In the absence of drastic change people tend to favour what they know and what is familiar ... If all three console makers released consoles that are like the Wii or PS3/XBox 360 but included enhanced graphics, with how this generation has gone, Nintendo would have a massive advantage in the next generation.

With that said it is quite difficult to predict what console manufacturers will do in the comming generation. A company could revisit virtual reality by taking advantage of low cost high quality LCD screens for a head-set, or by using stereoscopic shutterscreen glasses and head-tracking to see if people are interested in that yet; or a company might work expanding their online system so that it becomes more accessable and a more integrated part of the console.

Refine the controls to get better one-to-one motion, and add a camera to the senor bar.

Or maybe revive the Virtual Boy!

Head tracking might be a possibility for some games, but it's not a control scheme... It's just a small feature to be combined with a control scheme.

I don't think people will want to use virtual-reality systems until graphics are photo-realistic. If you want to convince someone to wear some glasses, you better give them the experience of their life or they'll just ignore it. It's not worth the trouble.

1. Call it wii 2 or wii something so that the name remains familiar
2. stick to the motion controls
3. release it at a dirt cheap price
4. release party games and wii fit 2
5. use family-friendly adverts
6. release mario, zelda, metroid, smash bros, pokemon, pikimin and fire emblem to keep the nintendocore

Its that simple really except M$ uses some drastic measures to sieze the NA market from them since it's pretty close this gen. They don't really have to worry much about Sony because Sony Ps3 would definitely still be around when the next nintendo console arrives except sony wants to lose more billions.

I was mostly just throwing out ideas there ...

I personally don't believe that virtual reality can catch on in the near future because I think it (like the focus on online gaming) is at odds with how most people choose to play their games. In general, most people favour local multiplayer over online multiplayer or single player games ... if you develop a system where local multiplayer is not a strength there are a lot of people who would aviod your system.

Call it "Wii 2"

I don't see how that would even remotely cater to the masses. Do people want to have a virtual reality helmet on while they play? Wouldn't that hinder the interactivity with the people you're playing with?

EDIT: I realize that I might have completely misunderstood your idea of Virtual Reality. Do you want to explain it a little more? Or was your post a joke post..?

I don't know what Nintendo will do, but I think they'll definitely expand on what the motion controls can do. Considering that Sony and Microsoft are most likely going to try this as well, Nintendo knows they need something else up there sleeve. I have no idea what they could be planning.

Uh...I dunno. It will be hard to top motion controls. They might as well go diffirent way and implement, let's say, very complicated voice synthesising device where you can give a sample of your voice and the game will generate voice acting for your character in game. Maybe interacting with game characters directly by using digital camera (like in Eyedentify for PS3, hell know when this game is coming out, if at all), you could talk with them or something.....
Really, it's way too hard to tell what Ninty could do next, they might as well stick with the Wii for next 20 years and do nothing.

More than whatever technical specifications the actual console has, I would be much more interested in figuring out what sort of marketing strategy they would employ. They have done a brilliant job of anticipating what potential consumers might want and providing that. If they just go: ''If you enjoyed wii, get ready for wiii2!'', I don't know if that will have such an impact as to allow them to DOMINATE like they have this generation. I agree with De85 when he states that they will have a much harder time doing that next time around, simply because I highly doubt their competitors will be caught with their pants down again.

A lot of people that appear to know more about this industry than me claim that the games are what matter. As we've already seen, if machine specs were all that mattered, PS3 would have destroyed everyone else this generation, but that has not been the case (at least yet).

You can bet your house that we will see new iterations of well-established franchises again, such as all the Mario, Zelda, and the rest of the usual Nintendo menu. Will we see the succesors to wii sports and wii fit? That's a question I would need a bit more time to think about. Sure, they can add prettier graphics and more events to play for those titles, but if they do their revolution thing again and come up with a completely different control scheme, they may have to rethink some of those ideas. Analog control and rumbling features were succesful and have been implemented by others, so I'm pretty sure motion controls are here to stay as well, at least for Nintendo Platforms from here on.

So it's the games that intrigue me. What will they come up with next? Ok, I'll admit the machine itself and the control system it employs has a direct influence on the games, as things like wii sports or wario ware would not have been possible with a traditional approach.

It's not too early to discuss. It's just not worth the speculation. Historically they're good at staying in the game, that is the best we can say. They do a lot of work and whatever they give us they're gonna have a good offering. None of their main consoles have been without its share of gold, so just keep hoping they live up to history.