I believe it to be true, and I have no doubt that Nintendo will develop an extraordinary new product that has never been seen before in video gaming. Who knows what it will be? It will be interesting to find out.
However, I do believe that Nintendo really needs to step it up in other areas. Currently they have been catering to a more "traditional" gamer with games such as Kid Icarus, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Ocarina of Time 3DS, Starfox 64 3DS, among others. I really hope this mindset transfers over into the next generation and their next console.
Because I for one will not be buying an outdated and underpowered console with 500MB of flash memory and petty online capabilities. I don't care if it lets me fly to the moon, if it can't run the Source Engine, which my six year old non-gaming PC can run fine, then I'm not buying it. I won't to actually be able to play games. I mean sure, the 1st party Nintendo games are great, but there are only so many of them. 3rd parties aren't willing to develop for the Wii for a few reasons. It's underpowered, doesn't have a standard controller, and it doesn't have very good internet capabilities.
If it weren't for the fact that I hacked my Wii, I would have ditched it a long time ago. It's just not worth it for just the 1st party Nintendo games and a handful of 3rd party games that don't get lost in the storm (Monster Hunter Tri, Tatsunoko VS Capcom, to name a couple). Now I mostly turn to my PC for gaming.
Now, it may sound like I am flaming or do not like the Wii, but that is not true. I definitely love my Wii, and in the end I'm glad I didn't get rid of it. The reason why? It has an experience you just can't find anywhere else. Now, I know about Kinect and Move, but I don't think they are really going to simulate it as well as the Wii. The reason for this? Nintendo truly knows how to innovate in not just their hard ware, but their games as well. And this is what makes the Wii worth it. Kind of.
I have but a few simple requests. Greatly enhanced power (to match the consoles of Microsoft and Sony in the next generation), a larger hard drive ( At least 120G
, and better online. Now, it may sound like a lot, but it's not really. Enhanced power is a given. I just want them to ensure that their console is just as powerful as that of Microsoft and Sony. A larger hard drive is simple, just add a larger hard drive. And improved online is also quite simple. Just look at what Sony and Microsoft are doing. Their online systems, Xbox Live and Playstation Network are both highly successful and feature packed. You have profiles, tons of downloadable content including past games, game addons, and indie games. And a large amount of their games feature very robust multiplayer modes that can be very fun.
Now, things they should not do. They should not make their console just rely on multiplayer. Very few games these days to not have a multiplayer mode, and all of the others are very cookie-cutter in design. They are all the same, run around and kill the other guy. Maybe capture a flag or two. Now this is where Nintendo's vast and seemingly endless pool of innovation comes in. They could do something, I don't know what, to really make each multiplayer outing fun and freshing, a total blast to play. Different for each game. Now that is where they could shine.
They should also most definitely carry over the Virtual Console library and continue onwards with it, and really flesh it out. Why not add Gamecube games into the fray? They are at most 1.5GB unshrunk, and would be very easy to do. They could even go the Sony route and have your games playable on both your Wii 2 and your 3DS (if the 3DS has a virtual console that is, which it better). If they play their cards right everything on that front could be very, very awesome. And they need to add Gameboy.
Now for some speculation. The Wii 2/Wii HD or whatever, will be announced next year, MAYBE the year after at E3. It will have Pikmin 3 in HD as it's launch title, as it's an interesting game that both traditional, and more casual gamers could enjoy. And Miyamoto has said before that he thinks that Pikmin 3 would look way better in HD. And he does keep pushing it off. Many including me were thinking that an announcement of this game was a given at last E3. Didn't show up.
One last issue is the price. Nintendo likes to price their products competitively. The Wii was very cheap at launch, and the PS3 was very expensive. The PS3 took forever to take off, and now that it's got a great library of games and a reasonable price, it's making loads of cash. I'm sure Nintendo will once again want to price the Wii 2 cheap, and that means less things going into it. Which is the main nail in the coffin of my brilliant plan. If they want to price it low, it has to have less stuff. And since cutting down on innovation is out of the question, they will cut down on power. Though I am hopeful. I'm not really sure why. I know that I for one will still buy it, even if it costs me a good chunk of money.
Now, if you cared to read that whole post, you will see that my relationship with the Wii is a love-hate one. I love it's innovation and pure fun, but I hate it's lack of power and online. If they could just put innovation and power together, I don't care how much it would cost me (unless of course it costs me to much), but to me it would be the ultimate console experience. Till next generation. Maybe. Unless Sony and Microsoft do something better.
I really hope that you read to whole thing to understand what I'm trying to say before you give me negative rep.