What I love about the games industry in general is the amount of guessing and rumours that fly around. Of course some are more credible than others and some are just plain stupid. We’re not sure where this rumour lies but it is just that – a rumour!
A ‘major international publisher’ reportedly told videogamer.com that we can expect a new Nintendo platform at this years GDC.
“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.” – Industry Source
“Our contact had no further information about whether the new platform was a handheld, home console or something else. The source also stated that he was sure of the platform’s existence, but that the GDC launch was a less certain possibility.”
It was only a month or so ago that Reggie Fils-Aime said that Nintendo believe the Wii has plenty more life in it yet, this could be true, it could be covering talk. However with the PS3 and Xbox 360 getting their own motion control this year, it leaves Nintendo with a much less powerful proposition in the market with their home console compared to the competition. Additionally when looking at Nintendo’s past history, their next home console would be expected around 2011 or 2012, not too far away indeed. Even so it’s hard to believe an announcement of a Wii replacement is due any time soon simply because it is still selling so well.
A much more likely scenario would be the DS2 or whatever it will end up being called. The DS has passed it’s peak and must be reaching near saturation point. It has had four versions and the tech is old. Iwata has even been dropping tidbits of information as to what to expect from the DS successor. Of course this can easily be untrue as well. It all boils down to how you look at it as the only people that know for sure is the top dogs at Nintendo!
One other option is a totally different piece of hardware? If you remember, when the DS was originally released it was intended to be part of Nintendo’s ‘three pillar’ strategy with the Gameboy and Gamecube/Wii. As soon as the DS started selling like hotcakes, the third pillar terminology was dropped as quickly as the Gameboy! Maybe Nintendo are re-announcing the third pillar again with the introduction of a new Gameboy. After all that is a very strong brand to just leave rotting.
All of the above could be true, then again it could (and probably is) all false! Unfortunatey we might not find out until GDC, E3 or the Tokyo Game Show, or beyond.
Thanks videogamer
