Rumor has it that Nintendo is looking to beat everyone to the punch with its new console. Whether you call it the Wii 2 or the Wii HD, the system actually sounds really interesting. And a little bit crazy.
This winter will mark the fifth anniversary of the Wii. While Microsoft and Sony are content with longer console lives, Nintendo seems eager to change things up. The Wii is looking more dated with every passing day, and a new console on the market could really pick things up for Nintendo.
Here’s where things get really interesting. The rumors of the Wii 2 aren’t the kind of incremental improvement we’re used to seeing from Nintendo. It’s not just a slightly better system. This thing sounds like it’s going to be a beast.
The folks over at Big Shiny Robot! put together a post with all the different Wii 2 rumors, so I’m just going to touch on a few of the more interesting ones.
First up: a six-inch HD touchscreen inside of the motion controllers. I have no idea why this would need to be an HD screen, nor do I see what purpose it would serve, aside from making the controllers more expensive and easier to break. At the same time, I think this has tremendous potential to be neat, for what that’s worth.
Allegedly, the Wii itself is also going HD. According to rumor, the new system will offer 1080p resolution with Blu-ray capabilities. That would put the Wii HD on par with the PS3 (at least on paper) and a step up over the Xbox 360.
All of this, of course, is still rumor, but Game Informer and other publications say that they’ve confirmed this info with their sources. While 1080p resolution seems like a natural, the touchscreen controllers sound a little bit crazy.
E3 is just a few months away. If Nintendo is going to do something big, that’s the place it will happen. Unless something gets leaked early, we’ll have to wait until June to find out more.
Josh Zyber
WiiHD? Will that be pronounced “Weed”? Nintendo finally makes a gaming system for stoners! 🙂
Dick Ward
I didn’t even notice! How appropriate that I wrote the article on 4/20 then. :p
William Henley
I thought that is what the Virtual Boy was. Cause that was only cool if you were stoned.
javier aleman
Can’t hardly wait!
Ryan Megan
Josh beat me to it
Chaz Dumbaugh
Well it isnt a rumor anymore, its official, will be shown at E3 this summer and its due out next year, bigger, faster, stronger than the Xbox 360 and the PS3 with a 6 inch LCD touchscreen controller that can supposedly stream movies and such to it from the console….sounds interesting, but is it too little too late? I for one am not trusting another Nintendo console till the developers offer REAL support for it, I dont even touch the Wii anymore because there is nothing worth playing on it, hopefully with this new console they will get all the good games the others have already been getting, but whats the point of buying it when the 360 and PS3 have at least another 3 years of life left in them?
Dick Ward
As far as I’m aware, only the existence of the console itself has been confirmed. I believe that the rest is true, but I haven’t seen anything official from Nintendo on it.
I think the “too little too late” question is a valid one, and it just might be. Of course, it’s hard to tell until we see what Nintendo has up its sleeve and how it pitches the console.
A Wii HD seems like its designed to appeal to more hardcore tech savvy fans, but that’s not the Wii audience. I’m imagining that as being a significant issue with marketing.