I asked around yesterday in a speculative report for G4. Here’s what my quotables had to say:

A lot of people wonder what the new console might mean for not only console gaming, but for Nintendo in general. Can the company win the “console war” for a second consecutive cycle in the wake of Wii, like it did post-NES with the Super Nintendo?

Ormond says no. “I think Nintendo is too prideful to see the real competition, and it isn’t named Microsoft or Sony,” he says, predicting that an updated and aggressively-priced Apple TV could obviate the modern console as we know it.

Pachter says yes, at least for a little while. “Of course they’ll lead. Microsoft and Sony won’t release new consoles until a couple of years after, so Nintendo will have a free pass.”  (more…)

Gifted with the clairvoyancy of a dodo bird, Alex St. John is anything but a Nostradamic prophet.

But like any dexterous doomsayer, that doesn’t stop him from making grandiose predictions. The outspoken CEO of the WildTangent online gaming network, St. John foresees a grim end to the console gaming era as we know it.

And he says it’s coming sooner than you think.

“There’s not going to be an Xbox 720 or a PS4, I’ll make that bet,” said St. John in an Aug. 15 interview with the United Kingdom’s Telegraph. “Not going to happen.”

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In March, Nintendo again defined industry momentum in both home and portable video games sales, according to the independent NPD Group, which monitors retail activity in the video game industry. More than 720,000 Wiiâ„¢ systems sold in March, representing the highest monthly sales total outside of holiday months (November or December) to date, while Nintendo DSâ„¢ also sold through nearly 700,000 systems.

Nintendo also finished with the top-selling U.S. game of March. Super Smash Bros.® Brawl, which launched March 9, came in at No. 1 with 2.7 million units sold. (more…)