The Wii could may very well have been a system to simply probe the market to see if that kind of configuration would be a success. I know that Miyamoto was prepared for bad sales of the wii in America which is obviously not the case, so they may have used limated hardware so as not to loose money if it failed. But considering the Wiis success they may indeed release a new version or hardware updates.

If the 360 drops to 199/299 before christmas then there is no way the ps3 will ever catch it-unless the ps3 also drops to that same price point.


the wii is interesting, it breaks the "more power" tradition from console to console- being equivulant in power to the ps2/xbox of last generation, yet it's innovation and price point= massive sales.

i DO forsee in the future -around 2010range- the HD version of the Wii -at 250....

Yeah hope so, with better graphics and HD support so that everyone else who're nagging about that, will stop yapping once and for all. I'm getting sick and tired of these kind of predictions. These messages are popping up ever since the WII was released, how long are those stupid annalists planning to predict their so called future? Glad I'm no analist, sounds like a real dull and boring job to me... jeez...

Pachter? He's terrible, I don't think he can predict when his next pay check is coming. He still thinks the PS3 is going to overtake the Wii once it hits $199. The PS2 right now is still $129.99 after 7 years. When is the PS3 going to hit $199? In 12 years?

I can't see them putting out an HD version of the Wii in 2009 or before you'd essentially betray the market that bought your system and expected 5 years from it in 2010-11 I can see talks of a new Wii but not before then. If you replace your console before its time your going to create doubt in the market in the longevity of your next system. Also $199 that's a 67% decrease in price that's pretty high for a console that isn't winning at that point the Xbox cost $150 right now that's 50% its orginal price the 100 that's 50% and the PS2 cost $130 that's 57%. If you use 67% on all the consoles by 2009 if that is the year he assumes the PS3 will catch the Xbox360 you have a 360 cost of $130 for the premium and $80 dollars for the Wii. Just see a bit of a problem with that considering the past of consoles price cuts.

Ninty won't release an HD version of the Wii as long as its on top, it would make no sense and if Wii is going to be on top until 2011, then they'll release a Wii 2 in 2011

 But why in a couple of years, that makes no sense whatsoever, why split your market?

 Do you have any proof the Wii has no more room to grow? You don't. I'm not saying the Wii can't fall. I'm just pointing out your argument that it will fall is lousy.

 Its his dream

I see Wacky Packy is at again.  This guy thinks that the Xbox 360 is going to beat the Wii in 2008.  Riiiggghhttt.  He also thought World of Warcraft would be a failure.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has told GamesIndustry.biz that he believes a higher spec, HD-enabled "Wii 2" could be on the shelves "in a couple of years".

"A couple" means two.  A new console coming out from Nintendo in two years is absurd. Nintendo can go for five years with the Wii if they want to.  When the 360 is $200 the Wii will be $100.  I think they might want to release a system as powerful as the 360 for the same price at that time since HDTVs will be more common and they'll have a lot of hardcore gamers who want good graphics and the casual gamer market probably won't mind paying a little more money for a new system with new games.  If the 360 and PS3 really do want to last ten years like Sony says then Nintendo should have their work cut out for them.

"I think that a lot of people consider the Wii a "fad", and attribute that conclusion to the type of people who have been attracted to the Wii so far," Pachter said, observing that many publishers "don't know what to do with" the new demographics of female and older gamers.

"Sega, of course, has games like Sonic that resonate well with this audience, so I'm not singling them out as having an issue, but it appears to me that these non-traditional consumers baffle most of the publishers," he continued.

*facepalm*

Sonic is a game appealing to female and older gamers?  Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, definitely, but Sonic?  Wow.

But Pachter did agree with Steinberg that the PS3 "will ultimately come out on top". Victory, he predicted, will be the result of a console price cut to USD 199 and the success of Blu-ray.

Price point is key, said Pachter - observing that 80 per cent of all Xboxes sold in the US were purchased for USD 199 or less, with the figure approximately the same for PlayStation 2.

First of all, the  Xbox launched in November 15, 2001 then it dropped it's price by $100 to $200 on May 15, 2002.  Could that possibly be the reason it sold 80% at that price?  As for the PS3 being $200.  It's been almost seven years and the PS2 has only dropped its price by $170.  He's predicting a system that costs $800 to make to be $200 in a few years?  If the PS3 is that cheap then blu-ray players aren't going to cost much at all.  The Xbox played DVDs and that didn't help it any.  Most people would rather get a cheap stand-alone player rather than buy a system with less games than the other systems.  Oh, and if he's right about the "Wii 2" it could be released with Blu-ray support for $200, unless I'm wrong and Sony won't allow them to use the Blu-ray format. I don't know if they can do that.  I also don't see how the PS3 can maintain a game library that's better than the other two systems until it's $200.  It has the least amount of games being released now, it doesn't have squat this year, and it's losing 3rd party support to the other systems.  Does he magically expect the PS3 to develop a huge library of games if it hasn't sold nearly as well as the other systems?  That would be like the PSP suddenly getting a huge amount of 3rd party support now, and the PSP is way more successful than the PS3.