

Official concept art of Revolution in various colors

Official Wii Remotes on display at E3 2006 - Image courtesy Kotaku



The Wii may see a hardware revisions sooner than expected








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New Wii
By SmokeRngs on 2/23/2007 6:14:55 PM , Rating: 1
Something has been bugging me lately and I wonder if anyone here might know the answer. I know that most consoles are made for a 4-5 year timespan. However, has anything been said about how long Nintendo predicted to stick with the Wii?

I wonder because they have made profit off the console hardware since day one. Normally, you need years to make up the loss on the console hardware and it's in the company's best interest to keep the console out there for as long as possible to make up the costs associated with development and then profit.

Nintendo does not suffer from this with the Wii. I've been thinking that it would be possible for Nintendo after a couple of years to release an upgraded Wii but as a new system. One with new features but still doe everything the original did. Basically, they would be doing a major product refresh about halfway through the normal life of a console.

In this case, a possibility to include HD along with more powerful hardware. Graphics do not make a good game, but it is nice to have good graphics with a fun game. Good games with upgraded graphics in possibly HD resolutions would be nice.

If it's not cost prohibitive, I think it would be a good idea. Especially if they can keep the price of the console close to what the Wii is currently at. While the PS3 and Xbox360 are static for hardware, the Wii could get an upgrade.

I only bring this up due to the current hardware in the Wii. It's not powerhouse hardware and was never meant to be and the upgrade doesn't need to be either. The price and the games are what matters. If they were able to do this and keep costs down, I think it would be a blow to both Sony and MS. A mid-cycle refresh like we've seen with video cards for a while would be a welcome change.

RE: New Wii
By wetwareinterface on 2/24/2007 6:52:39 AM , Rating: 2
the time frame for a newer system from nintendo is a lot closer than 4 years. the wii is nothing more than the game cube with a good controller, larger disc storage and internal memory, and better dev tools.

nintendo knew they didn't have to worry about a major upgrade like xbox and ps as they weren't in the smae market. they concentrated on what they did need to do and kept the platform they had and redesigned the play mechanics and enhanced it slightly. sell the same tech in a new package and mke more money. sony is hurting right now and probably won't survive in the game console market they themselves re-invented as they flopped with the ps3. same problems the ps2 had in regards to developer frustration multiplied and a graphically inferior product to the competing xbox. tying blu-ray to it at the same time and they are going for a slam dunk betamax/ps2 problem. the ps2 hardware sold well and the games did allright despite the difficulty the devs had writing games for it. this time around the devs are looking seriously at xbox instead as the last round was a tie in microsoft vs. sony and sony had a huge lead in sales with the ps2 and it was cheaper than an xbox. now sony has a more expensive lower graphically capable system and a 1+ year late start.

microsofts only next competitor is going to have to be a joint nintendo/sega or a google or aol/timewarner out of the blue console like sony's original playstation.


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