Iwata confirms Wii 2 is in Developement!
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 2:08pm by Will Thompson
Is it too soon to be thinking about a successor to the Nintendo Wii, apparently not since Iwata is freely talking about the next generation of Nintendo Hardware.
Nintendo, as you might expect, is approaching things a bit differently. President Satoru Iwata freely admits the company is already working on the Wii’s successor. However, he adds that he doesn’t view the hardware as particularly interesting.
Hit the jump to hear more about Iwata’s depression over the new hardware.
“We are always preparing for the next hardware,” Iwata says. “We are under development. … But the hardware is a kind of box that consumers reluctantly buy in order to play our games.”
To that end, Nintendo will keep its development well under wraps until Wii sales dry up–in other words, not anytime soon–and developers run out of ways to utilize the system’s interface.
Nintendo, though, is in an unusual position. With the company’s huge success with the current-generation console, consumers are going to expect a lot from it whenever the successor to the Wii is unveiled.“Every hardware needs some revolutionary features,” Iwata says. “This time around, it happened to be we had a revolutionary user interface. Will it be the same for the next generation? I really can’t tell.
“It’s natural for the current customer to expect Nintendo is going to once again do something different,” he continues. “If the people are expecting so many different things from Nintendo, it’s going to be difficult for us to go beyond that expectation again.”
[Via Forbes]
July 29th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
woohoo! matrix head plugs!
July 29th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
huh… interesting…
July 29th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Actually, I’m waiting for the third edition of the Wii, to see if they are going to call it a “TWII”
July 29th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I was a lot more excited before I read the article (after reading just the title) than after I read the article..
But yeah, just in case this is meant for us to say what we want to see in the WII, heh, there’s your logo for it, the same as Wii but with the ii replaced by II (2 in roman numerals). Same name, easy to remember, just a different logo.
I’m holding out for a more powerful version of the Wii, the graphics to me are fine on the wii, but the CPU needs more. It could be a lot more responsive if it had that little bit more power, obviously if there was a bit of a boost in the visuals I wouldn’t complain but I’m pretty happy with what’s coming out for wii in the next 12 months.
Also, with the wii2, I’m hoping for more emphasis put on the idea of head tracking. Maybe somehow make it more of a standard ability of the console cause personally, I think that would add so much to the games, maybe not for multiplayer but still..
July 29th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
@Joshdad
More like Wiii?
July 29th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
You know what Iwata meant by the last two paragraphs?
“Is the Wii-mote a gimick? We don’t know. We’re still deciding whether we should keep it in for Wii 2 or make another gimmick.”
It’s a game-play feature if they keep using it and it becomes a standard. It’s a gimmick if it’s used once or twice and then discarded.
Gimmicks aren’t a bad thing of course. Super Mario Sunshine’s FLUDD was a gimmick and the game was still very fun (at least in my opinion).
July 29th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
@dubnobasswithmyheadman (man that’s a lot to type)
“Wiii” – That’s another good option. Let’s see Twii or Wiii. I think we need some kind of poll to figure this one out.
July 29th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
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July 29th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Holy Cr*p! So soon? Heck there isn’t even any new colors for the original system!
July 29th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Yeah no crap, development on new systems basically begins as soon as the last one is out the door, there’s a ps4 and xbox something or another being worked on also.
I just hope they keep up with backwards compatability, and use the same controllers. I;d like to be able to use all the periphials I already have still.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
they’ll call it Pii this time, or something lame like Wii Xcess.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
They were likely working on “Wii 2″ before the Wii was released (like Peshue said). It’s been that way for a long time. But I would like for them to mature the motion control technology before they add anything else. A system more graphically equal with MS and Sony would do the trick. They don’t have to revolutionize the industry every time out.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Wii 2 – 2012
July 29th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I guess they will keep taking the Apple rout and call it second generation Wii
July 29th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
I second Amir about that date.
How about WiiX2 for EXTREME gaming!
There’s nothing gimmicky about a REAL pointer. I would have to kill Nintendo if they didn’t continue with this type of setup on the next Wii.
@Jamie,
How can you say the Wii’s CPU is slow, when games like Prime 3 and Mario were instant on the response? The slow games I played on the Wii, were all horrid ports.
