I know the Wii has been moving along solely on the inertia of its existing library for years now, and that's only a good thing for Nintendo because it means they can rake in money without creating new games. But how is that a good thing from the perspective of fans? For new Wii owners, sure, there's a backlog of games to keep them entertained for awhile, but what about those who have had the Wii for a long time and played all there is to play? What else is there for us to look forward to?
That said, here is what I am predicting Reggie is going to unveil for the Wii at E3:
- Production on the regular Wii model will cease, and the gimped GC-less horizontal only model will be exclusively produced from here on out.
- The MSRP of the Wii will be dropped to $99.99 and there it will remain for the remainder of its life. This will match it with the price of the PS2 which is also still in production and selling steadily.
- Just as Sony with the PS2, Nintendo will continue to manufacture and sell the Wii for as long as people continue to buy it. This will probably be several years into the future.
- There may be one or two last hurrah games unveiled, but that will probably be it from Nintendo. They may also possibly release one or two more operation rainfall games, but if they do they would see a limited release with little or no marketing just like Xenoblade Chronicles.
- Possibly some new system colors.
- The Nintendo Selects budget lineup will be expanded to include more recent Wii hit titles, such as SMG2, NSMB, and DKCR, and eventually (not anytime soon) Zelda SS.
- 3rd parties will also continue to milk off the Wii's casual market with low budget low quality dance, fitness, carnival, etc. casual games. Whatever the final Wii game ends up being, it will probably end up being one of these.
That's about all I can predict happening with the Wii from here on out. Like I said, its not much for existing Wii owners to look forward to, but its still a cash cow that Nintendo can milk off of for the foreseeable future.