Nintendo Wii Fanboy

A "revision" is silly and risky depending upon how much they are revising. If they are just going to increase the internal flash and a few other minor upgrades, they should release it as a new model, not a new system. As in, put it in with current Wii stock and sell it at the same price.

I don't see Nintendo doing this on the console front. It's going to tick off everyone that has already bought a Wii and confuse those who haven't (see: Sony). More likely, the revision will be a much more dramatic upgrade and will come around 2011 or 2012 - as in, a new console. They could still call it the Wii, if they wanted. Just like the iPod,where the main version doesn't need a new name - it's still the iPod. I'd love to see a Wii upgrade with the power of the 360 (including HD output), with backwards compatibility with GC and Wii v1.0 games release in 2011 for $249. Small improvements could be made to the controls and options, but it would still be a Wii.

"Wii, with more power than ever before"

Reply

Your example would be more fitting to the Game Boy series

Yes; they were all game boys, and they all played original Game Boy games, but each one could do more than the last. But the point is well taken.

Of course, i think the only upgrade we need is support for USB storage, in all its forms

Reply

Anything is possible, but id assume before next holiday they'd have to at least provide us with a method of more space (external HD most likely). The other thing people are asking for (for some reason) is DVD playback, which I honestly believe can be implemented now in the form of a channel, and would cost probably 10 dollars (for the licensing free). Keep in mind the Nintendo DS launched November 21, 2004, and the DS Lite launched June 11, 2006.

Reply

Remember, though, this is not a handheld, it's a console.I think that they should release USB HD support and maybe release a 720p-enabled Wii quietly in a couple of years, but let's have them leave the power upgrades to Wii X.

Reply

Oh yes create another whole production line. Like they don't need enough of them already. Until they can actually manufacture enough to sate demand they can't worry about new hardware.

Reply

No.

Reply

Um...Is your name Reggie? Are you actually in charge of anything? Who cares what George Harrison has to say?

This is a vanity interview so he feels important. He's in charge of marketing...and hasn't that always been Nintendo's weak point? Bad ads, or just NO ads. Too bad this guy didn't get lost in the move to new york.

Reply

Marketing was Nintendo's bane back in the GC days (i think they did a good job in the N64 days, they failed for other reasons), but now i would say it is definitely a strength

Reply

I don't really see the point in revising the Wii, except for a cosmetic change. Knowing Nintendo, they will not add DVD playback built into the system due to added cost that will have to be handed down to the customer. An external DVD player and the ability to hook up an external HD can be added with firmware upgrades.

Nintendo is set on a 5 year cycle of new home consoles so don't expect any performance changes until the year 2011 when they release their new system.

Oh, and the marketing for the N64 was wayyyy worse than the GC marketing in my opinion. I still remember waiting for a N64 commercial to show before it's launch, but waiting for months after when that stupid commerical of all the games on train cars ran. Marketing helped ruin the N64 more than the GC.

Reply

For those of us out of space, it's cutting into their profits on VC downloads. I was downloading a good bit of VC games, but now I'm only downloading games that are worthy of replacing what's on the Wii now. I do have an SD card, and I know you can redownload them, but it's not worth the hassle when you're juggling a lot of games.

Reply

Also, more space would open up more opportunities for downloadable game content.

Reply

My only concern about this is those who have invested a lot of money into VC games. I wish Nintendo had tied the VC games to a user account instead of a single machine, much like Apple have done with their iTunes downloads. If your Wii dies, or you later sell to upgrade, you lose everything you've previously bought.

Reply

Yes, if nintendo made a patch that allowed you to back up your virtual console to usb storage AND run it off there that would be GREAT. Even SD would be okay, I'm already out of blocks on my wii, so i have to delete something whenever i want to get something new.

Reply

I don't think there will be a revision. The Wii looks really good as it is. It doesn't look like the DS - all big and bulky. I expect a storage solution for the Wii and thats about it.

I just wrote a story about what I think will be in the Wii 2 here: http://twibe.com/?p=1056

Reply

I think if there were any significant change, they'd sell some sort of expansion or "upgrade" along the lines of the N64 upgraded processor that a few games required.

But the chances of them upgrading the power of the Wii are probably fairly slim, so like some people pointed out, I'd expect stuff like more memory, if anything at all.

Reply

Hey Norm, the Wii has all the hardware needed to play DVD movies, it only needs the software. Some friendly folk in the homebrew community are working on a DVD player so it wouldn't be hard for Reggie to tell the Wii to play DVDs and then BAM, it does.

Reply