Up until recently, the Nintendo Wii has been leaps and bounds ahead of the other current generation of consoles in terms of sales. Sure, the PS3 and 360 fare well with the more hardcore gamers and tech savvy consumers, but those two can't come close to Nintendo's seemingly infinite demographic for the Wii. But recently, it's starting to look like the enthusiasm for the Wii, which has been so high since it's Q4 2006 launch, seems to be ebbing. With a price drop looming, it looks like it may be time to start looking ahead to what's next from Nintendo. Square Enix president Yoichi Wada believes that the company's next big move will be a new Wii-branded console, and that we'll see it by 2011.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Wata asserted that not only would Nintendo release a new platform by 2011, but that the console would bring with it a new controller. He is of the opinion that the motion controls soon to be introduced to PS3s and 360s will have limited impact on the market, adding that motion control games are much harder to develop. And while he doesn't come right out and say that the new Wii will be HD, he all but implies it:

"Present game machines already have a lot of functions: they are a network terminal, a Blu-ray or DVD player, and a gaming machine. Compared to these three pillars, the [new motion] controllers are quite limited, so the impact may be small. They are an extension of the gaming function."

Launching a console in 2011 would be about five years after the Wii, which would fall in line with Nintendo's console life cycle. Doubtless Nintendo isn't going to have much, if anything, to say about this comment. Whether or not we get a new Wii announcement, let alone a new Wii, before 2011 simply remains to be seen.

[Source]