Everything We Know About Wii 2
The Wii has now entered its fifth full year on the market. It first launched in America back in November of 2006, which means four years are behind it and the fifth is now beginning. You know what that means. A new system. Nintendo consoles have traditionally only lasted for about five years before the Big N has introduced a successor.
So, even more than we already have, the gaming industry's observers will now be keeping a sharp eye on Nintendo's movements, watching and waiting for the incredibly secretive company to begin to reveal more details on the as-yet-unnamed follow-up to its highly successful Wii machine (which, for now, we'll just call Wii 2). This feature will be our base of operations as those details emerge, and we'll update it dynamically throughout the next several months (or years, if needed) as Nintendo offers more about the system and we get closer to its launch. Until then, here's everything we know:
So, even more than we already have, the gaming industry's observers will now be keeping a sharp eye on Nintendo's movements, watching and waiting for the incredibly secretive company to begin to reveal more details on the as-yet-unnamed follow-up to its highly successful Wii machine (which, for now, we'll just call Wii 2). This feature will be our base of operations as those details emerge, and we'll update it dynamically throughout the next several months (or years, if needed) as Nintendo offers more about the system and we get closer to its launch. Until then, here's everything we know:
"Wii 2" is the name we're using to refer to Nintendo's next home video gaming console, the system that will serve as a successor to the wildly successful current Wii machine. We don't yet know for sure what the system's official name will be, or if it will even continue using the brand "Wii" at all - Nintendo's had a lot of diversity in its system names over the years, from the straightforward "Nintendo Entertainment System" to titles that have highlighted form factor ("GameCube").
Wii 2 has not been officially announced by Nintendo yet, other than being confirmed to be in development by key executives with the company in various interviews. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata began to make remarks about the system as early as July 2008, when he was quoted by Forbes Magazine to say:
"We are always preparing for the next hardware," Iwata says. "We are under development."
More recently, Mr. Iwata made further remarks about the system during a Nintendo investors' Q&A event. A transcription of his statements went live on Nintendo's official site in Japan and was translated by NowGamer:
"We are of course studying and developing the next console to Wii. However, there is a big difference between studying a product and announcing what it is and when we will release it."
"We are always preparing for the next hardware," Iwata says. "We are under development."
More recently, Mr. Iwata made further remarks about the system during a Nintendo investors' Q&A event. A transcription of his statements went live on Nintendo's official site in Japan and was translated by NowGamer:
"We are of course studying and developing the next console to Wii. However, there is a big difference between studying a product and announcing what it is and when we will release it."
We don't know that yet either. We could hazard a guess and say that E3 2011 would be a good time, but that would just be speculation at this point - and right now Nintendo seems to be trying to extend the current generation and milk it for all it's worth. In a recent interview with Kotaku, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime suggested that Wii 1 would have to continue to sell several million more units before he'd even begin to discuss a successor:
"After we've reached an installed base of 45 million here in the U.S., we can have a conversation about the next generation."
The Wii has currently sold more than 30 million in America, Reggie says, so there'd still be a ways to go to hit that target. Of course it'll be Nintendo's Japanese executives, not Reggie, who will make the call of when the announcement happens. And if you look at our handy timeline below, the time certainly seems right.
"After we've reached an installed base of 45 million here in the U.S., we can have a conversation about the next generation."
The Wii has currently sold more than 30 million in America, Reggie says, so there'd still be a ways to go to hit that target. Of course it'll be Nintendo's Japanese executives, not Reggie, who will make the call of when the announcement happens. And if you look at our handy timeline below, the time certainly seems right.
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