Screen Digest analyst Piers Harding-Rolls believes that Nintendo will release an updated version of the Nintendo Wii in the near future as a stop-gap between the Wii and its full blown successor.
“We expect the Wii to have a shorter lifecycle than the high definition consoles. We’re actually pitching it for an end of 2012 Japan release and the rest of world in 2013.”
“Our forecast actually incorporates the idea that there will be an upgraded version of the Wii available. There is potentially significant movement to come from Wii pricing in the future. If you look at the handheld strategy they’ve got the DSi and the 3DS, so I think they’ve got room to have to this iterative version before a 2012 or 2013 release.”
– Piers Harding-Rolls, Screen Digest
AWFUL idea that would be.
People don’t want to spend money just to spend more. Especially so soon.
Comeone i cant spend my money on an upgraded wii if a new one is coming right after!
Nintendo have reiterated time and time again that there will NOT be an HD -Wii. As far as I know, they have never released an upgraded version of a home console, only the handheld consoles. I seriously doubt that they will release said upgrade, and I see no real reason to do so. If they think they need to release an updated Wii in order to keep it selling, then they might as well start preparing the consoles successor.
Also, when I read the title, my first thought was, “Oh no, it’s Pachter again….”
Actually Nintendo have made updated versions of home consoles before, there was the NES top loader, which was the same as an NES only less than half the size and you stick the games in a slot on the top.
The only other one however was the Panasonic Q which was an absolute failure (it never made it out of japan and had a ridiculous price). The Q was a gamecube with the ability to play dvds, cds, mp3s and other things.
Even though they have done stuff like this before, the top loader was never an incredible success, and the Q just bombed, so I doubt that Nintendo would try anything like it again, and for good reason because I wouldn’t buy it, and I can’t think of many who would.
Lol, I thought it was Pachter again as well.
I doubt there will be a stopgap console as I believe the Wii successor will be released in late 2012/early 2013. There would be no point bringing out a HD Wii + hard drive, because existing games would only be up-scaled (the image would be stretched or expanded using technology to add to the resolution), and a hard drive would need to be released for the current Wii to make sure that games with DLC & extra content could work with it.
There would really be no point in bringing out a new HOME console a year +/- a few months before a true successor.
That will not happen because the DSi inlcuded the camera and a little more memory. The main thing was the camera; with handhelds, you cannot upgrade the peripherals. With Wii, they can still use Wii boards and vitality sensors.
Watch this video and you will undoubtedly want a Wii capable of rendering games in HD.
Ignore that last post, THIS VIDEO
OK, I’ve seen the video. So what? It isn’t really much better than Twilight Princess in my TV with a composite cable.
And most importantly, it didn’t change the gameplay a single bit. It’s pure cosmetics, not to mention geek fetishism.
That said, I don’t doubt they’ll release an “upgraded version” in the near future. It’s just that these guys are judging possible future Nintendo moves by general market logic, when Nintendo is kinda particular about how they operate – you need to analyse it by itself, not in tandem with the general market. There’s two main avenues where I suppose this analyst is wrong:
– The idea of Wii getting a shorter lifespan than the HD consoles: they’re using gamer logic here. Problem is, it’s been a while since gaming was a “gamer thing”, so the numbers are off. They’re placing bets on the fact that the hardware isn’t that potent and therefore will be the first to be replaced. I wouldn’t say that’s the case because the bigger audience really doesn’t care. Until 90% of all homes in the civilized world feature a Full HD TV, 1080p resolution in gaming will continue to be somewhat of a niche.
– The idea that “Wii 1.5” would be just a new Wii with high definition and more storage space. Even if we scrap the numerous times Nintendo has said they won’t do a new Wii just for this, it’s a bad idea for a couple of reasons – and no, the fact that you spent money on a Wii already doesn’t count; people are suckers and would buy a HD Wii in a pinch.
The real wrong part is that releasing such a thing so soon would amount to nothing. What audience would it be aiming at, the gamers who already opted for the current HD consoles? Why would they go for a new console that doesn’t feature most of the franchises they came to love on X360 ou PS3? If they wanted to play Mario or Zelda they would already have bought a regular Wii – only technophiles and über geeks pass on the Wii due to resolution alone. Most gamers play for the games.
My guess then?
– The next real console will not come from Nintendo before 2015.
– In the meantime, we *may* get an “upgraded Wii” on 2011 or 2012 – but if that happens, expect a bunch of features to come alongside the hard disk and the higher definition. It may be 3D capabilities if they can find a way to do it convincingly in a regular television. Or maybe the 3D TV market will be ready at 2012, who knows. It most certainly would feature a new Wii Remote built-in Motion Plus – that’s something even a couple of smaller companies have already provided in shady corners of the world. The online features would receive a serious reworking, and most of it would be based on how the 3DS new connectivity possibilities have been received (you’ve paid attention to the E3 presentation, right? The whole talk about the handheld downloading data while on sleep, without direct user input?). And add in something we can’t imagine right now for good measure.
Then we’d got something a little bigger to entertain us while they don’r release the mind-controlled console someone else pointed out. :)
Why not just have a whole new system? -3-
Or just some better quality control on the games they pump out the biggest dumpster bin of filler for any system its sad….some poor kid bought that crap. There friend got a decent new game and they got a pet your puppy game its sad
I’m not surprised. I will be expecting an HD (both High-def AND oddly hard drive) Wii by mid 2011.
A “Wii 1.5” would be a waste of money for both consumers and Nintendo.
Nintendo has created upgraded versions in the past they did it with the NES and SNES! the NES was a top loading system and the SNES was a smaller more compact version!
I seriously doubt it those were not upgrades they were just cosmetic changes the capabilities of the hardware didn’t change.
What you say?? SNES a Upgrade of NES ?? You born yesterday right? Or are you a DUMB. NES is a 8-bits System, With a Hardware way, WAY Diferent from SNES. SNES is a 16-Bits system, with diferent hardware (Graphic, processor and Sound) and very Capable. There was some games for SNES that included a extraprocessor, for a 32-bits game, the Chip FX (Star Fox, StuntRace, Yoshi’s Island, and others),
You better think twice or investigate before Read.
And, about the new.. I really doub Nintendo plans to release a upgradeded Wii, before the next console. This Screen Digest men is Nuts and as he say, they are speculating.
Don’t Believe anything that come from other than Nintendo.
If you read Antwon Will Eli’s post again, you will see that is not what he said. What he said was that the upgrade to the NES was a top loading version of the same system and the upgrade to the SNES made it more compact.
Wait, I was thinking and I see that it is possible, but each game would have a toned down version (through some Wii API) for the Wii 1.
With Wii 1.5, they could continue their work for the mind controlled Wii 2 ’till 2014.
As they said on Bonus Round “it´s not as if Nintendo could do a Wii Slim ;) ”
Case closed.
on the other hand, the two usb-ports on the back would be able to the speed of 2x 20Mb/s , and would be able to handle an expansion with a hdmi-output, for upscaling the Wiis video output.
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its like thw dsixl all over again