With approximately 1.9 million Nintendo Wii consoles sold in Australia and over 30 million in the USA, Nintendo’s motion activated console has been a huge success. So what will the next Wii have?
One of the biggest complaints about the current Wii is based around its lack of high definition. While the games are often excellent, the graphics are anything but, with gamers having to turn to next-gen consoles like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 if they want their fill of good looking games.
But with Microsoft’s Kinect and Sony PlayStation Move both about to try to steal thunder from the motion-control world that the Wii controls, Nintendo can’t wait too long.
A new rumour is pointing to a possible Blu-ray drive inside the Wii 2. The current and only version of the Nintendo Wii uses a DVD drive, something it has in common with the Xbox 360. Not only would a Blu-ray drive provide access to discs with more capacity, but Nintendo would also have a high definition console on its hands.
Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto – one of the main driving forces of the Wii itself – has said in the past that graphics shouldn’t necessarily “make the gameplay experience better,” and he’s right. We’re still big fans of Marble Madness and the graphics for that weren’t anything to write home about when it came out in 1984.
Even so, we can’t help but feel a shift to high definition would be beneficial for the current crop of gamers, as well as attracting new ones.
Since this is a rumour, you may want to take it with a grain of salt. But given the Nintendo 3DS is on its way next year, we can’t imagine a Wii 2 is that far behind.
