Nintendo officially confirms Wii successor

Brian Ambrozy 25 Apr, 2011 at 12:34pm ET Article published in Gaming

Nintendo issued a press release today confirming that they will be unveiling a new home console, the successor to the Wii, at E3 2011 this June in Los Angeles.

They haven’t said much else, beyond the fact that it will be playable at E3, and it will be available for purchase in 2012. According to reports, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata dropped hints that 3D is not a focus for the console due to lack of uptake in 3D television technology in the home.

Icrontic will have lucky bast…. errr…. reporters on scene at E3 to give you all the goods as Nintendo announces them. In the meantime, check out this excellent roundup of Nintendo rumors from Sidequesting.

Comments

25 Apr 2011 ~ 12:45pm vinsanity0723 I wonder if Nintendo intended to release this info before E3 or they were just forced to based on the amount of rumors flying around.
25 Apr 2011 ~ 12:46pm primesuspect It lines up with their investors call. Wii sales have been poor. They needed to tell their investors something. Can't do that without the public finding out. Better to just make it an official announcement.
25 Apr 2011 ~ 12:55pm AlexDeGruven The rumor mill can be a dangerous place, and can create ill will toward a company if the release doesn't live up to the completely unfounded speculation.

By stating "We're going to show you what the new one will do in a little over a month", they can slow the rumors and create the expectation that all will be revealed.

Few things can kill a product faster than extreme expectations that are not met.

Edit: Also, it helps to build anticipation by putting a (however nebulous) release date. Wii sales have been flagging of late, but so have sales for the other two consoles. I'd be surprised if we didn't see some sort of announcement from Sony and/or Microsoft about at least a partial refresh of the platform sometime in 2012.
25 Apr 2011 ~ 5:14pm GHoosdum Unless they actually increase the hardware spec for this next generation, the only advance in control that Nintendo can accomplish is the next logical step: MIND CONTROL.
25 Apr 2011 ~ 5:20pm primesuspect If you read the rumors, and most of them are looking pretty solid (leaked slides from developer conferences, etc.), the advance will be a whole new handheld model of gaming: Each player has a full console in the palm of their hand. You can choose to play on the big TV, or run the console headless and stream the entire HD stream to your controller (which has an HD screen on it)
25 Apr 2011 ~ 5:50pm Winfrey If that's the case, they better call it the Pii-Wii.
25 Apr 2011 ~ 6:39pm Cliff_Forster Seriously, what entertainment company has innovated more in the last several years than Nintendo? I can't wait to see what they will do next.
25 Apr 2011 ~ 7:58pm Tim The new console will be called the Woo. Short for "Wii 2".
26 Apr 2011 ~ 1:34am NiGHTS P-NES.

Can't wait to spend $150 per controller.
26 Apr 2011 ~ 12:02pm GHoosdum WiiDS?
26 Apr 2011 ~ 12:02pm Thrax WiiS?
26 Apr 2011 ~ 12:20pm cola I stuck a Wii sticker on my DS and called it a WiiS
26 Apr 2011 ~ 1:17pm CB (That's what she said!)
26 Apr 2011 ~ 4:08pm UPSLynx Am I the only one that could not give a crap about screens in the controllers? The controllers will be expensive, likely fragile, and bulky either in size or weight.

I don't know. The thought of it seems to me like they're just trying too hard to differentiate.

But hey, it'll remove split screen "Screen peek", but the Wii didn't really have any games where that became a problem anyways.

I'll still pay close attention to this regardless, and I will probably end up buying it, but these are just the thoughts that I've had.
26 Apr 2011 ~ 4:10pm AlexDeGruven I'm withholding judgement until I get my hands on it (hopefully) at E3. It seems like one of those things that could be a fantastic idea if executed properly. The problem is, that execution is exceedingly difficult and it's really easy to miss the mark.
26 Apr 2011 ~ 4:23pm Cliff_Forster Nintendo will differentiate, then Sony and Microsoft will do their best to copy its success. Bobby, why would you assume the controllers to be fragile? You know full well, if any console manufacturer builds em to last its the big N.

I honestly can't wait to see it.
26 Apr 2011 ~ 4:30pm Snarkasm Haven't wanted a Nintendo system yet. Don't think I'll start now. Just me.
26 Apr 2011 ~ 4:33pm GHoosdum

UPSLynx wrote:

Am I the only one that could not give a crap about screens in the controllers? The controllers will be expensive, likely fragile, and bulky either in size or weight.

I don't know. The thought of it seems to me like they're just trying too hard to differentiate.

But hey, it'll remove split screen "Screen peek", but the Wii didn't really have any games where that became a problem anyways.

I'll still pay close attention to this regardless, and I will probably end up buying it, but these are just the thoughts that I've had.

You're only allowed to buy it if they stick with AMD for graphics (ooh maybe they'll use an APU in this gen) - if they choose nVidia this time and you buy it, that would be like a Ben & Jerry's employee buying Dippin Dots.
26 Apr 2011 ~ 6:29pm UPSLynx

GHoosdum wrote:

You're only allowed to buy it if they stick with AMD for graphics (ooh maybe they'll use an APU in this gen) - if they choose nVidia this time and you buy it, that would be like a Ben & Jerry's employee buying Dippin Dots.

Haha. Rumors point to them going with AMD once again, so I don't think I have to worry about that. We roll deep with the big N.

Bobby, why would you assume the controllers to be fragile? You know full well, if any console manufacturer builds em to last its the big N.

Well, I dunno, it's a frigging HD display? It only has to be the slightest bit fragile to present problems. Think of any console controller you've ever had ever. They get banged around, dropped, kicked, shaken, stepped on, spilled on, Lord knows what else. The consoles stay safe because they're away from the users, sitting in an entertainment center or something. The controlers are always in the danger zone, and they're constantly getting messed with. Nintendo has done well with durability (especially considering the Wiimotes getting thrown around all the time), but HD displays are a different ballgame.
26 Apr 2011 ~ 6:51pm _k
26 Apr 2011 ~ 7:17pm GHoosdum I saw a grainy photo of some kind of pre-release material that said each controller would be representing 1/4 of the HD display - so each would be roughly 480x270px; that's somewhere between QVGA and HVGA, or roughly between a palm pilot and an iPhone in resolution.
26 Apr 2011 ~ 7:36pm UPSHitman awww I am going to miss all the "playing with my Wii" jokes... HAHAHAHAHAA
26 Apr 2011 ~ 8:58pm NiGHTS

Snarkasm wrote:

Haven't wanted a Nintendo system yet. Don't think I'll start now. Just me.

You're not alone, but in the last generation's case it was mostly because we weren't the target market.

Am I the only one that could not give a crap about screens in the controllers?

No. I see some interesting possibilities for control schemes in games, since essentially it sounds like a blank 6'' touchscreen slate to do whatever on, but it will likely become just as gimmicky as the Wii remote did (outside of first party titles).
24 Apr 2018 ~ 1:51pm primesuspect

@primesuspect said:
If you read the rumors, and most of them are looking pretty solid (leaked slides from developer conferences, etc.), the advance will be a whole new handheld model of gaming: Each player has a full console in the palm of their hand. You can choose to play on the big TV, or run the console headless and stream the entire HD stream to your controller (which has an HD screen on it)

That's the Switch, Brian. You're describing the Switch.