Speculation around the internet is not worth much, no offense. Lots of people talk about lots of things on the internet and most of it is wishful thinking.  By the sheer number of ideas that are being thrown out by the masses some are going to hit, but most are going to completely miss.

But from an economic standpoint for the Wii and its relationship with 3rd party devs (which it needs if they want to break any records), this is just not feasible. The only way it could be done is if the new games for WiiHD would also play just fine on Wii.  Otherwise you have now created two platforms for developers to work on and split your install base and isolated potential customers.  Its just bad business, you don't nullify customers, you don't piss off your partners, and you don't make large changes to a hot selling item because it sends the wrong message. And the only other option (forward compatability) is not only impractical but any changes made would be negligible for the cost of development, not to mention the risk of angering customers.

You just don't make this kind of a change to a hot selling item, its ludicrous!

But stranger things have happened

italic = Onna76

non-italic = me as usual

Some of the posts here really making me laugh.

You are welcome I am always happy to bring a good laugh.

Like graphical updated WII version would destroy Nintendo. Patcher thinks the very same way about that as I do.First of all economical for Nintendo it wasn't simply wise to create a console now with the real next gen graphics, HD support, bigger hardware as Nintendo was already selling louzy when it came to consoles. Not to imagine a normal gamepad and yes.. Nintendo was basically dead on console gaming.

Can you please explain how  it should be econimical to abandon a usebase around 35-40 millions were atleast half of that will have bought their consol for 250 USD and many will have bought their consol in 2008 or 2009. Wouldn't you as a consumer feel that it would be unwise to go for Nintendos next consol if they abandon Wii as early as 2008 or 2009? The first time you stated this shorter lifespann theory you stated 2-3 years of lifespann. Two years of lifespann would mean that 20 million+ users would find that their investment of 250 USD to be worthless. Wouldn't you be pissed of?

The cheaper hardware, therefore cheaper price tag and the controls has made the resurrection of Nintendo console gaming. Nintendo even admitted themselves that creating the WII was an amazing risk and only thanks to the high price tags of the 360 and PS3 plus the innovation of the WII controls, the WII is selling so much. Now when it's going economically better for Nintendo I don't see why we won't see a "WII" or any other kind of Nintendo console with HD support in a few years.

And "even" Nintendo itself has said that HD support in the nearby feature might be an option, since many people are taking a step to HD Ready or even full HD televisions. So not only am I and a few others who agree with me idiots, but even more Nintendo is an idiot then.

http://www.t3.co.uk/news/247/games/gamecube/hd_wii_on_hold

That link is saying that Nintendo isn't going too release a HD Wii so I don't see the point. 

Besides... a lot of people around here seem to forget the GBA Micro, GBA SP and "even" the DS Lite, which came nearly a half year after the normal DS.

This would be an good example IF AND ONLY IF they changed anything to the CPU/GPU/RAM. It is still the same consol with a better design.

Look the biggest problem with releasing a Wii HD in 2008/2009 is that Wii SD (that one that excist today) won't be able to play the games that is made for the Wii HD. This will either:

1. Piss of the consumer that have purchased the Wii, who wont buy a new Nintendo consol 
2. Piss of the 3rd party dev that have in 2007/8 actualy start delivering games.

Why would anybody in their right mind do anything like that?

You stated it above the main reason why nintendo is selling:

1. Price
2. Different

Why give up those points? A new HD consol will must probarbly at least cost 250-300 USD in 2009 (in 2008 most probarbly 300-400 USD). Sure the Wii HD will get the horsepower of the PS3 and the xbox360 but why start that war when they now doesn't need it?

I can as jlauro see  new colors, DVD playback, more storage and so on but nothing that changes the main components.

Actualy if NDS still sells 100k+ a week in Japan during 2008 and around the same in USA and others  I don't see them to release any new portable in 2009.

I don't think the Wii "wins" this generation -- even if it surpasses by a large number the 360 and PS3. For the most part, people are buying the Wii vs. the 360/PS3 for entirely different purposes. Frankly put, the Wii is winning their own generation. I have a 360 and a Wii and I don't see them competing all that much. The graphics on some of the 360 games are off the hook and the Wii can't touch it. On the other hand, the 360 can't touch the Wii when it comes to the intuitive nature of the Wiimote.