RE4 Wii was capped to 30fps and the Wii didn’t waver at all when running this Cube engine, where as the Cube and PS2 had frame rate issues. Properly optimized Wii games get about 60 FPS on average and look better, so I personally don’t see anything slow about the Wii, when I consider its target resolution of 480p. It fixed the bottlenecks hat hampered the Cube’s performance.
July 29th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
how bout ‘wii wii’ ?
July 29th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
@wiidawg
Nah, it sounds too french.
July 29th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Features of the Wii II if it were to be released next year:
High-Definition Graphics–at least 720p, probably 1080i, maybe 1080p (though I doubt they would go HDMI, so 1080i is probably the cap.)
Backwards compatible with Wii, GameCube, Virtual Consoles, etc.
No GameCube controller slot; must use Wii Classic Controller. For GameCube games, the classic controller is emulated.
Same style controllers (size/shape), only this time they don’t need MotionPlus accessory (it’s built-in to the Wii II controllers). To differentiate and avoid consumer confusion, they come in different colors.
Higher storage capacity for downloaded content.
July 29th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
At this point all bets are off. What would be cool is if all he controllers that work on the Wii also work on the next gen version. The same thing goes for the games. I want to take the VC with me. Seriously there is way more they could do with the Wiimote game play wise.
A system where core, hardcore, and casual all exist in harmony. After the motion+ I’m wondering what they could do to make that better. I’m guess it will have a lot to do with user created content maybe? The current GPUs in the HD market will be dirt cheap then. Hell they are currently. I guess we will have to wait and see what the DS next brings.
If nintendo can some how have 2d gaming and 3d co existing also they will win hands down. Including the most people possible is the best thing that also includes price.
July 29th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Nintendo will only jump to the next level of hardware when it makes sense to and when they can make a significant piece of hardware worth getting excited about. They push themselves to constantly innovate and with each generation introduce something unique. Due to their position in the market and the exorbitant cost of development on “HD” systems I figure Nintendo is at least 4 years from making a new hardware announcement. When they do it will have significant new features, but not necessarily “360 or PS3 quality graphics” because the graphics “arms race” has reached the point of diminishing returns. Photo realistic graphics do not necessarily mean better and it some cases it can be just creepy. While the next big N console will have improved graphical abilities I would not bet money on it exceeding the current HD systems and would not be terribly surprised if it were a little less horsepower than the 360.
I would guess it to have at least HD output as mentioned above since it will be the television standard and have significantly more RAM and storage space since the price has fallen so much on memory, but other than that the innovations will come in the interface. I think a camera built into the sensor bar could offer increasingly accurate location detection, Internet connectivity will be a given and be intimately integrated into games from launch. The controller will be if anything, more intuitive, easier to use and more versatile. Motion controls will be much more advanced and it would be nice to have a built in microphone, and perhaps some sort of multitouch surface that could emulate classic controllers and give developers as much freedom as they would like with button layout all while not intimidating the newbie/casual bunch.
These are all dreams of mine, but I’d like to think a few of them will come true.
July 29th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Maybe this would be good, a locater button, keeps going off until you press a button. Great if you have a huge couch that can hide it.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
If Nintendo is smart, Wii2 would need to be backwards compatible with the current Wii, along with carrying over your Wii account and the ability to disconnect your current Wii friend code from your Wii account so you could sell or pass down your old console with a clean slate. A smart move would be to also move over all of your game saves and DLC to the new system (since WiiWare and VC titles are redownloadable already, people could just redownload all of it if they wanted to).
I still would like to see wireless versions of all previous controllers made. TG-16, Master System, Genesis, NeoGeo (I believe the arcade stick is available right now), NES (wiimote is nice, but NES controller is truly classic), SNES (one exists in japan), N64 (yeah, the weird manta-ray controller), GameCube, VirtualBo… well, maybe not that. The Classic Controller just doesn’t feel right.
And I know there could be confusion of brands, but if the next Wii contains DVD/BlueRay (OMG)/HD visuals/etc, I think the old moniker of the Nintendo Entertainment System (yes, NES), would fit in this day and age of consoles that do more than just games.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
McHarborGuy,
if they can just reload games, couldnt they just download games their friends bought onto their wii?
