Reggie: No Wii successor any time soon

Nintendo has no plans to release a new home console any time soon, according to the president of the company's US arm.

"We believe the role of a new console, a new system, is to bring great new entertainment ideas to life. We launched (the Wii and DS) those systems when we had great ideas that would benefit either from a touch screen or from a Wii remote," Reggie Fils-Aime told Reuters.

"We will consider the launch of new consoles when we have got great new entertaining ideas that can only be done with a new console. As we sit here today the Wii console has a long run ahead of it, (the DS too).

"At some point we will launch the DSi here in the Americas. So as we look at the near term for us its all about maximizing the opportunity with the (Wii and DS)."

Fair enough. The Wii's selling like hot cakes, so why would Nintendo announce that it's planning on releasing a successor any time soon?

Still, we bet it's working on one behind closed doors, or perhaps a Wii HD upgrade.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/ar ... ?id=201733

Three years until the projected next generational transition is a long time. Woe betide them if they're late to the next generation party.

I'm hoping that the next generation is a while off yet as I believe the current machines still have a lot of untapped potential. I think the next XBox will be first again and hope for a Christmas 2011 release. Even if all they do is plop in a high end graphics card and processor combo from 2010 this will still be a massive leap from the 360 and at a fraction of the cost of designing new unique hardware.

I think the Wii has left them in a rather interesting position next time round. Unlike other consoles, there isn't an obvious route that Nintendo can take. What do Nintendo do next? I think they've got an audience that doesn't give a Uncle's toss about 'upgrading' & that could pose a problem. I can't see the usual 'better tech' game plan working here.

They could at least give their core audience something, though, surely? If they don't make the jump to HD come 2011 or 2012 they could lose quite a lot of people (a minority, yeah, but still quite a few) to MS and Sony's next offerings.

Microsoft are definitely going to be looking to steal Nintendo's market next time around, if the NXE is anything to go by. Hardcore style machine with some form of motion control. Nintendo will have to be close to Microsoft for the next wave of consoles because I doubt they'll build a console more powerful than the next-gen consoles and even I won't be getting a next-gen Wii if it doesn't surpass the current gen Xbox.

KKLEIN wrote:I think the Wii has left them in a rather interesting position next time round. Unlike other consoles, there isn't an obvious route that Nintendo can take. What do Nintendo do next? I think they've got an audience that doesn't give a Uncle's toss about 'upgrading' & that could pose a problem. I can't see the usual 'better tech' game plan working here.

Depends if the Motion+ technology appears demonstrably better than the existing Wiimote. And if developers reveal that it was the launch tech that was holding them back, not creative bankruptcy.

If M+ lives up to at least some of the initial hype regarding motion-control in games and we see quality western developers taking an increased interest in the concept, Nintendo should be pretty set for the next-generation. If we just see the same old mini-games and waggling from the same old publishers I think it might be difficult for Nintendo to break out of their own (insanely profitable) niche and create a console that pleases all comers and unites all territories in the same way as the PS2. But considering that the Wii is out-pacing the PS2 in terms sales, it's not really a huge issue.

Peter Crisp wrote:I'm hoping that the next generation is a while off yet as I believe the current machines still have a lot of untapped potential. I think the next XBox will be first again and hope for a Christmas 2011 release. Even if all they do is plop in a high end graphics card and processor combo from 2010 this will still be a massive leap from the 360 and at a fraction of the cost of designing new unique hardware.

I hope we don't see a new Xbox anytime soon because i'm loving the 360 and its the best console i've ever had. With Microsoft rotating Halo and Gears maybe we'll see the Xbox 3 with Halo 4 as a launch title in 2011 or 2012(A Gears expansion could come 2011)

It was apparently only the mandatory hard-drive that caused MS to kill the xbox off so soon after the launch of the 360, so there's nothing stopping them from keeping both platforms going come the launch of the NeXtBox.

We're probably going to see a 360 lite/slim when Valhalla comes around next year and they would want that to run that for a couple of years. I really can't see the next Xbox launching before 2011 to be honest.

TheTurnipKing wrote:It was apparently only the mandatory hard-drive that caused MS to kill the xbox off so soon after the launch of the 360, so there's nothing stopping them from keeping both platforms going come the launch of the NeXtBox.

NVidea had also ceased production of the graphics chip.

Rik wrote:We're probably going to see a 360 lite/slim when Valhalla comes around next year and they would want that to run that for a couple of years. I really can't see the next Xbox launching before 2011 to be honest.

They're going to want substantial backwards compatibility anyway, so that all the marketplace content still works across both platforms.

edit: From a graphical standpoint, I can see Nintendo's point of view. But at the very least, they have to release a restyled Wii unit with a better storage solution and find a better solution for online play than friends codes.

TheTurnipKing wrote:

Rik wrote:We're probably going to see a 360 lite/slim when Valhalla comes around next year and they would want that to run that for a couple of years. I really can't see the next Xbox launching before 2011 to be honest.

They're going to want substantial backwards compatibility anyway, so that all the marketplace content still works across both platforms.

edit: From a graphical standpoint, I can see Nintendo's point of view. But at the very least, they have to release a restyled Wii unit with a better storage solution and find a better solution for online play than friends codes.

The way I see it, a Friend Code is basically the equivalent of a website IP address that hasn't had DNS applied to give it a human readable web address (http://www.example.com). What Nintendo should do is find a way of implementing a DNS-style naming system - allowing the existing FC system to remain in place, with an additional human-readable name layer over the top of it. Then people just register a username as they please in the same manner as on the other services, and it gets linked more or less permanently to their Wii/game.

To make all this better, they should ditch this code-per-game bullshit and have the one FC/name apply over all games as XBLA does.

Alvin Flummux wrote:To make all this better, they should ditch this code-per-game bullshit and have the one FC/name apply over all games as XBLA does.

This alone would be a good start.

The Wii and the DS make for an interesting case, because it's the first time "great unwashed" have become so enamoured with games consoles. I imagine a large amount of owners couldn't care less about modern graphics technology, 120GB hard drives or online gaming. If the Wii and DS manage to remain popular with casual gamers for longer than the usual five years or so, then Nintendo don't need to be in any rush to upgrade with thw 360 and PS3.

I think a stronger online system is a must. I, nor anyone else in my household, has touched the Wii for some time - not even games like Mario Kart, which should have extraordinary longevity thanks to their online play simply require too much effort. I can't be bothered - and neither can most of my friends.

The unified online system of the 360 is a much better solution, allowing you to see your friends and what they're currently up to.

And frankly, Nintendo is going to HAVE to do something to stave off piracy - sooner rather than later. The introduction of Motionplus into the core units, more flexible storage solutions and a better online system in a sleek new redesigned unit would be an ideal way to handle it, without nessicarily compromising software compatibility.

Alvin Flummux wrote:Three years until the projected next generational transition is a long time. Woe betide them if they're late to the next generation party.

Next-gen starts when Sony say it does!