Thu, Jan 21, 2010 | 10:16 GMT

Wii HD is coming this year, says Pachter

wii2

Michael Pachter’s predicted for the millionth time that Wii HD will be coming this year, as is a motion sensor-based DS.

The Wedbush Morgan analyst made his remarks after a recent interview from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, in which the exec said the firm’s next handheld would likely have motion control.

“It’s unlike Nintendo to go this long without a gameplay innovation, and my guess is that they have something planned for launch within the next 12–18 months,” said Pachter.

“A motion-sensing DS is quite logical, given the success of the iPod Touch as a gaming device. I presume that they will give us something with the memory and controls of a DS and the fun motion-sensing chip included in the iPod Touch, and assume it is for launch in the fall.”

And what would be the biggest surprise of this year, Michael?

“I think the biggest surprise will be the introduction of the Wii HD.”

Since last June, Pachter’s predicted Wii HD is coming on many occasions.

But Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has catagorically denied there will be a Wii HD anytime soon.

He even said last week after Netflix was confirmed for the system that HD content is “no loss.”

Thanks, Industry Gamers.

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6 comments

Psychotext
21/01/10, 10:25 am

He sure is obsessed with that prediction. Good on him for sticking with it though.

ShakaCarnage
21/01/10, 10:25 am

I’ll do a him now.

This year, I expect Sony and Microsoft to launch their respective handhelds in October, both for under $80.

I am more sure, however, that I will continue to guess at everything, rather advise my investors, which is my actual job.

Blerk
21/01/10, 10:30 am

I’m still not convinced on the whole Wii HD thing. If it does exist, I’m only imagining it as a boggo-standard Wii with better upscaling.

SunKing
21/01/10, 10:34 am

Most people still have SD TVs; besides which, I’m not all that sure how bothered people are to play the Wii but just in a higher resolution.

I think Pachter is (gasp!) wrong on this one.

Robo_1
21/01/10, 10:40 am

He really is completely convinced by this isn’t he. Given the ludicrous sales of the Wii last year, I can’t see any incentive for them to rock the boat. If we see any new hardware this year, I think it’ll be PSP2.

AHA-Lambda
21/01/10, 2:07 pm

With Natal and PS Arc I think the only hardware we’ll see this year is MORE ****ing addons for the wiimote >_>