Given the wild success of the Wii, Nintendo obviously has to already be thinking about a next generation wii.  Note that "next gen wii" means exactly that -- next generation for the Wii idea, philosophy, etc.  Although clearaly Nintendo has done well there is obviously room for improvement and given the relative lack of HP against MS and Sony their shelf life will probably be shorter.  Here's my pick for a winner wii -- note that it can't be called a Wii 2 as 2 in Japanese is "Ni" -- pronounced "Knee" so your system would be a "Weenie" in Japan.  Not cool.

Improved Wiimote with higher quality accelerometers.  The current Wiimote is cool but it's technology is such that it can't be 1:1 when the remote is swung wildly.  The electronics inside will have to be faster/better/more expensive to be able to keep up with rapid movements in a 1:1.  It would also give the unit higher "in-space" accuracy. 

Also add a controller like the 360 controller as standard.  This gives 3rd partys and Nintendo complete design freedom to make a wii-mote or classicaly controlled game system. 

Obviously a higher resolution graphics card and faster CPU.  Again, it doesn't have to be a freaking powerhouse, but by the time a second gen Wii comes out, current XBOX-level technology or slightly better will be on the cheap. 

I still think DVD9 will be fine for the next 10 years or so which means having a next-gen large capacity system isn't so necessary.  Maybe by then HDDVD or Blueray technology will be cheap enough it won't matter.

Keep it cheap.  They have proven that price matters.

Make the wii sports and wii play titles a "franchise".  Polish it up, make them full games to take advantage of the new controller and include them with the system as a game to really show off the system rather than just be a demo.

I'm up in the air on the hard drive.  I love downloadable content on my Xbox 360, but if the system has great games, that's what matters.

Just some thoughts as I sit here pondering a Wii purchase for my daughter...

It would be a slight smaller then the current Wii, and have no cords except the power adaptor.

Seeing as alot of DVD players etc are being distributed wirelessly to the TV's these days. Only via AV atm, but more-so HDTV in the future.

It'll have the power of two Wiis duct taped together. All kidding aside I'd guess that Nintendo's next console will be less powerful than the Xbox 360 (less memory, slower cpu, but possibly it can make up for that with a decent gpu).  I'd guess it would have 60-75% the power of a 360.

It depends on when it comes out. If it doesn't come out till 2012, then it will be more powerful than any of the current gen systems, will contain a HD drive (likely Blu-Ray at this point), and enhanced motion technology.

By then I would guess MSs next system would be out also. I'm sure it would have more "power" than the new Wii, but it won't be as big a difference as this generation.

As for PS4, no idea when that will be coming. I would doubt it would be before 2014.

Nintendo will probably not be as worried about their next system failing, and I suspect that development cost increases will moderate mainly because most of the techniques needed to create games on Next Generation games are already in use on the PS3 and XBox 360 (obviously, in a more limited fashion)..

Nintendo should be able to (easily) produce a system that is 4 times as powerful as the PS3 or XBox 360 by 2009 using a 45nm process and then spend 2 years reducing the (eventual) manufacturing cost while improving the processing power and eventually release a system 8 times as powerful as either system for $200 to $300 in 2011..

The Wiimote will have matured, become far more ergonomic (they won't need to keep its remote control shape to prevent scaring non-gamers) and will probably have more advanced buttons (analogue trigger/buttons and potentially a couple of assemetric buttons in the place of the B button). The nunchuck will continue to have the existing functionality but Nintendo will also give it screen pointing capabilities.

i doubt they will ever include a normal pad in the box, this would mean lazy developers have no need to push motion sensing which by that time will probably be the norm on the competitors too. The best thing about the Wii is that companies are forced to use motion sensing and while its creating problems now, in time it wil become more of a benefit.

They will stick the the compact size, im sure of that and other than better gfx i dont think they will do much else, bear in mind that the machine will probably be backwards compatible with the Wii, so it will probably still use the remote / nunchuck but with added technology, better gyros, a mic, maybe a speaker in the nunchuck but overall i dont think they are going to change things that much.

Hardware wise i too would expect something below the level of a 360 but with some nice custom chips meaning they can pull off far better graphics without the need for hot CPU/GPU's.

Nintendo are probably the most unpredictable company in the world, so it would not surprise me if i was completely wrond on everything ive said!

I would have to guess that the next console will be a large leap in processing power and graphics and the like, but only so much as could be allowed under a $300 price cap. They won't make a system if it's too expensive to put together and/or sell.

"Wii Too" would be an interesting name, but the last time they used the same name from one console to another was the SNES, so I don't think any of us will be able to guess the name correctly.

That question's rather easy. The Wii2 will definatly be like the current gen consoles now. It will have the processing power of the 360 and Nintendo's fanbase will uoo & ahhh at the graphical look of the next gen Zelda when they really should have experienced that kinda of gamplay in this gen to begin with (6 years later).

They will also bring out some new gimmick to get teh juicys flowing like maybe a pseduo HOME feature with 3D Miis (with obvious limitations) and the Nintendo fanbase will go crazy once again and regard it as the best thing in the industry.

They'll accept, what will then be, the down grade in graphical and general gameplay mechanics as long as Zelda, Mario, Brawl, DQ & Metriod are getting released and Nintendo will bring out a slew of "family friendly" games with the console being half the price of the other compettitors.

Nintendo's fanbase will always be 1 gen behind others cause that's the way they like it. Nothing will be changing much like since day one for Nintendo and it's fanbase.

That's my thoughts on the matter :)

A little bitter are we?

Seriously though, knowing full well that Sony and Microsoft will (probably) rip off Wiimote controls in their Next Generation systems and be able to have dramatic processing power improvements while still keeping hardware costs down do you think Nintendo Will not dramatically increase processing power?

Do you think Nintendo is going to choose hardware that will increase development costs 2 to 4 times when they can choose hardware that will increase development costs 2.5 to 5 times that has far more "Ooooo" value?

We'll see something at least as powerful as the PS3 or comprable because by then it will be more cost effective. I think we'll all see each console plateau around this same level of graphics as they simply can't push developers any further and still maintain a steady stream of games.

PS3 will be the sacrificial lamb of this generation teaching developers how to make games for an over powered console effectively and the Wii will be the sacrificial lamb of this generation teaching developers how to use motion controls effectively.

Threads like this are great for taking in the bitterness of those Sony fans who know all to well they're the dog at the table this generation.