I wonder if they will keep GC compatibility.

Heh, yeah.  While I think most of those won't happen, your last point brings up something I think Nintendo has been needing to do ever since the N64 (and desperately with the GC).  Updating their startup screens halfway through the console lifetime.  I mean, by the end of the GC lifecycle, the GC startup screen was getting so dated, even the PS2 and Dreamcast startup screens looked more impressive.  And just a small upgrade to the GC (or the Wiis) loading screen could definitely improve some of Nintendo's image.

But that's just something I tought would would be an improvement.  Obviously better games themselves are more important overall.

My predictions

HD support
Wii backward compability
Wii Remote redesigned especially the nunchuck
Definitely stronger than the 360
Increase on applications avaliable (more things like the news channel and stuff)

Anyone from here would be right... Nintendo always is loking for something different!!

wouldn't it be funny if Nintendo did a complete u turn and went for the most powerful system and a traditional control sachem for their next console leaving Microsoft and Sony trying to capture the casual crowd with natal and 10 year plans etc.

@catofellow: Kenryoku pointed out something very relevant.

3rd parties like money and money actually is the necessary evil to keep the companies going. 3rd parties aren't going to jump ship before the sales of the games are proven and there's an installbase that can support their games.

The only reason why 3rd parties love Sony and M$ is, that that's where they invested in the first place thinking that would be the way to this gen. If they had thought Wii wins the gen, they'd have invested in Wii and been reluctant to make a shift to another platform if Wii would have been losing.

How this gen have gone so far:
3rd parties thought Sony would win as it did last gen, so they put their money into PS3. PS3 turned out to be lackluster in sales, so they put their money to make PS360 multiplatform games to get a better return for their investments. As Wii momentum kept going, they started to shift their investments to Wii. Now, with Wand and Natal they would once again need to shift their devepment focus and invest into new kind of tech. Even if the two would pick up steam, it would take a couple of years before we'd be seeing good 3rd party support.

It isn't cheap to "add" Wand to the Natal gameplay, because the two are fundamentally different. Natal-Eyetoy multiplatform games work because Natal can do everything Eyetoy does, but it isn't the case with Wand and Natal, that break the compatibility between 360 and PS3 (PS3 does, however, have Eyetoy).

Wand and Wiis controls, judging by TGS, don't either seem to be compatible because of the lack of input similar to what we have in Nunchuck.

And no, playing with a pad and having motion controls in the "less intensive" parts doesn't sound like good idea at all, since that's excactly the type of game people complain about on Wii. Or maybe it's just the Wii audience that doesn't the games "with waggle".
A parasite tries to suck your brains, shake your head! Faster! Faster! and It's on your foot, shake a leg! Faster!. Hahaha.

With that said bdbdbd, who do you think third parties are going to back going into the next generation?

@Puffy: Umm, did you mean by backing going to next generation, as who will stick with Wii, 360 and PS3?

You spoke about third parties investing in PS3 because they thought PS3 would be the dominant console. My question is which console will third parties invest in most heavily out of Wii2, PS4 and XBOX720?

My opinion is that they won't invest in any in particular but what do you think?

@Puffy: Now i got it.

I don't think it either that we'll see one "unsupported platform" or one over the others, at least not before we have a clear winner. This gen have taught them a lot.