Nintendo Wii HD in 2011?

[modeps]

1Up is reporting (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3170266) on an article (http://www.whattheyplay.com/blog/2008/09/30/new-wii-due-by-2011/) from What They Play, that there are "strong signs" for an HD Wii in 3 years.

Along with the anonymous sources, What They Play examined recent Nintendo financial reports. From these they found the company to have dramatically accelerated its research and development (R&D) spending in the past few years. Putting more pieces of the puzzle together, the story further notes that the joint development agreement between IBM and AMD that in part resulted in the Wii hardware internals expires at the end of 2011. If backward compatibility is a priority that could provide a good bit of incentive to get the next machine together.

Really? Its going to take three more years to come out with this? I'm also not too sure how these findings link to an HD Wii, but hey, its fun to speculate anyway.

[Heretic Machine]

...Why are we calling it an HD Wii? Nintendo is not going to call their next console a "Wii" anymore than they called the Gamecube, Ultra Super Nintendo 128.

[Purple Santa]

I'd guess Nintendo is thinking the percentage of households who will have HD tvs will increase by then. Considering after next year HD tv will be marketed something you are going to need (no money in selling the adapters for your SD tv to the new digital signal) I think Nintendo may be on to something. From their perspective...the "new" casual gamer now has a "newer" tv...they will want to upgrade to a new Wii...

[Wraith]

Isn't an "HD successor to the Wii by 2011" sort of a no-brainer? I don't know why they'd cripple their next console by limiting it to SD/ED resolutions. And 5 years between console launches is about average...

[drakkarim]

isn't 480HD considered 'HD' technically?

somehow i doubt we'll see wii2 pushing 1080p silky smooth on every game, heck, i'd be happy if either the 720/ps4 would do so next time.

then again, the wii has never been about the polygon pushing art style like the xbox/ps line..., so just might happen...

[Wraith]

isn't 480HD considered 'HD' technically?No.

480p = "Enhanced Definition" or "ED (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edtv)".

[gojira]

If they just stick a USB port on the Wii I can go down to the store and get a big ol' HD for cheap to attach.

[Jotoco]

If they just stick a USB port on the Wii I can go down to the store and get a big ol' HD for cheap to attach.

I think they mean HD as in: High Definition, not Hard Drive...

[drakkarim]

No.

480p = "Enhanced Definition" or "ED (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edtv)".

that's right, ED.

i hear there's plenty of pills for that these days, maybe nintendo should look into it.

[y3kushan]

When the Wii HD comes out will people finally be able to find the Wii Standard in stores? It seems they still haven't met demand. Will they really release another system in three years if they haven't been able to keep Wii's in stores for two full years now? If supply and demand level out in the next six months to a year, they'll still have some huge sales in the next two or three years. I would expect a few more bundle packs (Wii + Balance Board or MotionPlus built in) before a whole new system.

[Virtuoso]

If they just stick a USB port on the Wii I can go down to the store and get a big ol' HD for cheap to attach.

Hooray for reading.

I love how the guy from FUCKING BRAZIL corrected you.

[Micasa]

And the Wii already has a USB slot.

Two of them, in fact.

They just don't really seem to use them for anything.

[AlwaysOn222]

I doubt Nintendo will call it WiiHD and from what I have heard on different sites it seems that Microsoft as well as Sony is thinking on releasing their next systems around that time as well. I for one was hoping that both 360 and PS3 could stay alive a bit longer, but oh well... Only time will tell I guess.

[modeps]

Point of Order:

HD = High Definition
HDD = Hard Disk Drive

That is all, carry on.

[grognard66]

Also note that Davison said "BY 2011" - which means it might come out a bit earlier. Davison is a highly respected, long-time journalist and not one to casually toss out every rumor he hears (unlike most gaming blogs). If he's putting this out there you can be sure that he really did hear this from multiple developers and is confident of its veracity.

Besides, it makes perfect sense. HD market penetration and digital distribution should be mainstream by 2010/2011 allowing the Wii to maintain it's mainstream appeal by incorporating those features at that time. I'm getting to the point where I'm seriously doubting the next set of consoles will support any hard media at all (DVD/Blu-Ray). By 2011, the people who can't afford or get HD and broadband access aren't the people who would buy a $300-400 console and $60 games anyway.

[holysin]

Really? Its going to take three more years to come out with this? I'm also not too sure how these findings link to an HD Wii, but hey, its fun to speculate anyway.

Yes, really. Did you want them to just quit making the current Wii right now? Or did you expect them to release the HD Wii now and divide the market?

