Did

Did you just go into "Wii is a fad" territory

I've been to the future and I can assure you: in a mere several decades!

@Pristine: a formula to lessen human effort?

It doesn't make sense to me either but the devs themselves voted for this so one can only wonder what they know that we don't. maybe their CEO's have been stealing money and blaming bankruptcies on gaming costs...who knows?

That's exactly why I'm so confused about all of this.

Maybe the huge third party devs are trying to push out the smaller ones, buy them out, and form an Oligopoly? :P

They have to be prepared. The Nintendo barbarians are at the gates, ready to destroy the industry. A united front is their only chance!

One of the reasons why the jump from SD to HD was very expensive is because almost everything had to be developed from scratch again. Developers needed to get used to multiple cores, new toolsets, new algorithms, etc. If the consoles remain fairly similar in architecture and come out with improved dev tools, the only big issue would be asset creation, and with most games going multi-platform, it shouldn't be too big of a deal. Developers are already familiar with the new tips and tricks of the trade, they just need to apply them to higher quality assets.

At least, that's how I see it. I do see where you are coming from though.

Funny thing is WiiHD will be a lot stronger than the GCN -> Wii jump as HDTV will be standard by 2012. IT'll also have far greater third party support as the graphics should be comparable to that of the other two consoles and the Wii Remote/Nunchuk setup will be the standard controller setup. Obviously Nintendo will also further innovate with the controllers too as there has never been a generation that they haven't done so.

Wii MotionPlus will be built in or perhaps further refined and the online system will obviously improve. As will the storage space as with WiiWare and DSiWare it's obvious Nintendo is moving towards digital distribution. 

I'm not saying hey Sony making a powerful console is a mistake because there is clearly a market for that, I'm just saying that they can't possibly expect to take back market leadership if they're going to release another expensive multimedia hub. Perhaps not as expensive as the PS3 but it'll still be too much for many people.

Another thing is R&D cost related to the product. Sony cant afford to spend a heap of money on R&D right now so if they're pouring money into improving and creating another beast of a console. So expect another Dual Shock probably with motion control and a pointer shoe horned in.

IMO Microsoft are the only ones who can challenge Nintendo at all next generation. They have the money to build a powerful system that PC devs can easily port to and they also have the money to create a new casual friendly control system. Issue being that they won't make it their standard, it'll be an accessory, but they can still get closer to Nintendo's marketshare than they have this time.

this is great news. GO HD consoles. Im a graphics whore too :) but i o agree that a peripheral wii mote tye device to be used in specific games would be a good idea

Do you really think they will divert from their current cash cow?  Doubtful. Extremely doubtful.   Nintendo's effect this generation will have worn off because quite honestly their lack of games is stunning.

Thats a possibility. It could be EA, Activision and Ubisoft that used overwhelming influence to make this poll reality. They might have convinced a lot of studios to follow suit. It doesn't make sense at all coming from the same devs who've been bitching about HD costs except they're hiding something.