This gen, nintendo has obviously taken a new aim at gaming and seems to be a success as of now.  Motion sensing games, virtual console, etc has a large appeal to many people.

Here's the thing:

Have any of you thought about what the next gen would be like?  Would sony and microsoft try to use more innovative angles at gaming?  Would they use motion sensors and other things like that?  What kinds of new things could nintendo possibly pull off?

I'm just thinking ahead and thought this would be really interesting since the whole next gen might be completely different from how we used to know gaming. 

Yes, I've already thought about the next gen. That would be a refined Wii-type remote with much more accuracy and very low latency. Dedicated hardware in the console specifically geared toward 1:1 monitoring of the remotes position in space regardless of how fast or wildly the person is shaking it... Point and shoot is a winner -- even over the PCs mouse/keyboard combo.

Graphics power needs to be that of the current generation -- 720P HD with solid texturing, bump mapping capabilities and very, very powerful 4XAA without the CPU/GPU taking a hit. The console needs to be able to accomplish 720P 60FPS without breaking a sweat and without developers having to squeeze every ounce of power they can out of the console.

Outside of those, a storage medium like a hard drive is necessary as I love demos. It probably needs to be bigger than the current gen systems as downloadable content is going to become more important.

A low cost high-density disk player. I don't think it needs to be an industry standard like blue-ray or HD-DVD -- it just needs to store more than current DVD9 and be Quiet, Fast, and *CHEAP*. By not using an industry standard, they can avoid royalties and keep the cost down to some degree.

All this needs to happen in a $299 package for mass adoption to begin quickly. I would help if it came from one of the current Big 3 and was fully compatible with previous gen games as that would give it a library of games to play right out of the gate...

This, in my opinion would be Nintendo's greatest move if they were to make an HD Wii that plays all current gamecube and Wii games as well as is a high power console going forward...

Because of Moore's Law it should be trivial to produce a console which is much more powerful than the XBox 360 or PS3 and sell it for $200 in 2010/2011; on top of that, with the rate that blue laser diode based optical drives are comming down in price using that technology would be similar in price (in 2010/2011) to using a DVD drive today.

Realistically speaking, console chips will be using a 45nm or ~30nm process in 2010/2011 when the next generation begins; which means we will be able to put 8 times as many transistors on a chip at approximately the same cost and there (typically) is the ability to run the processor at a higher clock speed.

Hmm, 8800 Ultra is capable of 16x AA and a maximum resolution of 2560x1600. New LCD monitors are also running @ 100/120 Hz (in order to rival the faster plasma displays) so expect high-end games to push into that territory. I remember that Kutaragi-san said that PS3 is capable of 120 fps but that remains to be seen.

Name-wise: PS4, Xbox 4U & WII (or Wii 2) :)

Nintendo will never do this, because it will result in a console that's out of their price range, but I really want to see a stereoscopic 3D console. Even better if it had a Wii-Remote-like interface.

Way to early! The Wii hasn't even been out for a year. I'll wait until Nintendo actually confirms its next gen console before I get excited.

Soriku said: Next gen is gonna be awesome But let's enjoy this gen while we can.

 I refuse to enjoy games at all. If I enjoy them too much, I spend less time looking at games coming out.

When the 360 and PS3 become nearly as cheap as the Wii, the Wii will lose steam because of its much poorer graphics, which will become more and more of a handicap.

But then Nintendo can make its killer move: while MS and Sony still have to stick with 360 and PS3 to recover their current losses, Nintendo can launch the Wii2 which can be more powerful than the then old 360 and PS3 but still cheap because Nintendo won't have to use cutting-edge technology to be more powerful. If that Wii2 becomes a success, MS and Sony will never get a chance to recover their losses and Nintendo will strengthen its domination.

So my prediction is that Nintendo will launch its next console much sooner than the other two and much sooner than everyone thinks. The exact opposite of Sony's "built for 10 years" strategy. 2010 the latest, perhaps 2009.

As for features: all next-gen consoles will aim to have real motion capturing, with patches you put around your wrists and ankles. It's the logical next step after the Wiimote, and the first company who can bring this to market is assured to have insanely high sales. Just imagine the fighting and sports and fitness games you could do.

The Wii will stop selling at the end of 2008.

In early 2009 nintendo will release a handheld/home hybrid console called the Dee.

The next Nintendo handheld will have one big touchscreen, roughly the size of the PSP's screen. It'll be capable of about PS2-equivalent graphics. Its main gimmick will be that the screen will be able to rotate from horizontal to vertical positions. Because of that, it'll also have DS backwards-compatibility.

The Wii will be the PS1 of this generation, slowly but surely garnering the majority of third-party support. The next Nintendo console will be mostly an improvement upon the Wii Remote's technology, enabling far more accurate movement on a 3-D plane. One of the major accessories will be a Power Glove-like controller with motion sensors on each finger, which allows you to grab and interact with in-game things in real time.