An employee at Gamestop the other day told me about that the Wii was intended to be Nintendo's last jab at stationary console gaming. Their alleged logic lies in the fact that the Wii was a cheap revisting of the Gamecube not wanting to invest in new expensive graphics development. He furthered the point by explaining how the Virtual Console was suppossed to be part of wrapping up Nintendo's legacy in one console, a full circle of gaming as a final farewell of sorts. While this poses interesting food for thought its credibility is dubious at best.

What do you think? Could the Wii have been Nintendo's last intended stationary console? Will it be Nintendo's last console? What if advances in Bluetooth and Wi-fi lead to a handheld successor which can double as a TV console being the successor to both handhelds and stationary consoles? Crazy I know, but it was thought I felt was worth bouncing off the heads here.

handheld console with motion controls? It would never work.

Sorry, but I don't buy it. Your Gamestop friend bought into the "Nintendo is doomed" talk that was going around before the Wii was released. Many people were saying that the Wii would fail and it would be their last console. They were all wrong.

Nintendo's strategy of two supportive pillars is working great. They are killing the competition in both handhelds and home consoles. I can't see them giving it all up and consolidating their domination of two markets into a single market. They won't be able to print as much money that way ;)

Nintendo will keep making consoles so long as it makes them money. They would have to be stupid to finish off right now. 

Yeah I would say it would take some catastropic to make nintendo not create any more games consoles.

Lol, I don't know if I'd call anyone at Gamestop a friend.

I agree whole heartedly though, just curious to see what everyone's response was though.

I dont think NINTENDO thought it would be their last console, but I sure do believe many skeptics thought that was the case.

It somewhat harkens back to the days of the GC where the two major conflicting theories were: "Sony would buy Nintendo and team up to beat Microsoft" vs "Microsoft would buy Nintendo and team up to beat Sony"

Why would nintendo stop making consoles, they are/have been one of the most profitable companies in Japan, not just game companies, all. There is actually more room for profit in home consoles than portables: controllers, accesories, wires, controller skins, .....

Of course the old story goes Microsoft was going to buy Nintendo but Yamauchi would have none of it

People who say these kinds of things don't understand Nintendo. Same with the people who are saying Nintendo will team up with apple to make games for the iPhone. If you stop and think "what's in it for Nintendo" then it'seasy to see that theserumours are bogus. Nintendo won't be bought, they won't team up, they'll go their own way and they'll be successful, and they'll be around well after Sony and Microsoft have left the business.

Well Nintendo has been in video gaming since the very first Video game Console (Magnavox Odyssey), they'll probably be in it till the end, if there ever will be an end.

Personally, I expect that Nintendo went for such a wild departure from conventional thought with the Wii because they realized that if they stuck with the tried and true formula this would be their last console ...

I could be completely wrong but I believe the DS was released as a third platform because Nintendo did not want to give Sony a 18 month lead like they had with the N64 and Gamecube; when Nintendo started to see that they could compete with Sony by releasing at a similar time and being different the Wii started to become a fleshed out console (rather than an add on).