That's a pretty stupid statement considering that the last two gens it was Sony who had the mega-weak console and Nintendo who had the powerful one.

It depends on what you mean by "should".

Looking at the next Wii in an historical context I would say the Wii-2 will be to the Wii like the SNES was to the NES and the GC was to the N64. Nintendo has a history of innovating and consolidating and right now I believe this is the the strongest indicator of what they will do in the future. The question then is, what does this mean?

1. Graphics will be two to four times more powerful.

2. Processing power will be about three or five times more powerful.

3. Probably one or two more inputs (maybe buttons) on the main controller.

4. It will be backwards compatible to the Wii and maybe to the GC.

The pointing resolution/accuracy and motion control sensing will be improved 50%-80%. The infrared will work in more brightly lit situations. Connectivity will be simplified.

For the form factor I would expect it to be the same size or smaller. It will be easily distinguishable from the current Wii, although that can be partially accomplished through simply making it in a different color.

Incidental features like playing HD-DVD will not be included. There will not be a game bundled with the launch system. Knowing Nintendo, they'll do something totally different.

Stronger hardware, and a much more accurate controller.

Are we brainstorming a possible remake of the Wii (ala DS Lite and PS2 slim), or a completely new console? I'll just do both then. =P

A Wii Lite would probably include more flash memory, better wiimote speakers, and maybe some improvements to the general ergonomics/looks of the thing. It shouldn't include any features that would make the games play for the new version unplayable, or significantly reduced in quality, on the old.

An obvious improvement would be a more sensible sensor bar (har har). Detached ones that run on batteries for 6 months, rechargable ones that need to be plugged in every 10 hours, fluorescent stickers that have to be replaced every few months etc. Almost anything would be better than having one more wire hanging around.

Oh, and I would also really, really, REALLY appreciate being able to use the internal memory for GC game saves. Apparently the problem is how the GC hardware in the Wii are so authentic that they are utterly unable to interact with the Wii hardware. This shouldn't be too hard to do, and they could just bite the bullet bill and include a 20MB memory card in every console. This is 2007 and I still have to mess around with memory card! Feels as archaic as having to tweak autoexec.bat and config.sys to get PC games to run. -__-*

(this would also probably be the only new feature that would make buying the new version worth it without pissing off a lot of people)

Nintendo's next entirely new console will definitely be more powerful than the current HD consoles IMO. Probably output HD as well, unless something truly unpredictable happens to the HD market. I remember some suits pretty high up in Nintendo say they would definitely adopt it by the time it becomes the standard, which is probaby just in time for next gen.

Doing a higher resolution would, taking into account the gradual but slow increase in game size, probably justify a larger disc format. This could be Blu-ray if it becomes financially plausible to include in a gaming machine during the next five years (not at all certain), but could also be some 20ish GB gaming-only format to avoid licensing fees. I've also played around with the idea of using flash cartridges due to their rapidly decreasing cost, but my technologically savier friends tell me that's just stupid. =P

I honestly have no idea what kind of a controller it would use. I would probably be a bit disappointed if they did the exact same wiimote+nunchuck thing, but might well be that none of us would want anything else when the time comes. 3rd party developers haven't really even started exploring the different things the wiimote can do, and the options for the expansion port (the one the nunchuck wire goes in) are downright limitless.

It will have around 140% of the PS3's power (except Blu-Ray), all in a sleek 45nm fabrication process. Also, the console will be pretty small and stylish, available in two colors, black and white, will have rechargable batteries included on every controller, and somehow, it will have something like the PS camera in-pack. All for around $250 bucks.

If they continue to zig while MS and Sony zag, the Wii2 will be a powerful beast of a machine that blows the next gen cheapened versions of the xbox and PS out of the water graphically, it will function as a home media server and use holographic disks, and cost around $800 to buy and $1000 to produce. Also, the WiiMote2 will double as a Nintendo version iPhone, and an M rated Mario FPS will be a launch title.

ITS GOING TO HAVE BETTER GRAPHICS AND SAME CONTROLS WITH "here's the big one..........A DVD PLAYER!!!!!!

NAh, who needs DVD playing on their consoles if everyone already has one dedicated player? 

PS: Your avatars kick butt kn! Where do you get them? 

It would need two tv's, one ontop of the other, to play.

Nah, It will have shinny graphics, and add something new to the Wiimote.

I would like to say something to all you Nintendo fans that are thinking the next wii will have more power then 360/ps3 have are very misinformed. The current wii is still not as powerful as the oringinal xbox in serveral locations as shaders and lighting. The next wii may come close to this gens consoles but it will not pass them in overall technology.

HappySqurriel: "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.."

This is by far the most insane thing i have ever heard, the fact that you think this is how wii2 will be is very disturbing, you have just showed that you have a very low understanding of anything that the PS3 or 360 are able to do, and showed how crazy some fanboys are.