Nintendo to opt for dual Wii SD and HD strategy

[imz]

^concept art (not real)

Nintendo is set to announce a US price cut this week, to coincide with the Tokyo Game Show, though no word as yet on any plans to cut the price in the UK and Europe.

The price cut news comes at the same time as heightened rumour and speculation about the possibility of a Wii 2 (or a 'Wii HD') being released in 2011, sparked off by comments from none other than the CEO of that other major Japanese gaming giant Square Enix earlier this month.

"Although a price cut is expected in the short term for the Wii, there will likely remain considerable scope for additional price cuts which will help extend the shelf life of the console well beyond what Nintendo has historically achieved with its TV consoles," opines games industry analyst Nick Gibson from Games Investor Consulting.

Extended shelf-life

The industry analyst also suggests that Nintendo could even follow a 'dual product strategy' with Wii, something that the company has never done before with its console business.

"This price cutting potential [of Wii] will likely be realised over at least three years and quite possibly longer obviating the need for an early introduction of a new console," says Gibson.

"However, Nintendo may elect to move to a dual product strategy with overlapping TV consoles (as Sony does) targeting different demographic and geographic markets. If it does go down that route then 2011 would appear a reasonable target for a new platform launch."

So there you have it. The hype and anticipation for Wii HD (or Wii 2, or WiiToo, or whatever name you want to start calling it!) begins right here!

The cost of the Wii will be slashed to just $199.99 as of the 27th of September in the US, according to leaked information from major retailer Best Buy.

We hope to see a £50 drop in the price of the Wii in the UK, which would bring it down to a very affordable £129.99. Though Nintendo UK is staying deathly quiet and not commenting on rumour and speculation, as ever.

source:TechRadar

 

[Maikel Steneker]

I wouldn't be surprised if something like this actually happens. It pretty much what Nintendo already does with the DS and DSi. The next Wii might have HD and some minor upgrades, with the core functionality being exactly the same.

 

[Rock Raiyu]

Let the rumors commence. Let's see what the creative minds think of this time.

 

[Hadrian]

Well they did well juggling GBA & DS when the DS just game out and the same with GBC and GBA when the GBA was just released but lets face it, even if they did have a Wii HD that could match up to the competition, most of us would drop the regular Wii in a shot for it if:

Would cost a fair bit though, to match up to the competition it would need to have motionplus as a standard. A good sized HDD as well as the power to go against the PS3/360. The power alone would make the price high and the console itself will HAVE to be the same price as the standard 360 to stand a chance and I dont see Nintendo doing all that and making a loss at the same time on each console.

I'd also guess that existing Wii games will have to work too but I can see the Gamecube part being dropped to save production costs.

 

[HaniKazmi]

I doubt this will happen simply because the next generation is almost upon us. Nintendo will want to compete with the xbox 720 and ps 4, and announcing a console now will not help that. I'd guess 2012 is when a new console will be announced.

 

[Hadrian]

Thing is all this is is one persons opinion on what MIGHT happen. This person has no other insight to what Nintendo is doing.

Its pretty much the most obvious thing that will happen. This is Nintendo's first really successful console since the SNES, its the only home console that has captured the market worldwide (NES/SNES were pretty much taken by Sega in Europe) analysts have just looked to what happened with Sony's PSX, PS2 & PS3 and just applied the same logic.

 

[yuyuyup]

Industry analysts don't know dick

 

[luke_c]

I still think its too early, next year maybe it'll be announced.

 

[wolffangalchemist]

wii is to popular with casuals and hardcore alike right now for Nintendo to go and announce a console this soon they will most likely wait till next year or year after next.
they should wait till sony and Microsoft announce there ps4 and xbox720 or what ever then announce the console you control with voice commands.

 

[Maz7006]

I still think its too early, next year maybe it'll be announced.

^^Ditto

they still need time to figure out the security flaws

 

[Heran Bago]

You know I would prefer HDD support probably moreso than HD support.

 

[imz]

Well they did well juggling GBA & DS when the DS just game out and the same with GBC and GBA when the GBA was just released but lets face it, even if they did have a Wii HD that could match up to the competition, most of us would drop the regular Wii in a shot for it if:

Would cost a fair bit though, to match up to the competition it would need to have motionplus as a standard. A good sized HDD as well as the power to go against the PS3/360. The power alone would make the price high and the console itself will HAVE to be the same price as the standard 360 to stand a chance and I dont see Nintendo doing all that and making a loss at the same time on each console.

I'd also guess that existing Wii games will have to work too but I can see the Gamecube part being dropped to save production costs.

I can see where you're coming from, but I don't see much point in Nintendo trying to outdo Sony and Microsoft at what they do best, Nintendo can't win. I think the price tag for a 'Wii HD' should be slightly more than a wii but should still be considerably less than the rest of the market so that Nintendo still has a unique selling point