Nintendo has succeeded beyond even their wildest dreams and had they known it would have been this successful, I think they would have spent a bit more on the CPU/GPU to get it closer to the 360's specs. I would be amazed if a second generation Wii isn't already in development. They could ride out the current Wii through holidays 2008 and in holidays 2009 bring out a new Wii that has much more powerful graphics hardware and is 100% backward compatible.

However, for all the kn's out there who WILL buy two consoles, there are just as many or more that WON'T buy two consoles. If any of these pick up a wii, that is lost game sales revenue to PS3 and X360.

And even if people do pick up both, when it comes to picking up Madden 09, will they say "Hey, I already have an XBox version of Madden... Maybe I should see what the Wii's is like this year?" Then, we have a scenario where a consumer [who was going to purchase a Madden game] decides to go on a different platform than the one Microsoft wants them to. This will split one of MS's software revenue streams, which is what they are counting on to pull them out of the losses they've made in the industry so far. {this was only an example, replace any of the companies above with another company and the argument remains valid}.

With the X360 and PS3 games costing a *lot* to make, and pretty much needing to go multiplatform to remain viable at this point (at least staggered multiplatform) the choices of where consumers choose to put their gaming dollars means more and more to Sony and MS (well, maybe not as much to MS because they have Halo and charge for its online multiplayer...)

In any case, to THEM the wii is most certainly competing with them in that it is eating into their revenue streams. And revenue streams are what companies care about, not performance or sales numbers (except as they relate to said revenue streams... what I am saying that if a company sells 200k units and makes 3 million in profit, thy won't care if they could have sold 1 million units and made 3 million in profit)

 no!

we can't compare wii and "pc like consoles".

wii "must" have only one hardware (plus a mere redesign or more) because is a CONSOLE.

x360 and ps3 can have more version because they are after apple.

they packaged in the best way pc hardware and make a "proprietary interface". 

x360 focused on online,ps3 focused on entertaitment.

 they are "pc like devices".

so it's different.

it's like ds and psp:

ds is A console: it's designed from the scratch to play games

psp is ALSO a console: it's designed from the scratch to play music + video +UMD movies + apps + games(maybe...)...

being an old trained gamer...i prefer a console...

being an old nintendian i prefer nintendo of course...

but really honestly i can't name x360 and ps3 "consoles" they are "also consoles among other things they do"...

After some time away from this thread I released that the only thing I really want an answer to is the following:

Those of you that belives strongly in in that Nintendo will give Wii a lifespann of 2-3 years (Onna76, konnicha I am looking at you) (Ending in 2008 or 2009), in what way is that a good economical move for Nintendo?

 I didn't say 1:1, I said perfection.

Look at baseball in Wii Sports and how you hold the bat. It demonstrates that the gyro does indeed know what position you're holding the Wiimote in at all times (1:1, if you will). It also shows that it's sluggish and sometimes inaccurateor confused. Then look at Wii golf, which sometimes can't tell the difference between a backswing and a foreswing. The IR pointer can also sometimes get confused by reflective surfaces and other heat sources.

I have no doubt that some issues can be resolved with better software, but I think one more generation of refinement in hardware and firmware would be a dramatic improvement in player control.

I would tend to disagree with this argument.  By and large, I don't think a *potential* 360 purchaser will purchase a Wii and vice versa.  They are just that different.  Maybe some small percentage of people will make a mistake and buy a Wii or 360/PS3 and find that it didn't work for them but I don't believe they are competing that much for the same set of dollars.  Nintendo has appealed to two crowds: Nintendo faithful and casual gamers.  I don't think either of those two camps were about to jump on a Ps3 or 360 any time soon.  Just my opinion, of course, and it could be wrong.  On the software side of things I can see, to some degree, some competition.  I bought Madden 08 for my Wii instead of 360.  Can you believe that?  Yes, because it has a "family friendly" mode.  I would not have bought it for the 360 -- period so at least in my case MS didn't "lose" anything in this scenario though I can see where it might be possible to lose a few. 

 I don't care about crow eating I just hate when people argument from a non industriel stand point.