Wii Successor Essentially Confirmed

[8bubbles8joe]

News is pouring in right and left that Nintendo is working on its successor to the Wii. Everything from specs to release date have been speculated, and here I wrapped up all the news I could find into one thread.

The following information comes from Game Informer...
- new system is capable of running games at HD resolutions
- system may either fall short of or surpass 360/PS3 in graphics, but it will be competitive
- Nintendo is already showing publishers the system
- late 2012 launch
- no word on backwards compatibility
- no word on 'Wii' being in the name
- when Nintendo was approached with this information, they were told that Nintendo won't comment on their E3 plans, but "stay tuned"
"Nintendo is doing this one right. [It's] not a gimmick like the Wii." - anonymous source
We're also hearing the same sort of information from another source. The only major difference between the two articles is discussion of another new controller.

The following information comes from inside sources at IGN...
- console is significantly more powerful than the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- Nintendo is looking to recapture the hardcore market
- 1080p resolutions
- Nintendo will release a pre-announcement this month
- full reveal expected at E3
- backwards compatible with current Wii software
Well there's a really interesting bit of information. If the system is backwards compatible with Wii games, that either means you can use a Wiimote/Nunchuk on the new system, or the new system's control scheme will be able to mirror that of Wii.

Honestly, I think it's too early to tell. E3 is hyping about it as well, and stated on the Twitter that we may see Wii 2 at E3.


IGN article: http://wii.ign.com/articles/116/1161875p1.html

 

[JuicieJ]

I expect it to be 360. I doubt it'll match PS3. Those are ungodly and used in movies.

 

[athenian200]

I figured that 2012 was the latest they could release a new console... the Wii is becoming dated, especially since it wasn't designed with HD in mind at all. Also, a 5 year console cycle is typical, and the competition is going to swallow them up if they don't act soon enough. You have to remember, the Wii was released in 2006. Technology has changed a lot since then.

I think it will have to at least match existing consoles in terms of graphical capability, unless it's just a hardware refresh to the Wii. People tolerated it last time, but the Wii was already behind the PS3 and 360 graphically, and they can't afford to fall any further behind without risking market share. After all, Sony and Microsoft will probably be releasing new consoles with even more graphical capabilities. I don't care personally, I'm content with SNES graphics, but I know it's important to a lot of people.

The feature I want to see most, is the return of a classic-style controller as a standard controller. We can still have the Wiimote as a non-standard controller for certain types of games, but there are a lot of games that just play better with a real controller. I would prefer it to be a wired controller, so that I don't have to worry about batteries or battery packs, but that's not the trend these days.

 

[Ventus]

This successor to the Wii sounds great. I doubt it'll pass the PS3 or 360 in graphical representation given that the Wii was standard definition at best, but I'm almost 100 percent sure that it will be a LOT more fun than the PS3 and 360 combined. It's a Nintendo console, and fun is Nintendo's strong point I believe.

I don't think Nintendo is really trying to capture the hardcore department. They didn't center around shooters (what most "hardcore players" play), and I doubt they will now. Sure enough, first party titles like Zelda and Mario have lived years and years, but I doubt they're ready to lay down just yet. Besides, there's more to games than just shooting, and Nintendo's current demographic shows.

 

[butterbiscuit]

I expect a lot of the information there merely to be rumors, but some of them may have some actuality to them. I have no idea how anyone got a hold of this information, so I doubt they got it all from a reliable source, but some may be true nonetheless.

 

[Kazumi]

I have to say, I'm really excited to see what Nintendo is going to do with this next console of theirs. I hate to say it, but the Wii is outdated now. I rarely even glance at my Wii, preferring to game on my Xbox 360 and especially my PC. In fact, the only time that I have played my Wii in the past couple years has been if there is an awesome exclusive that I just have to play. The Wii just cannot hold my interest anymore, and the underlying thought when looking at any new Wii game is "Why does this game look so terrible", simply because I am used to beautiful HD visuals. Now, I have a few hopes and dreams for this console.

First off and most basic, I would like Nintendo to include a Classic Controller, or something like it, right out of the box. Now, this would do a couple of things. It would allow developers to make games for the console that Don't use motion controls. That means that if a game doesn't need motion controls, or a dev doesn't want to implement them, then they don't have to. Instead of making some awkward controls with the Wii Remote + Nunchuck they could use the Classic Controller. This is because everyone will have one, as they got it when they bought the console. Second, this would hopefully put more emphasis on using just a regular controller, and hopefully prevent devs from implementing motion controls just because they can. This is how bad control schemes are born.

