Is there are "Wii HD" due in 2011? That is what blog "What they play - the parents guide to gaming" are claiming in a recent post. The blog name and its focus, may seem to suggest that this is pure bullshit, but behind the post is John Davison, formerly of EGM, and if anyone has contacts in the US industry he has. The source is therefore very credible, but the information is far from sensational.
But to anyone who knows how Nintendo typically conduct their business showing third parties, and developers something due for release in 2011 at this point is just not on the map. At all. But perhaps that is not exactly what What they play are claiming either... "early presenation" could just mean "a couple of powerpoints".
The details are extremely generalised. HD visuals... well, in 3 years I don't think they could possibly avoid this. Increased focus on digital distribution. Another given. If they were to say "we are opting out of digital distribution entirely" that would be news. A larger hard drive or local storage medium... well, given the success of Virtual Console we would like to see that on Wii now thank you very much.
The blog then goes on to provide evidence for the claims, by quoting Nintendo R&D numbers. And I'm sure Nintendo is doing a lot of R&D... and a new console 5 years after launching the Wii. Not unheard of in the gaming industry.
The only real valuable piece of news I can derive out of this is that if it is indeed true that Nintendo have approached third parties and developers with this information (although very general) it is a prenounced change in attitude from a company that told almost no developers about the Wii Motion Plus until they showed it at this year's E3. And as for the name, do any of you really believe "Wii HD" will be the name of Nintendo's next console? I think it is more likely to be called Wiii... and that's not very likely either.
So my take is... true, but nothing really exciting in terms of the actual facts. However, I don't think Nintendo has really cemented any plans for "Wii HD" at this point. They are sitting pretty and have no need to make a move until the competition does.