That's right kid, this conceptual artist envisions the Wii 2

The Wii 2
Or possibly the Wii 1.5

Console Releases: Nintendo Entertainment System (1985), Game Boy (1989), Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1991), Nintendo 64 (1996), Nintendo Gamecube (2001), Nintendo Ds/Lite/DSi (2004-2008), Wii (2006)
Sales since launch: NES: 61 million, Game Boy Family: approximately 200 million, SNES: 49 million, N64: 32 million, NGC: 21 million, DS Family: 77 million, Wii: 34 million
Predicted next move: 2010

Ah Nintendo, the little games company that took off over the fence and hasn’t looked back since. To say that Nintendo’s recent success is surprising would be a massive understatement. The have managed to tap into an audience that Microsoft and Sony can only dream of trying to reach – it really is quite amazing.

Of all the big players, Nintendo is in the enviable position of not actually needing to worry about releasing a new console – after all, when you’re selling Wiis faster than stores can stock them, why bother spending more money on another console? Having said that, we believe, given Nintendo’s past hardware release trends, that a Wii 2 (or 1.5) may come sooner than expected.

Nintendo has shown that it’s not afraid to tweak existing products – just look at all the Gameboy and DS iterations. This approach sees small innovations added to existing hardware. It’s entirely possible that the Wii will receive similar treatment, particularly given that it falls somewhat behind the 360 and PS3 in terms of HD compatibility.

The Wii 2 will undoubtedly include DVD support, higher resolutions and more memory. Possibly a camera, microphone (although the recent Animal Crossing game introduces chat already) and much better online integration. So really, we’re expecting a Wii upgrade rather than a fully fledged console.

However, and this is the kicker, Nintendo are never entirely predictable. When they revealed the Wii, most people thought it was doomed to fail. In many people’s eyes it has, but it certainly hasn’t from a financial perspective. Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata has been quoted thus when asked about Nintendo’s next console (taken from several interviews): “We are always preparing for the next hardware. We are under development…

But the hardware is a kind of box that consumers reluctantly buy in order to play our games… Every hardware needs some revolutionary features. This time around, it happened to be we had a revolutionary user interface. Will it be the same for the next generation? I really can't tell… It's natural for the current customer to expect Nintendo is going to once again do something different. If the people are expecting so many different things from Nintendo, it's going to be difficult for us to go beyond that expectation again."

So a Wii 2 is definitely in production, Nintendo aren’t sure if they want to/need to surprise people anymore (rolling in money will do that to you) and…they’ll probably just release an upgraded Wii like we’re all expecting them to.

The question Nintendo need to answer is will the so-called casual gamers actually be interested in an upgraded version of the Wii? After all, old people and families are hardly going to care that much about HD resolutions and DVD playback – they just want to use this Wii Fit thing everyone’s talking about on Today Tonight. It really then becomes a case of trying to claw back the loyal gamers, many of whom now believe Nintendo has abandoned them in search of, well, profit.

Nintendo can continue to sell bucketloads of consoles, as well as concentrate on their handheld output, and still be in a very comfortable position. We think that they will upgrade the Wii, possibly even release another console sometime down the track. But for now their focus is on riding this current wave of success – and really, who can blame them?

http://www.gameplayer.com.au/gp_documents/060109Wii2.aspx?Page=1

No chance, and there's got to be a rule against creating so many topics in an X amount of time (considering alot of them are rumours, especially ones that show little credibility like this one).

Fact of the matter is, the consoles only been out for about 2 years now, and it's not slowing in momentum AND Nintendo has never updated a console for the sake of it, only when there was something "wrong" with it (Gameboy fat became gameboy pocket, DS phat became DS lite, Gameboy pocket became gameboy colour).

Also, the "We are always preparing for the next hardware" can be said about Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo at EVERY MOMENT IN TIME since they first joined the console gaming market.

These guys got confused halfway through

If it has a dvd player + mic + camera but keeps everything else the same it is not a Wii 2, no more than the DSlite, DSi, PS2slim, PSP2000/3000 were new consoles

If it supports HD cables but is as powerful as the Wii it is pointless, this will not happen

If it is an 8th generation console, expect it November 2011 or sometime in 2012, not next year

You are the copy-paste king!

Yeah this topic is utter nonsense. The Wii is about to surpass 50% marketshare. Nintendo consoles have a minimum life span of 5 years. However the more successful their hardware is, the more hesitant Nintendo is to replace it. I wouldn't count on seeing a "Wii2" before 2012 and even after its release the original Wii will be around for quite some time.

Highly unlikely. Unless something totally unforseeable happens in the next two years there is no way  Nintendo will release another console in 2010.  If they did, it would be about the dumbest thing they've ever done. I mean why would they with the sales they are currently enjoying? Even if sales did slow dramatically they are still going to have an install base of 70+ million people to sell software to. Furthermore they can't release a Wii 1.5, they would be dividing their install base and limiting potential software sales.

The only thing i see likely is that an updated model is released with more internal memory than 512 MB, but it this would be such a minor upgrade that it would not even qualify as Wii 1.1, they could probably just do it without announcing.

The problem is the existing Wii owners will be pissed, especially since there currently is no way to transfer your Wii Shop purchases to a new console.

This is also something Nintendo will definitely have to figure out for the Wii 2 when it eventually is released (no earlier than 2012). I for one will be extremely pissed if I can't take my WiiWare and VC games with me to the next system.

*laughs*

This is why conceptual artists get a bad name.

2010 would be way too early for them to release another console unless the Wii starts getting those negative sales that some are predicting pretty darned soon. 2012 would be the earliest I believe.

@ Darc - you're right, according to this article Ninty's consoels will have the following properties

sales # years till predecessor came out
21 5
33 5
49 5
61 6
150+ 4

Not likely