Second of all, Nintendo needs a better online system. This is a basic thing, that if they don't include the hardcore gamers that they are apparently trying to recapture won't even give the system a second glance, and will keep on gaming on their PCs, 360s, or PS3s. Myself included. Nintendo needs to drop friend codes all together and adopt a fully featured profile system. This needs to include a friends system, profiles, a chat system, a mail system, voice chat, game invitations, achievements, ect. That is the bare minimum to match what can be found on other consoles. Hopefully, Nintendo will be able to use some of it's magical innovation powers to make the online experience for the Wii HD even better then that of it's competitors. Not only do they have to make their online system a lot better, but they need to offer things like a fully featured shop that you can browse without having enough time to write a novel during loading times. This shop needs to have full downloads of Wii HD games, downloads of Wii games, DLC, demos, trailers, Virtual Console, WiiWare successor, and maybe even downloads of GameCube games (they better).

As far as specs go, Nintendo needs to improve greatly for the Wii HD. At the most basic, they need at least a 250GB Hard Drive (to match what can be easily found on the PS3 and 360). This is vital for the online experience, game saves, DLC, downloadable games, movies, images, music, and pretty much everything. It is absolutely vital for a next gen console. Obviously the Wii HD will need a huge spec increase over the current Wii. It will need to be able to render 1080p resolutions, display graphics at least as good as the 360, and process things quickly. If it's going to include motion controls they need to be accurate and intuitive. It's going to be difficult for Nintendo.

 

[Hanyou]

A lot of gamers these days, sadly, do not have their priorities in the right place.

First of all, why all the hate for the Wii? It offered some of the best exclusives in this past generation, while the pS3 and 360, for the most part, just felt like nerfed PCs. Looking over at my collection of games, I have Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility, Harvest Moon: Animal Parade, New Super Mario Bros, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Twilight Princess. As far as non-exclusives, I've got Okami, Super Mario All-Stars, Cave Story, and countless Virtual Console games. There are still several other games I want to buy, but I love almost everything I own for the Wii. The Harvest Moon games alone have sapped hundreds of hours of my time!

Not only were these some of the best games of their generation, but the Wii was something of an oasis in an era of indistiguishible grey-brown military shooters. I don't think I've ever been so unimpressed with a console generation, and my Xbox 360 has mostly collected dust (though there are some good games for it like Tales of Vesperia, most of them are older ones) while my Wii and DS have seen constant gameplay.

I worry that if the Wii 2 becomes yet another HD console, we'll see the same boring HD games that plague the other systems. No more JRPGs, no more platformers, just an endless stream of first-person shooters and "action" games. The Wii has successfully set itself apart from the competition by focusing on gameplay, which is why I've never considered its specs to be a detriment but an asset.

As for drawing in the "Hardcore" crowd: what's wrong with you if you're a hardcore gamer and don't play the Wii frequently? It has Mario, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Harvest Moon, even a quality Sonic game...all the classics! It also sports brand new games like Muramasa. Frankly, the Wii is indispensable to the hardcore gamer. To say it's not for the hardcore is senseless.

I'm bringing all this up because I hope the Wii 2 follows up on the Wii's offering: solid, classic-style games that are different from what the other consoles offer. If it can do this while offering HD, then that's fantastic; however, I would rather have Nintendo fade into obscurity altogether than become a carbon copy of the 360 and PS3 (and again, I say this as a 360 owner). So if Nintendo can appease the "hardcore," whoever that's supposed to be, while still offering the games I love, count me in. If I have to sort through first-person shooters to find anything worthwhile, however, I may just stick to handhelds this generation.

 

[00steven]

The Wii should be held in high regard. It transformed gaming and showed what you can do when you think outside the box. That is why it's Nintendo's best selling console.

With that being said, the Wii is starting to feel dated and should get a successor. The end of 2012 is a perfect time for this. The Wii basically only has Skyward Sword in it's future and has run it's very successful course. I would love to see some "hardcore gamers" (I'm looking at you Playstation fanboys) recognise what Nintendo has done for the industry, creating creative and intuitive games that have captivated people of all ages ever since Nintendo's inception. I'm pretty confident that the new console will do this, Nintendo's never failed us.

 

[Hanyou]

The Wii should be held in high regard. It transformed gaming and showed what you can do when you think outside the box. That is why it's Nintendo's best selling console.

