What Will the Wii 2 Look Like?

After the Wiimote revolutionized the way we interact with our video games, one instinctively wonders what the Wii 2's mote will look like. I'm guessing that rather than a traditional "paddle," the Wii 2 will interface with the gamer through electrodes connected directly to the frontal cortex via official Nintendo nodal implants. Will we control Mario and Luigi with telekinesis? Maybe psyonic Pong with gyroscopic contact lenses?



Okay, okay. I'm getting ridiculous here, but really, motion detection technology via webcams is advancing to the point where a controller, in a traditional sense, might not be necessary. I wouldn't be surprised to see something akin to a re-envisioned Power Glove ship with the Wii 2. The Wii 2 could conceivably use any number of wands, reflective adhesives, and household objects as impromptu controllers. But, beyond wild controller speculation, there are a few things we can reasonably say about the Wii 2.

Perhaps the most obvious enhancement we'll see on the Wii Deux concerns high definition video. Nintendo dropped the ball by foregoing full 1080p resolution and an HDMI port on the current Wii. 1080p and an HDMI port on the Wii II will enable the console to stream HD video and TV shows along with take full advantage of HD TV sets.

The Wii One isn't well suited to HD video for another reason--no hard drive. The future Wii will most definitely have, as a bare minimum, a 32 GB solid state hard drive on-board.

I'd guess that the Wii 2 will angle to maintain its current demographic of more casual gamers. That means retroactive compatibility with Wii One games. And, just as with the current generation of consoles, expect the Wii 2 to be cheaper than the Playstation 4 and Xbox 720. Microsoft and Sony's next gen systems will probably be supercharged in the specs department and offer more titles to so called "hardcore" gamers, but in terms of living room gaming, HD video and connectivity, the Wii 2 will more than satisfy civilian level gamers.

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