Rumors of Nintendo’s successor to Wii hit a fevered pitch last week as multiple “unnamed sources” came forward to provide specific details about the upcoming console. Perhaps realizing the cat was out of the bag, today Nintendo confirmed to investors that Wii’s successor is coming in 2012 and will be playable at E3.
Unfortunately for us, that’s all the information Nintendo is willing to share at this time. The 2012 release date and E3 unveiling does add credence to those “unnamed sources” who pegged both of those points. They also said that the new Nintendo would be more powerful than Xbox 360 or Playstation 3, feature a motion-controller and a new type of controller with a 6-inch 480p touch screen that can double as a Wii Sensor Bar or a portable gaming device, be able to run 1080p graphics, and potentially use Sony’s Blu-ray Disc technology.
Rumored tech specs include a custom IBM PowerPC with 3 cores, AMD Series R700 graphics with shader versions 4.1, and RAM that will meet or exceed 512MB.
With E3 a little over a month away, we won’t have to wait long for the full reveal and, as important to Nintendo, which third-party developers will be working on titles. I’ll be on-hand when the announcement is made and hope to report back with my first impressions of Nintendo’s first HD gaming console.