Thank you. So many people seem to hate on the Wii for not being a clone of the other two systems...but if there's one thing we didn't need on the market, it was a carbon copy of the PS3 and 360. Nintendo truly offered something different, and also attracted brand new gamers. Criticize Wii Sports and Wii Fit all you like, a great many people enjoyed it and it was distinctly different from what the other systems offered. This strategy was also so successful that both Microsoft and Sony imitated it.

I hope for the sake of the entire industry that Nintendo manages to blow everyone away at this year's E3. I don't care about online, HD, or any of that, but they have to do what's necessary to stay strong.

 

[DeletedUser9]

As butterbiscuit said, all that information is rumor-licious. I'm sure there's some truths in there, but there's no way all of that is confirmed yet. Still, interesting stuff. I'm looking forward to what Nintendo has in mind for a new console.

I worry that if the Wii 2 becomes yet another HD console, we'll see the same boring HD games that plague the other systems. No more JRPGs, no more platformers, just an endless stream of first-person shooters and "action" games. The Wii has successfully set itself apart from the competition by focusing on gameplay, which is why I've never considered its specs to be a detriment but an asset.

I'm bringing all this up because I hope the Wii 2 follows up on the Wii's offering: solid, classic-style games that are different from what the other consoles offer. If it can do this while offering HD, then that's fantastic; however, I would rather have Nintendo fade into obscurity altogether than become a carbon copy of the 360 and PS3 (and again, I say this as a 360 owner). So if Nintendo can appease the "hardcore," whoever that's supposed to be, while still offering the games I love, count me in. If I have to sort through first-person shooters to find anything worthwhile, however, I may just stick to handhelds this generation.

I know what you mean. I am not that worried about it, though, as Nintendo has always set itself apart from other consoles in that regard. They've always pushed unique content, unique ideas, and whimsical creative titles. Furthermore, the Wii was massively successful financially, and again as you yourself said, they were enough so that the other console manufacturers had to copy them. They would have to be complete backward idiots to ditch successful strategies entire, although expanding past them is a smart move as they do not offer the (financially successful) options of the other consoles. Nintendo unique-ness plus industry standards? If Nintendo had both, they'd completely dominate.

I do think that the prevalence of gritty, dull shooters is more of a fad than a trend, and I've seen stylized or unique titles all around, personally, especially in the downloadable space.


However, I think Nintendo does actually need to put some energy into not being so isolated in the industry. They seem to be doing pretty great as it stands, but they can always do better, and it will not consume all that many resources to begin to implement industry standards that are used in every other console into their systems. This would be a wise move on their part, and they may start to lose momentum if they do not do so, especially with the other two console makers jumping on the motion control bandwagon. Inferior graphics has almost always been Nintendo's weakness, and while I still appreciate them not focusing entirely on console power and more on ideas, they're alienating many developers, gamers, and tools from being viable on their consoles. That cuts out a big chunk of potential consumers who would normally likely jump right on and get a Nintendo console.

I mean come on, there's a reason why the Wii's library overall, despite its amazing games mixed in, has a very terrible library. There's an unbelievably higher amount of junk on the Wii compared to the other consoles, and I blame the lack of proper tools and resources to make the games good enough for the average developer, especially when porting multiconsole titles. And classic non-motion controls need to be more viable choices on the next Nintendo console. I love motion controls but I need my classic "hardcore" gaming too.

 

[Sonicbowling]

I saw from a source that the Wii 2 will have hardware capabilities far greater than the 360 or PS3. So, yeah... I'm pretty excited for the next console!

Also, something totally crazy I heard was that they are planning on putting HD screens onto the controllers. That seems crazy, but I think Nintendo can do it.

 

[ケンジ]

Ah new rumor about the upcoming successor for the Wii eh?

Interesting find, though I already assumed these were Nintendo's intentions, though what I did not assume was the the release date, 2012. I was aiming that they would release it late 2013, because by then, people who have seen what it can do, will go nuts and preorder it.

But right now, I feel nothing about the successor, because I see no valid source about Nintendo's next move. But I bet they are just teasing us.

 

[Djinn]

I have to say I do not find this news all that surprising, the Wii has been around for five years now. Only people do not notice it as much since it was so incredibly rare to find for the first year or two of it's life.

First off and most basic, I would like Nintendo to include a Classic Controller, or something like it, right out of the box. Now, this would do a couple of things. It would allow developers to make games for the console that Don't use motion controls. That means that if a game doesn't need motion controls, or a dev doesn't want to implement them, then they don't have to. Instead of making some awkward controls with the Wii Remote + Nunchuck they could use the Classic Controller. This is because everyone will have one, as they got it when they bought the console. Second, this would hopefully put more emphasis on using just a regular controller, and hopefully prevent devs from implementing motion controls just because they can. This is how bad control schemes are born.

