Nintendo denies WiiHD, dings analyst
Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 4:29pm by Sean
Nintendo’s own Reggie Fils-Aime openly declared to GameTrailers TV that the Wii HD simply does not exist:
Reggie: Michael [Pachter] continues to be the only one who believes that this is gonna happen. I don’t know how forcefully we can say there is no Wii HD.
Keighley: It’s not coming, period?
Reggie: No.
[As Transcribed by Kotaku]
And a ding at Michael Pachter! Kudos Reggie – but we don’t believe you for a second. Didn’t Nintendo just recently deny the DSi XL, only to announce it later that week? Sorry Nintendo, but your track record for PR denials makes them entirely meaningless.
…although I DO so love it when Pachter is wrong..
November 6th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Regardless of all that up there, I’m not even sure we NEED a WiiHD.
November 6th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
The thing about Pachter is he’ll keep saying this year after year until Nintendo releases a console that happens to have 1080p. Then, in 2015 or whatever, he can crow about how right he was all along. Worse still, video game “journalists” will be right there to quote him at that time.
November 6th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Of course Reginald denies it. What he gonna say, “Yes, Wii HD exists, but it’s a secret!”
November 6th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Honestly, I have no problem with Nintendo denying their future consoles even if there is proof of it. The way I see it Nintendo doesn’t have to answer to anyone and they will announce/release their games and consoles when they are ready.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Yo, WiiHD 2010 with HD Zelda!
November 6th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Isn’t that a double negative?
November 6th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Of course it’s coming out!
November 6th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
Why is everyone in such a hurry to buy another console? I’m not. Wii has hardly reached it’s potential yet. Why would Nintendo fragment its huge userbase to pacify the vocal minority of the online gamersphere?
The WiiHD debate is moot. The majority of Wii users, and a greater majority of potential users, don’t care how many “p”s thier consoles output. It is only the online gamersphere that rages about output resolution. The larger population does not care!!!
The vocal online minority makes a lot of noise, and reality viewed through the online filter distorts the truth. The online gamersphere is but a tiny fraction of Nintendo’s target market, which is and always has been THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE EARTH. While I am sure Nintendo has people monitoring the internet, keeping tabs on the gamersphere, they realize that vocal online minority is just a small subset of annoying nerds who will never be happy with anything Nintendo does anyway. Fragmenting the Wii userbase to placate them would be insanity.
Pachter would be well-advised to stop trying to predict Nintendo’s next move within the context of the past. The 5-year life-cycle of ever increasing graphical upgrades has become an evolutionary dead-end. Everything has changed. The industry is crashing again. I would not expect a new console from any of the big three for a long time.
November 7th, 2009 at 2:05 am
Um, if there’s an HD Nintendo console it won’t be a Wii anymore. You can’t just slap HD support on and call it a day.
I mean, they could do something that upscales SD to HD better, but there’s pretty much no way they could feasibly make an HD capable system without completely redoing everything about the internals, at which point it’s really more a “Super Wii” or Wii 2 than it’s an HD capable Wii.
November 7th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
yeah wii still has a ways to go. we’ll be seeing nintendo’s next gen system in about 3 years. and it won’t be called wiiHD or wii 2.0. it will be a completely new system.
November 7th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
The “WiiHD,” if it exists, could only be one of three things:
1. A full upgrade “Wii2″ console with backwards compatibility
2.A Half Upgrade “WiiHD” console like the DSi – essentially the same system but SOME games in the future will feature better graphics and enhanced definition. “HD” Features will be poorly supported due to the large “Regular Wii” Install base and (like the DSi) the first “WiiHD” exclusive game will probably take over a year to come out, or
3. Exactly the same as the Wii except with an HDMI port and up-scaling. Why not? You already get 480p/i/whatever with the right cables – and the Xbox 360’s first model didn’t have HDMI. Whatever. Pointless, but a “nice gesture” to graphics whores.
My prediction of likelihood? Reverse order of my list, 3-2-1 — If at all.
November 7th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
I’m down with an HDMI-capable Wii that upscales my games. And don’t call someone a graphics whore just because they want their games to looks less pixellated.
November 7th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
@gojiguy
I calls ‘em like I see em! If you won’t buy a Wii just because it “won’t make the most of your HDTV” (as I once saw it put) then you are, in fact, a graphics whore. It’s okay. That’s just how some people are – but considering the majority of Americans are still running on standard definition (from the last numbers I personally saw,) it’s ultimately pointless to play to that market.
November 7th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Well, perhaps not pointless, but little more than a “nice gesture,” and not really necessary. In my personal, “logged out,” unofficial opinion.
November 8th, 2009 at 12:40 am
@Sean, we crossed 50% recently I think. But only just recently.
@gojiguy, the problem is that upscaling really isn’t a replacement for proper HD capabilities. It won’t look all that much better than the component cables unless they completely overhaul the hardware, but then we’re not talking clock speed increases like with the DSi, we’re talking a successor.
So you either get a nominal upgrade that barely does anything or you’re waiting for their next-gen system.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
I”m ready for a new console generation. BUt only because I love new console launches. I’m nerdy like that.
But, with Nintendo admitting they began work on the Wii immediately after releasing the gamecube, it would be silly to think they’re not already pretty deep in development of the Wii replacement.