The console in question supports HD resolutions, but is unknown at present if the graphics will be comparable to PS3 and Xbox 360. However, it is considered to be competitive to the two.
According to the various sources, Nintendo is already showing the new console to third-party developers in order to get them excited, and provide the firms with plenty of time to create titles before it hits the market in 2012, supposedly.
“Nintendo is doing this one right,” said one anonymous source. “[It's] not a gimmick like the Wii.”
It is unknown at present whether the system will feature a regular controller as the main configuration, but it is assumed motion controllers will be part of the package. It is being reported, though, that the system is more than just an “HD Wii.”
This new rumor may lead some credence to earlier rumors of a Wii price drop on May 15, which will allow the company to move remaining stock of the console.
No word on whether the new console will be backwards compatible with current Wii titles is know either at present, or if it will even include Wii branding.
Is it a little too late?
Whatever the firm decides to put under the hood though, analysts are of the opinion Nintendo waited too late to bring a new home console to the market.
Speaking with Eurogamer, Michael Pachter said: “I think the right time for the console was in front of Kinect and Move, and think that Nintendo has forever lost one customer for each Kinect and Move unit sold,” he said. ”That means they should have launched the Wii 2 in Fall 2009, and at the latest in Fall 2010, so a launch in 2011 is late.
“With that said, it’s never ‘too’ late, since they can retain the lion’s share of the market by inducing current Wii owners to upgrade, and by capturing undecided consumers who have either not yet purchased a console or who have not yet bought Kinect or Move.”
M2 Research analyst Billy Pidgeon agreed that Nintendo needs to hurry if it is to succeed with a new console in the market.
“Nintendo needs to launch first in the next generation, as Wii is somewhat saturated and the console’s low resolution graphics lag in the current generation,” he explained to EG. “I expect the next Nintendo console in 2012 at the latest, so a 2011 E3 launch announcement is a strong possibility. There will be some risk for Nintendo in the next generation – Wii has a huge installed base and Nintendo should work to keep that base active as long as possible.”
Pidgeon speculates that the next console from Nintendo will include improvements in motion control, and possibly even a Kinect type of camera. That said, the analyst admitted he would be “disappointed if it didn’t have some off-the-wall innovation that pushes the medium forward in an unforeseen direction.”
Finally, EEDAR VP Jesse Divnich offered the opinion that when it comes to creating consoles, Nintendo “doesn’t go with the flow, they never have, and gamers can expect Nintendo to continue to be original and offer up an experience that simply cannot be found or matched on other platforms.”
As for anything further, Divnich couldn’t speculate as to what the firm has up its sleeves.
“Unfortunately I cannot speculate on what a Wii 2 will have,” he said, “I literally have no information on it, so anything I speculate will surely be wrong [but] a Wii 2 announcement [at E3] certainly wouldn’t be a shocker if they plan for a 2012 holiday release.”
“Stay tuned,” says NOA
In response to these new rumors, a NOA representative told wouldn’t comment on the matter to Game Informer, but slyly told the site to “stay tuned.”
Pachter agrees that E3 will be the stage for the announcement, because if Nintendo doesn’t “don’t do it this year, then it might be too late next year.”
E3, then. Better bring your game face, folks.
http://www.vg247.com/2011/04/14/report-nintendo-to-announced-wii-successor-at-e3-in-june/
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