July 29th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
My wishlist for the next Wii would be the following:
-MotionPlus built into the next remote
-More internal storage
-720p resolution
-Return of Miis
-Ability to move games bought on the Wii VC to Wii2
-Universal gamer account that works between games
-Fun Nintendo Games
It’d be awesome to see Nintendo phase out the optical format and give users the option to download games to remove the need of swapping discs. Maybe Nintendo will include internal storage in the remote to save player data and save files allowing you to bring your gaming profile to your friend’s house.
I think we’re going to see Wii2 have a DVD drive (no BluRay), graphics equal or lesser to the 360′s graphics, maybe finally the jump to true surround sound. I doubt we’re going to see the level of innovation we saw from the Wii in terms of hardware.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
“how bout ‘wii wii’ ?”
Sounds like an AMAZING name, for some reason…….
Meh, the Wii 2 needs to go full HD and have the motion tracking technology working VERY well .
But it will be so non “hardcore” that few people outside senor homes and soccer mom Starbucks groups will give a crap…. lol!
July 29th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
This info isn’t surprising. They probably were working on it soon after the Wii came out.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Well great…. there probably won’t be much new… but by god if it doesn’t have a 360′s graphical power…
July 30th, 2008 at 12:46 am
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July 30th, 2008 at 2:17 am
Wii 2 is going to get you high
July 30th, 2008 at 8:56 am
@Joshdad we would uhh like to uhhh play the TWII!
July 30th, 2008 at 11:39 am
No doubt, which is why for the next console Nintendo should focus on
having a decent size hard drive (especially in this day and age) as
well as bringing the graphic capability up to par with the “new” Sony
and Microsoft consoles or at least PS3 or 360 visuals. But again that
would not matter if the game developers are lazy and make horrible
looking games with terrible AI. Bottom line is as long as we have
fresh unique games it should all be good. Its not like these issues
have never been discussed before. We all know when it comes to new
unique innovations Nintendo is always on top and ahead of other
companies, however for mundane things like graphics and internal
storage (which really aren’t unique but they are nice to have
compliment those wonderful innovations) we all know Nintendo is
ALWAYS behind a generation on that. So I say again that the Wii was
pretty darn innovative, I love it, so I am not expecting much in the
way of innovation from Nintendo’s next console but I would like to
see the internal storage issues dealt with and I would like to see
superior graphics (because that could never hurt.)
July 30th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Oh…and lets not forget high definition.
July 30th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I’d like a way to copy over *all* game save files since Nintendo thought it was somehow a good idea to PREVENT us from copying our Smash Bros and Mario Kart files to an SD card, even though the Strikers save can be copied.
July 30th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Guys, everything you’ve been listing have been incremental improvements to what we have now. That’s not particularly likely to happen.
Or rather, if it does, it’ll only be because no one else is offering any sort of competition at all. That means that Sony and Microsoft would have to basically fail with whatever next gen parts they come out with, and Nintendo would have to be able to coast by on the current Wii hardware well past the launch of the PS4 or whatever they decide to call the next XBox. This is a possible scenario, but there’s a big risk that the other two will attempt to innovate, and succeed. A Wii HD with incrementially improved parts only works if the other consoles are just like they are today, only with faster processors. Sony and MS would have to be brain dead to do that though, since then the console wars would play out *exactly* the same as they did this time around.
Think about what the Wii *doesn’t* do. And I don’t mean graphically, as HD support is almost a given, if only because that’ll be the most likely display target. Whatever Nintendo does, it needs to go beyond what we can currently do in terms of gameplay. The motion controls were created to deal with a specific design problem that prevented them from making a specific type of game; namely accessible, easy to pick up games. The DS’s touch screen works on the same principle. Whatever the Wii 2 does, it’ll do to open up a new type of game that previously could not be done.
Nintendo is a software company as well as a hardware company. Anything that they build will be built to solve a software problem. What sort of gameplay are we limited in? What *can’t* we do in terms of gameplay? That’s what Nintendo is likely looking at.
July 30th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Good points Eolirin. Very good points and I agree. Yet currently as publisher can not release a 2d game and charge full price for it. What would solve that problem? No one has taken FP game play to the next level yet, what would solve that problem?
It’s also hard to gauge what the current hardcore actually want if you go by online standards and even the press.