Exactly, the classic controller should have been "the" controller since Nintendo has been so deeply invested in classic gaming and keeping classic characters around, especially since games like Mario Bros Wii is mostly a classic game with a few updates for the Wii. The option for non motion controlled games would attract a few third party developers to make a few games for the system so that it does not appear to clearly be a Nintendo system with only Nintendo made games in mind.

Second of all, Nintendo needs a better online system. This is a basic thing, that if they don't include the hardcore gamers that they are apparently trying to recapture won't even give the system a second glance, and will keep on gaming on their PCs, 360s, or PS3s. Myself included. Nintendo needs to drop friend codes all together and adopt a fully featured profile system. This needs to include a friends system, profiles, a chat system, a mail system, voice chat, game invitations, achievements, ect. That is the bare minimum to match what can be found on other consoles. Hopefully, Nintendo will be able to use some of it's magical innovation powers to make the online experience for the Wii HD even better then that of it's competitors. Not only do they have to make their online system a lot better, but they need to offer things like a fully featured shop that you can browse without having enough time to write a novel during loading times. This shop needs to have full downloads of Wii HD games, downloads of Wii games, DLC, demos, trailers, Virtual Console, WiiWare successor, and maybe even downloads of GameCube games (they better).

I completely agree with this too, Nintendo needs a much better online system. The friend code things works with handhelds well enough but it seems almost primitive when compared to what x360 and PS3 are using. Microsoft has shown that if the online system is good enough then gamers will gladly pay to use it, even preferring it over the free playstation network. If they wish to stay alive as a company they will have to attract more than just Mario and Zelda fans, they will need gamers. And the "hardcore" crowd are the ones that actually do dedicate their lives around the game of the month

From what I see this conversation is really boiling down to a debate on whether game developers should conform to gamers tastes or if gamers should conform to the sometimes odd creations of the developers. Yes wii motion gaming was innovative and fun, but it gets old quickly and far too often people do indeed what to play a watered down pc game. What they do not like is the total lack of any freedom of choice, yes people love Zelda and Mario games but they do not like being forced into the situation of playing through a strange gimmicky controller because Nintendo wants ever so desperately to be "different" at the cost of alienating or outright frustrating longtime fans. Or even other game developers who would just as well make a PS3 game instead of needing to bother with adding odd motion controls to their game that they would not have to deal with at all with Sony or Microsoft if they do not want to. Sometimes people just want to play the game, not "Be" the game. I would like to think the success of the X360 and PS3 display this well, I rarely if ever look at my wii anymore these days too. At least not as much more than a netflix device.

A choice between classic controller and wiimote should have been present with the wii, Nintendo should do this with the next system. People also do not like having to make the decision of playing a shooter or some other game of a genre that they might not be a total fan of, but the control scheme is perfect and on an online system with all their friends that makes it a better social experience, or play an old favorite like Mario but have to put up with weird control schemes and sometimes feel odd for having to dance and swing around in their living room to play it. The presence of platformers and jrpgs vs. shooters on a system is not completely the system developer's fault but the companies do follow trends. And right now shooters are the popular thing, just like in '98 it was turn based rpgs, and in '92 it was fighting games. It is a trend that will fade for the next big style, thing is I do not think Nintendo can afford to continue ignoring the trends just so they can be different from everyone else.

 

[Turo602]

Cool, Nintendo took my idea of the touch screen controller.

But yeah, I have faith that Nintendo will do well like always and can't wait for this system. Just picture Zelda on a console like the Xbox 360. Wonder what that would look like.

 

[jugglaj91]

Everything I heard said Nintendo wasn't trying to recapture the Hardcore market. They Marketed the Wii and DS to be an all around "everyone can game" type of systems. I doubt they would put to much money into trying to take people away from their PS3 or 360 which most people who have them love them for the controllers and online for their hardcore games.

As for Backward Compatibility - I heard they would also keep this implemented. They wouldn't want to lose out on many potential customers who are just getting into the Wii to lose all that money spent on an outdated console.

Anyway that is what I have heard and I hope both to be true. Nintendo doesn't need to cater to hardcore players, they have enough with their franchises to do better than the same rehashed shooters. And backward compatibility is just a smart move. Sony lost a lot when they stopped with the BC systems.

EDIT: Not confirmed in any way. The PSP 2 was "essentially confirmed" for last E3 and it just got announced in February was it? or very late January. I am sure there will be one when Nintendo decides it is time to say so.