Have to agree with Zach here...there's no way that Nintendo would get back into the hardware race, and no reason they should.  I doubt that the kinds of gamers who are hardcore PS3 or 360 users would have any interest in owning a Nintendo console, and that market's too small for Nintendo to want to give up other markets for.

I think Metts is right about being excited about the controller.  If the rumors are true, I'm thinking Nintendo might be able to make party games or casual games centered around the idea of individual screens.  For the rest of us...I'm guessing this would be used in the same way the the 3DS uses/will use its touchscreen?  Button mapping, inventory in Zelda, etc.. 

If the rumors are true.

what do James and Greg think?

Oh, talking about James, wouldn't the controller be wicked for JRPG's?  Potions, spells, summons mapped to the touchscreen?

James didn't have time to submit something for this article, but to paraphrase what he was saying yesterday, it was:

"I hatez teh Nintend0"

Or something to that effect.

As long as there's new F-Zero this time around, I'm happy.

I do not think the next console will be portable in anyway simply because what would be the point of the 3DS?  Last I checked we haven't gotten a GBA successor even though it was one of the three pillars.  Not to mention full BC indicates disc drive which has been proven to be a bad idea.  Still hoping for carts and having a disc cart for BC.

They'll get a better console than the 360 and PS3 simply due to the progress of technology. Those HD consoles aren't even remotely cutting edge, they don't even have one gigabyte of RAM!

As for dev costs, no idea what Nintendo will do there but I'm thinking that more tech doesn't mean you have to use it.

Not this again. Did anyone really believe that 3rd pillar nonsense? The DS is the GBA successor, it was clear the moment they announced it. Now I agree we wont be able to take the full version of our tv games on the go, but maybe virtual console games can be taken that way.

That the new system is going to be more powerful then the Wii and just as powerful as the PS3/360 is really a non issue. It simply has to be considering the text each group are using. The Wii is what '99/2000 tech and the PS3/360 are what from 2004? Even if Nintendo used tech as far back as 2006 they'll be in great shape and be able to produce results better then the current two tech giants. The key here is shaders, etc and if those were current or near current. I'm not even worried on this front.

A lot of these rumors are very hard to believe though. So I'm just waiting for E3 before I get to excited. Comments from developers are meaningless in the end. I'll wait for results from them. Though I only want to get one console in the future I don't think I'll be rushing out to get a new system unless it's launch or near line up are very good.

Congratulations!  We have a winner!  Give that boy a prize.

This.

I don't see Nintendo trying to enter the hardware race because of a strong system, but because it is natural progression of technology. By the time all companies release their new systems the tech behind the current consoles will be outdated. Remember that the Xbox 360 was released in 2005 and the Wii and PS3 in 2006. That's more than five years worth of old technology and processing power. So if Nintendo is working on a new system, of course they'll use the technology available NOW.

Really, it would be idiotic of them to make a new system will old technology behind it.

In a lot of ways, I hope it is! The Dreamcast had a huge library of great games, even in it's short life span. Furthermore, it was light-years ahead of the competition on the design and hardware front. The Dreamcast was a perfect machine, and still the best console around. Hell, I own three and one is still hooked up in my living room next to the Wii. It even looks better than the Wii thanks to the official VGA converters that Sega made for it!

Sega's Dreamcast only failed for two reasons: Sega had generated a lot of bad faith and financial woes with the Saturn before it, and a lot of gamers fed into Sony's outright lies about the power and capabilities of the upcoming PS2 and held out for it instead.

The problem with using tech available now is you run into a situation where to mass produce a product gets more expensive and you are selling them at a loss. Nintendo won't do that. So while the tech they include will be better then the PS3/360 simply due to how much time  has passed it won't be significantly better then them I bet. It's not cost effective for Nintendo I think. Which is why I think it will be tech around 2006 or maybe 2008 at the latest. Most certainly not 2010 or 2011 tech.

Still find it amusing that windows CE was under the hood of the Dreamcast.  It was ahead of it times and definitely see why the XBox series borrowed some from it.

Oh don't get me wrong, I think MS and Sony will try to out do Nintendo in the technology front in the long run once the system is revealed. I just don't see Nintendo sticking behind in terms of technology for a second console generation. Even the 3DS received a push with its technology.

One thing I'm sure of after reading all the buzz going around the interent: Nintendo still owns the game industry, heart and soul.

I think Karl has it spot on. If the topic of the successor comes up at all at E3, I also expect something similar to the 'Revolution' reveal of 2005.

The talk of HD and all the other tech boosts is also kind of boring to me. It's all expected at this point, and the proof of the pudding is in the games, which to a large extent is predicated by whatever the distinctive new feature will be.

A Super Wii launch in 2011 would be super crazy, but not that crazy given Nintendo's current habit of shortened news timings.
Now, a more realistic shocker would be if this E3 2011 or TGS 2011 is the full reveal and the system is due out in the summer of 2012. Seeing as how Nintendo wants to avoid the problems of the Wii launch, would a quieter release in the summer be a nice move? The early adopters will snatch it up and than Nintendo will have plenty of time to plan a big fall and winter push. Also, this gives the Wii a little more time for its swan song with Dragon Quest X and other games.