[Wraith]

I'm getting to the point where I'm seriously doubting the next set of consoles will support any hard media at all (DVD/Blu-Ray). By 2011, the people who can't afford or get HD and broadband access aren't the people who would buy a $300-400 console and $60 games anyway.Ahem. *raises hand*

I know this discussion has gone on in any number of threads here, but...

Even among people who have broadband, it's not always fast enough to make digital distribution convenient, when you're talking about full-size games that could be 10s of gigabytes. I don't want to leave my console on for days at a time to download a Blu-ray-sized game. And if I have a hard drive fail, I've got to re-download every single game in my library.
No disc drive, no backwards compatibility for current-gen games. No ability to play those Blu-ray movies that PS3 owners bought.
Some people are still going to prefer having physical media, for a number of reasons (less data to download, don't depend on internet connection or availability of company's servers to access your games).
You're effectively killing off the game business at retailers. Who's going to carry your low-profit-margin console hardware if they can't make any money on games for the thing?

[grognard66]

@Wraith - all very good points but all equally irrelevant to the people making these strategic decisions. I'm not saying it's the best thing for consumers - just that it's inevitable.

Backwards compatibility - Microsoft and Sony weren't too concerned about it this gen, why do you think they'll care any more next gen? They'd rather have you buy it again digitally (as they are already doing now).
Download speeds - these increase annually and will improve by 2010/2011. Also, this could be mitigated with queue's, much like Netflix mail users rely on for receiving hard media. Set up your purchases and have them download in the background overnight.
Killing retailers - exactly, that's the main point. Developers and publishers don't get a penny from the used/trading games markets. They can further increase profits by eliminating middlemen like retailers/distributors/shipping/packaging/etc. They can easily sell their consoles online if the retailers don't want to carry them. I suspect retailers will be happy to make even just a marginal profit on hardware in addition to the lucrative accessories rather than get nothing at all from the burgeoning games industry. Many retail products are low margin.

[Hemalin]

Nintendo needs to re***nize the growing number of HDTVs in households if they hope to continue selling as well into the next console cycle.

[Wraith]

@Wraith - all very good points but all equally irrelevant to the people making these strategic decisions. I'm not saying it's the best thing for consumers - just that it's inevitable.

Backwards compatibility - Microsoft and Sony weren't too concerned about it this gen, why do you think they'll care any more next gen? They'd rather have you buy it again digitally (as they are already doing now).One could argue that it becomes more important, as console and game prices increase.

If you bought a $350 or $400 Xbox 360, and the new Xbox rolls around and doesn't have any backwards compatibility? You're left crossing your fingers that your console doesn't drop dead after MS has stopped making them.

Or consider the PS3 early adopter, who picked up a $600 system that can play his PS2 and PS3 games and Blu-ray movies. Next gen comes around and won't play discs at all, and he's pretty much forced to keep his PS3.
Download speeds - these increase annually and will improve by 2010/2011. Also, this could be mitigated with queue's, much like Netflix mail users rely on for receiving hard media. Set up your purchases and have them download in the background overnight.Download speeds get faster on average, as broadband expands to more areas. But the ISP I'm on has the same plans, at the same prices, and the same speeds as they were 6 years ago. Maybe metro areas are getting all kinds of new options, like Fios, but I don't expect anything like that to be available to me by 2011.


I understand the advantages of digital distribution, I just don't think we, the game buying public, are ready to quit physical media cold turkey just yet.

[Justin_Bailey]

Download speeds get faster on average, as broadband expands to more areas. But the ISP I'm on has the same plans, at the same prices, and the same speeds as they were 6 years ago. Maybe metro areas are getting all kinds of new options, like Fios, but I don't expect anything like that to be available to me by 2011.

Don't forget that the size of games is ever increasing. If LittleBigPlanet is as big as some of the developers have said it is, can you imagine the bandwidth bottleneck with everyone trying to download it on day one?

Yeah, consoles that only use digital distribution are a long way off.

[Entropy Effect]

I for one am looking forward to the Nintendo WiiWii era.

[Swiper]

Yeah, consoles that only use digital distribution are a long way off.

I'm a big fan of digital distribution, but even I don't think we'll EVER have a popular console that only uses digital distribution. Heck, even my brand spanking new desktop PC has a floppy drive, and I can't remember the last time I saw a floppy disk.

No, physical media will be with us for a LONG time, but I do clearly forsee a time, probably within the next 5 to 10 years, where we'll be looking at the blu-ray/dvd drives on our consoles and wonder, "why the heck do we still have those?"

[Justin_Bailey]

No, physical media will be with us for a LONG time, but I do clearly forsee a time, probably within the next 5 to 10 years, where we'll be looking at the blu-ray/dvd drives on our consoles and wonder, "why the heck do we still have those?"

So which is it? A LONG time or within the next 5 to 10 years?