Wii HD Coming In 2011?

The Nintendo Wii isn’t even fully 2 years old yet. Don’t tell that to What They Play who is reporting rumors that Nintendo is working on a successor to the Wii, which according to them is slated to release in 2011.

There have been very few vague details released about the new Wii system. The sources that What They Play provided had this to say, “While our sources are reluctant to be too specific about “Wii HD,” they have been able to divulge some (albeit predictable) generalizations. High definition visuals are assured, as is a greater emphasis on digitally distributed and backwardly compatible content, indicating that the new system will feature some form of local storage medium such as a hard drive or large flash memory solution. It has also been indicated that Nintendo’s emphasis is again on what the consumer will hold in their hands and interact with, rather than the “console” itself.”

What I find funny is that most of these speculated ideas is what gamers have been screaming for since the Wii was released. Probably their most credible claim is how much Nintendo’s spending has increased for their R&D department. In 2003 $34 million was spent on R&D, then in 2007, that number peaked at $370 million.

With Nintendo’s Media Summit coming tomorrow, there’s a very miniscule chance we’ll get some information. With the more substantial rumor that the new Nintendo DS is on its way, my money is on that being announced before “Wii HD”. It’s so miniscule I didn’t bother putting it in my Nintendo Media Summit rumor post.