Sony and Microsoft have reaffirmed their commitment to their current generation consoles, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 respectfully, and made it clear that it will be 2014 before either company brings out a next generation console. Both Sony and Microsoft gave their current hardware significant makeovers, notably the PlayStation Move and Xbox 360 Kinetic respectively; both of which came out last fall.
Nintendo’s Wii, which was released in 2007 – just days after the Sony PlayStation 3 arrived at retail – hasn’t seen the similar upgrade. While it dominated the gaming arena thanks to its innovative motion controller system, the hardware was far less cutting edge than either the Sony or Microsoft consoles. The Wii doesn’t support HD and doesn’t provide the same streaming opportunities as the PS3 or 360. Likewise, Nintendo has been hit on the handheld front too, as Apple’s iPhone and more recently the iPad have stolen some of the Nintendo GameBoy’s thunder.
While the Wii sold some 86 million units, not bad for a five year old system, the company clearly sees that it can’t get much more bang for the buck – given that Sony and Microsoft have added that innovative motion control gameplay to their systems.
So what’s Nintendo to do? While, instead of waiting for Sony and Microsoft, this time the company is going to come to market first – with a system so far just known as the Wii 2. Nintendo will make it official at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, which will be held June 7-9 in Los Angeles. We’ll be sure to report the latest from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft.