Nintendo to appear at CES 2011 with 3DS and Wii 2?

Nintendo has officially announced that it will be exhibiting new products at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show 2011 in Las Vegas as excitement grows around the imminent Nintendo 3DS launch.

The first time that Nintendo will appear at CES in 17 years, the Wii maker is expected to extensively showcase its 3DS device, the first handheld games console to offer glasses-free 3D gaming capabilities.

With rumours currently circulating around a follow-up to the Wii, gaming hopefuls are also speculating about the unveiling of a much needed upgrade to the motion gaming console at the annual highlight of the tech calendar that will take place in Sin City between January 6th and 9th 2011.

“With the gaming market expected to generate $20.3 million in 2010, the International CES is the must-stop hub for innovative gaming products, and will allow CES attendees to experience the future of gaming from an amazing range of innovative companies,” proclaimed CES organiser Karen Chupka.

“The Gaming Showcase at CES will feature the hottest gaming trends for the coming year.”

With the Nintendo 3DS officially announced by Ninty back in September for a February 26th arrival in Japan before a US and European rollout in March, the 3D pocket gamer could well steal the show at next year’s CES.

What Nintendo product are you most looking forward to, the Nintendo 3DS or the Nintendo Wii 2?

Nintendo to think about Wii 2 after existing Wii reaches installed base of 45 million

In an interview with Kotaku, Nintendo America Reggie Flis-Aime said that they would start talking about the next generation of the Wii, once the installed base of the games console reaches 45 million in the United States.

The Nintendo Wii 2, the next generation of the games console Wii, has remained a hot topic of conversation in the gaming media over the last few months. The sales of Nintendo Wii are now slowing down as the games console is reaching its saturation point in the market.

Speaking to Kotaku, Reggie Flis-Aime said, “After we’ve reached an installed base of 45 million here in the U. S., we can have a conversation about the next generation. “

He claimed that Nintendo Wii sold 23 per cent faster than PlayStation 2, and added that Wii has many, many more units to offer.

He further claimed that the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii games consoles were running in the first and second place in the United States, with installed bases of 43.1 million and 30.4 million, respectively.

Itagaki Makes Curious Remark about Nintendo's Next Console

Wii is approaching its fourth birthday across the world, with no announced successor currently on the horizon. We know it's in development but there's been no clue as to its form or any such thing. So when an industry figure such as Tomonobu Itagaki, former head of Team Ninja, makes cryptic comments about the company's next home console it makes interesting reading.

Itagaki, whose new game Devil's Third was shown off at this year's Tokyo Game Show, spoke about how the game's technology was scalable so it could be brought across to other platforms. When quizzed if this meant 3DS, Itagaki responded cryptically:

More than that, although I can't say this easily because I don't have any information, it's possible that Nintendo could release a higher end console. Something like that.

Whilst admittedly there's precious little information there – it's a little more than possible that Nintendo will release a higher-end console – for a developer such as Itagaki to be developing his latest game with one eye on the future console is perhaps a hint it's on the way sooner than some might believe. Or he genuinely has no information and is just speculating, or possibly a combination of both. We'll have to wait and see.

Nintendo's Next Console Will Leave You With Your Mouth Open

Is your mouth open? If it's closed, watch out, because Nintendo's next console will make you all slack jawed. But relax, we're a few years off. Go ahead, shut your yapper.

Whether it's been portables, controllers or even 3D, Nintendo has been a trailblazer. And according to Metroid co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto, that doesn't look like it will stop any time soon.

"At Nintendo we always have the obligation to surprise users with a new game console," Sakamoto told website 3D Juegos in a recent interview. "We have never done what others have. We prefer to create something new that catches attention, and I think this will continue this time as well. Surely the new Nintendo machine will leave you all with your mouth open."

Last year, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata stressed the importance of surprising people with the new Nintendo console — more importantly, Iwata mentioned how it was important for Nintendo to include "meaningful" surprises for consumers. "As for timing," Iwata said at the time, "it may be three years from now, five years from now or eight years from now."

