games already announced or released in Japan to bring over that they'd have no problem filling the next year with worthwhile games.

For myself, my last console was a Colecovision, and honestly, I doubt I'll upgrade to any system.  I'll probably just be playing Wii games for the next 10 -20 years.  Fortunately Nintendo makes a lot of games with endless replay value.  But I'll miss the Wii support once a new system comes out all the same.  It's always nice to have something new to look forward to.

I was talking about the wii lol, overexxageration a bit i might add xd

I see now, you need to make things clearer in a thread about new, unconfirmed consoles after all...

My honest opinion? Good riddance. Try a bit harder next time, Nintendo.

I think I am allowed to state my opinion, even if some moderator does not like it.

That would be stupid.

The best way to quash the Wii2 for MS and Sony is just to slash price on their current consoles...

Why in heck would Microsoft release a new console when this looks like 2011 is going to be the peak year for the 360 ???

Especially as if you factor digital revenue, revenue has yet to decline for MSFT and Sony this gen and is actually still growing ( most of the declines YoY is due to the Wii and the DS underperforming...)