As far as hardware goes, I only require that their new system has at least 1 gig of system ram (ram is stupidly cheap nowadays) and no less than 768mb ram on their video card.  I'm currently still rocking an nvidia 8800gts with 512 mb ram from 2006! Every current gen console port and multi-platform releases I've played looks and runs better on my PC. This is from a graphics card that is ostensibly 3 generations old in PC terms.  I'm not worried too much about hardware.  I just want Nintendo to make me say. "Gee whiz, that's neat!" when the system is announced.

You know ram is pretty darn cheap.  Be really cool if their was about 8 gigs of ram just to preload the optical media.  When you put in the disc it just start filling it.  Pie in the Sky would be about 64gigs and just run everything from memory after the initial load.

RAM may be cheap, but it's not that cheap. Especially not Good RAM and Fast RAM.

2GB ram unified would be more than I would ever expect from Nintendo. 1 GB of really fast RAM is what I realistically hope for though.

What I see in terms of reaction from Sony and Micosoft if the Wii 2 does become a success and out perform their systems is not so much a new console for both of their companies but a new upgraded version of what they already have at their disposal. The PS3 operates with 512 MBs of RAM memory, right? If the Wii 2 had a single GB of RAM I could easily see Sony releasing a PS3 Slimmer with 2 GB of RAM. I see Microsoft doing the same with the 360. All they would do is combine 2006 technology with 2010 technology and spear head their motion controllers. Of course this would raise the cosy of their systems, but maybe not much.


PS3.5 and Xbox 360.5 versus Super Wii in 2012.

That would effectively be a new console unless they provide free upgrades to current owners.  That is something that worked in the cart world because it could. Be part of the cart.  One if the advantages of carts was that weird upgradeability.

I don't care two bits about RAM or Gigawatts or anything. As many have said, I care about the games, and Nintendo knows that good software sells hardware. And since they make money on every piece of hardware they put out, they need good software to keep the green flowing in. I fully expect some of the more graphics-heavy franchises that skipped Wii (Star Fox, F-Zero) to be showcases for Super W.E.S. or whatever they call it.

But I'm much more with Carmine and Jonny here -- as speculative as all this is, I can't help but get all giddily excited about the promise of something new.  In a way, I love the anticipation-and-reveal part of gaming almost as much as playing the games themselves.  (On a personal note: I sure picked a good year to go to E3 for the first time. Whoa. Can't wait.)

All I know is that, like the 3DS, I'll be suckered into buying the new system at launch. Once again, I would tell me friends that "It seemed like a good idea at the time!"
(Edit: I actually like the 3DS, though. It's just that I don't want to wait two months for games that I want. A man cannot be content with Street Fighter alone.)

This is why I wonder why people think it's so crazy. Nintendo has a history, especially in recent years of announcing things and then releasing months to weeks later. It's possible they won't do it but it's not unlikely or impossible as some may think.

You see wrong. This would break compatibility with existing consoles, so its not going to happen.

I be stoked if they announce they're starting shipping at E3.  Though with the recent Japan problems I couldn't realistically expect it.

Machines wouldn't be manufacture in Japan though. There is also no reason why they need to launch just in Japan first. I don't expect it this year but would I put it past Nintendo to do something like that or push it out at the beginning of 2012 instead of Fall 2012? Not at all. Perhaps I'm to positive and hopeful.

True but, a lot of Nintendo planning, logistics, etc. is in Japan and I doubt their back to full pre-crisis productivity yet.

Sony & MS would probably shit themselves if Nintendo announced at E3 that Wii2 was already being shipped and would be in stores WW this year.

The internet would probably collapse from that kind of news. But I'm honestly not expecting any sort of news like that. Early-Mid 2012 is all I'm realistically hoping for.

Almost all the critical and unique manufacturing capability Nintendo on contract has is in Japan. China only really assembles the machines and make non-critical components. Nobody will be back to pre quake levels for at least a full year since you can't just magic up a power plant, nuclear for otherwise. Makes the anti-nuclear prostests in Japan real dumb. Japan has no choice in the matter, they need the power and Japan is already very power efficient. Savings this summer will come from cuts in production.

Currently for Nintendo to match PS3/360 levels of graphical and computational power is trivial matter at a nominal price. You have to remember Sony and MS had to over extent themselves for that power hence the massive subsidies and expense. Also Nintendo can't duct tape two Wiis together to make a Super Wii. The hardware is already be archaic and I don't see anything like an iQue type console happening or be something I would ever consider buying. Project Cafe is only a code name, it's not like back in project Dolphin had anything to actually to do with actual Dolphin or parts of Dolphin. I would read nothing in to it.

If you were to infer anything from the code name would be an increased/improved focus on the social aspect of gaming, but that is not a hardware implement or design issue. I would expect a massive improvement in the OS that wold drive a Super Wii.

I think the main factor in the launch date for the next system is the 3DS, Nintendo needs to get some good software on that before shifting focus to another system.

I am sort of sad they went away from Ocean related codenames.