@tail, exactly my rationale for thinking why they may take a really long time doing so.
Its making money faster than ever and nothing good has been released in like 2 months and another month before even some good 3rd party games come out.

no point spending more money when people are ready to throw money at you.

This is an interesting question.

The reason why the market leader normally waits to release its console is, obviously, because as far as they are concerned, the gen should never end.

Looking at the past though, launching a console early was always a smart move. The Genesis could take some serious parts of the market back in the days, and I believe that Sony's headstart with the PS1 was one of the main reasons for their success.
The dreamcast had a fine performance too, it was just not enough. And after it was out, Sony's headstart was the best thing that could happen to them. And, last but not least, I think that Microsoft would be dead last this gen if it wasn't for the head start. Launches aligned, the 360 wasn't really doing better than the PS3 for more than a year.

The problem is that when you are late once, you'll probably be late the next time too which was Nintendo's problem after the N64. Imo, you can't start faster than five years after the launch of your last console, or your fanbase will get angry for not supporting their system.

So what Nintendo should do is, in my opinion, being ready. They should develop ideas prototypes and everything for a new console right now and keep a team improving it, so that they are ready to launch their console in less than a year if they want.

I guess Microsoft will be the first to make a move, because they smelled success right now, their console is the oldest and they can afford it, different to Sony. So if Microsoft announces their new console, Nintendo should be ready to release theirs at least half a year after Microsoft. (Unless Microsoft wants to release a new console as early as 2010, which I doubt though.) Like that, Nintendo can probably keep MS down right from the start and give Sony a serious punch because they will probably need a longer lifespan with the PS3 than Nintendo with the Wii.

Of course it is a key point that Nintendo keeps supporting the Wii even after N6 is out in order to keep the more casual gamers satisfied.

@nintyfan

Oh they will be ready. They will have all the tech and dev tools in place and just wait until the time is right, at each month improving the hardware to the current market price.

yeah that's what I mean they should do.

wait, i'll go as far to say nintneod won't even need to release a new console when their conpetitors release theirs. the wii will still probably be outselling them.

The thing everyone seems to be forgetting is that the Wii has no competition.

That's not to say that they aren't competing against Microsoft and Sony. They are, but Microsoft and Sony aren't competing against Nintendo.

They haven't released a Wii Remote clone or a Wii Sports clone yet. So Nintendo has the expanded market all to themselves. I know Sony tried to copy off of Nintendo but they didn't understand the appeal of the controller they were copying off of.

Even if they did release their own Wii clone with a Wii Sports clone next gen. They'd have to compete against the library the Wii has built up.

You see if Nintendo hadn't come out with a SNES and dropped support for the NES the NES would've probably been around for several more years. While the Genesis would still be struggling to get some support from 3rd party publishers. Simply put the SNES killed the NES not the Genesis.

They should launch two years after the others, so they can bring similar hardware levels in a cheaper machine

Nintendo does thinks as it sees fit, they never followed the industry standard.

That being said, Wii2 will likely be an HD machine if Myamoto (?)'s comments are to be taken as the truth. So if Wii2 lauches earlier, maybe...lets say a year and a half before Xbox720 and PS4, with another pack in like Wii Sports HD and a kickass controller and great console (has Nintendo ever disapointed in this regard?) they will start the 8th gen off well.

Another reason I gave them a year and half before launch is Nintendo can start NOW to work on a serious heavy hitter launch title for Wii2, maybe Zelda HD, Mario HD or even Metroid HD, these titles can come in and blow away anything on the X360 and PS3 graphically while the MST and SONY are still bottled up in their next gen plans, which might force them to rush things (IE Red Ring Of Death)

however NINTENDO cannot make the same mistake, their hardware is among the most reliable technology on the face of the Earth, but when going for a quick start you have to be PERFECT. (Red Ring example again

Historicaly however, Nintendo has rarely been 1st to market with consoles, (Only the NES launched 1st) SNES was 1991 while GEN was 1989, N64 was 1996 while PS was 1994 ,GCN was 2001 while PS2 was 1999 and Wii was 2006 while the 360 was a year earlier. So Nintendo isint the tipical company to go for early marketshare.

Time will tell.

Althoguh I think the DSi is an important part in Nintendo's plans for the Wii's lifetime. I see the DSi as Nintendo expanding Wii functionalty, with more connectivity between the two platforms and SD card sharing Nintendo may be trying to maximize the Wii's lifetime instead of rushing into HD gaming.

Exactly, Nintendo always starts late, which is where they should start, let the others jockey for position ,while nintendo comes in and lowers the boom

they won't rush it. they'll wait till sales start going to ps360 levels and then start telling us how it's gonna be "true" 3-D and HD, we'll get hyped and they'll surpass expectations and make more money than they would've gotten from rushing.