New Nintendo Wii 2 Launching in 2011?

While the next-generation Nintendo Wii won't be featuring 3D visuals, it will offer high definition gaming - at least, according to rumours.

Originally circulating at the tail end of last year - as can be seen on sites such as Neowin - claims that the successor to the Wii would feature HD support were pervasive but unproven, but a small gaming news site has received what it claims is categorical proof.

GirlGamersSuck quotes "a bashful but reliable source" at Nintendo as confirming that not only will the Wii 2 feature support for full HD 1080p gaming - a feature present in the current-generation Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles, but missing from the Wii - but will also come equipped with a Blu-ray drive for high-definition video playback.

The inclusion of Blu-ray playback is an interesting departure for Nintendo: while the current Wii has a DVD drive, it cannot play DVD videos without modification - again, the only current-generation console not to feature this capability.

If true, however, the use of a Blu-ray drive does make sense: high-definition gaming requires assets such as video and textures that take up more space, making DVDs impractical, while the use of expensive Blu-ray discs makes piracy - a big problem for the Wii - far more difficult.

So far Nintendo hasn't confirmed the rumours, but with a launch expected some time in 2011 we could be seeing the company's first foray into the high-definition world.

Nintendo Wii HiFi? E3 2010

According to French site GameBlog.fr, Nintendo’s next console will be dubbed “Wii Hi-Fi” (not Wii HD) and is set for a reveal during the company’s E3 conference next week.

Claims from the French site say that the new machine will reach Xbox 360 levels of visuals make a very clear ping on our radars.

Here’s what GameBlog.fr are citing (translated into English) as the main differences between the Wii and whatever the follow-up will be:

•It should be on par with the 360
•It should not be called Wii 2 but Wii HiFi
•It will be very online-oriented this time
•Community aspects will be a big component
•It should be out around November 2011

Naturally, this is all hearsay and rumours just now, we’ve certainly not heard anything on this ourselves but if it’s true it’s basically what we’d expect Nintendo to do next, anyway.

Hopes are high for the big reveal of a new Zelda title from the Japanese company next week.

Miyamoto Hints At Wii 2, Wii HD

The gaming public notoriously gets its hopes up when Miyamoto opens his mouth: it gives us permission to dream once more, like kids on Christmas Eve. Only a fool would think that Nintendo isn't working on their follow-up to the Wii, but a high-definition console? One utterance from the big guy and it becomes a possibility. Not to mention his answering a question about a beloved franchise with anything other than a laughing "we'll see." According to an interview with GamesTM:

Technology is always evolving and Nintendo, just like other companies, is going to integrate those technologies into our new products as they develop. Whether that be a Wii HD, Wii 2 or an entirely new console, I am not in a position to say at the moment. I think that in the next generation of hardware, the challenge is how unique and different a product Nintendo is able to make.

Additionally, Miyamoto said that he shares GamesTM's desire for a Wii Star Fox outing, which vibes with an earlier comment he made to Famitsu regarding controlling the Arwing with a Wii Remote.

All of this is quite cryptic but no small potatoes after months of nothing but Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid: Other M. It's not that these efforts are anything to sneeze at, but when Miyamoto adds a little extra fuel to the rumour mill, we can all feel the warmth.

Nintendo might have new hardware to show at GDC in March

With two sales and culture-dominating pieces of hardware on the market already (Wii and DS), it seems unlikely that Nintendo would reveal a new piece of hardware any time soon, but a tipster says that just might happen.

Videogamer received a tip from an industry-person making some pretty bold claims about Nintendo's immediate future. The tip read:

"Just heard a rumour that you may be interested in: Nintendo are going to announce a new platform at GDC. Some devs have already started work on it."

Well now, that's quite a statement. Might it hold weight? Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has, in the past, hinted at revamps to the Wii, possibly to include HD output or DVD playback, but nothing definitive.

What do you think Nintendo will show next month in San Francisco at GDC? Something new? Nothing at all?