Nintendo Rumored to Announce Wii Successor in Weeks Ahead

In the video game scheme of things, we’re in a bit of an unusual time right now, as all three of the market-leading consoles have been available for a long time. Prior to the launch of all three, it wasn’t unusual to see a successor with a couple of years of a console being launched, but as it stands, the Xbox 360 has been out for about five-and-a-half years, while both the PS3 and Wii have been available for one less year than that.

For the past couple of years, I’ve often asked myself when we’d even hear a rumor about the successor consoles that Microsoft, Sony and of course, Nintendo would be rolling out, but for the most part there’s been almost no information surrounding them at all. For those who are craving a console experience with even better graphics and improved capabilities, the total silence has been a little unnerving.

Well, if a current rumor is proved true, we won’t have to be waiting too much longer to see what Nintendo has up its sleeve. In fact, it’s speculated that the company will be announcing its new console in the weeks to come, and will have a full unveil at E3 in early June.

According to the same rumor, Nintendo’s console will indeed support HD resolutions, although it’s uncertain whether that will be 720p or 1080p. Given the Wii’s lackluster 480p resolution, it’s my hope that Nintendo will pull the opposite trick this time around and be able to support 1080p in some games. Given today’s GPUs, this should be more than possible.

It’s obvious that Nintendo doesn’t quite care as much about graphics as much as Microsoft or Sony, and it’s hurt the company none. People still love Wii first-party games, regardless of what the graphics look like. But on the other side of the coin, Nintendo no doubt hates missing out on top-rate games hitting other consoles, such as Portal 2, that are unable to be run on the Wii. It could be that Nintendo this round will deliver a much better graphics solution, and then give the best of both worlds to its customers.

Given that the Wii left a poor taste in my mouth overall (I bought at launch, and spent likely about 50 hours since launch using it), I have huge hopes for its successor. Until its announcement, let the speculation begin!

IGN is reporting there will be an announcement about this new system this month, and the system will be revealed fully at E3. “Our sources have said the the console is significantly more powerful than the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and that Nintendo’s intent is to recapture the hardcore market,” IGN claimed. This new hardware is expected to be released in 2012.