HD Wii By 2011? 245
1Up noticed an interesting post up at WhatTheyPlay which put together some public information with more from private sources suggesting that the next version of the Wii console is planned for 2011. Quoting:
"Unlike previous console transitions from Nintendo, the new system will be presented as a true successor to the Wii, and is being dubbed by those that have seen the presentation as 'Wii HD.' There is no indication if this will be its eventual name, but the nature of the transition has been characterized as similar to 'the shift from Game Boy to Game Boy Advance,' where familiar, key elements were left intact while the core hardware was made more powerful. It is expected by all those that we have spoken to on the subject that the new device will retain the Wii name in part."
Re:This is news? How? (Score:4, Interesting)
Nintendo has already said they want to go to shorter release cycles. This would put the Wii at four years. I actually expect a new Wii a lot shorter than that.
Beats me.
Although I do expect a WiiHD is going to be a lot harder sell. They had a lot of hype with the Wii and sold--and still selling--based off of it.
Right, the Wii is just a fad. Keep telling yourself that.
But a lot of these Wiis are now sitting around collecting dust waiting for decent games.
An asinine observation. Its true of EVERY system, and everyone's definition of 'decent games' is different. A lot of PS3 are collecting dust too, and xbox360s too.
That said, consider the Wii Fit is still a total sell out after moving 2 million units. To me that pretty much blows your theory that everyone is waiting around for something to buy.
A couple cult following titles and a few lackluster first part titles. They have been been greeted with a lot of hope, and some good reviews from some Nintendo friendly reviewers. But I don't know a lot of people still playing their copies of SMG, MK, or even Brawl.
Same could be said of any of the franchise games for any of the consoles.
I just think it's going to be a hard sell the next around of systems, where they are going to have to show some major titles with some real lasting appeal are going to come.
Like what? Halo 3? Call of Duty? Complete with an achievement system so they can be ranked against 15-year-olds around the world? Yeah, the casuals are going to be lining up to get on that bus. Get real.
Does anyone really think the "casual" gamers who got on board with Wii Play and Wii Fit are going to go buy another system for Wii Play 2 and Wii Fit 2 when they bought the first ones and it sat in the corner a couple of weeks after they had it?
If they think it will be fun and entertain them for a while? Yes.
They don't need to play it 10 hours a week every week to feel they got good value. Even if they pull it out once a month or so for parties or when the grandkids come over, or they play the odd game of tennis, they're happy with their purchase. When the next version comes out, if it has something they want, they'll buy it.
It really is that simple.
Finally, if current trends are an indication: if they launched a "Wii 2" today, they'd sell a quarter million a week easily, and that's assuming the 30 million people who already have a Wii DON'T upgrade. They don't even NEED to 'convert' Wii owners, the untapped market is still large enough.
Of course, they will market to Wii owners as well, and some significant percentage WILL upgrade. A LOT of people are more than satisfied with their purchase. Hell, if they manage to sell a Wii 2 to just half the Wii 1 owners and don't sell a single unit to anyone else, they'll still outsell the PS3.
Re:Let me guess... (Score:3, Interesting)
Personally, I find 480p quite sufficient, and I have a screen almost as big diagonally as I am tall.
Then again, I play Unreal at 320x240 on a system with a Radeon 9800, on purpose. So, maybe I'm just insane.
-:sigma.SB
Re:Can we get HD early? (Score:3, Interesting)
I did indeed buy one. The biggest problem I have with the image is the crazy amount of staircasing all over the place. I actually turned it back to 480i because the deinterlacer on my Bravia produces a smoother image overall even if there's less detail (my guess is that it averages the scan fields at a higher resolution). It also eliminates the lame 16bit alpha dithering that some games have.