Wii gamers yearning for something better than 480p may get their wishes
It’s no secret that the Wii isn’t a technical powerhouse, but even knowing that fact can’t help some to become used to the console’s decidedly less-than-sharp graphics, especially when the console is connected to a high-definition display.
Even if the Wii’s ATI-based graphics processing unit doesn’t feature the same roster of special effects that of the chips inside the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the console could still benefit from a resolution increase.
Could a new, upgraded Wii that outputs in high-definition be in the works? Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter thinks so.
"Consumers may hope for improved graphics, and my guess is that Nintendo will comply," said Pachter in an email to GamePro. "In two or three years, commodity prices for graphics processors and CPUs may decline to the point that a High Definition Wii could be introduced. If so, Nintendo will likely introduce one."
Nintendo is no stranger to releasing upgraded iterations of its consoles. The most recent example of this is the Nintendo DS, which saw an initial release form of a bulky, sturdy folding brick, and later reinvented into the DS Lite, a sleek, shiny iPod-like fun machine. Considering Nintendo’s great success with this strategy, it should not be surprising to learn that the games maker could be plotting a similar strategy for the Wii.
In a previous interview, Nintendo of America VP Perrin Kaplan was asked if a similar ‘hardware revision model’ would apply to the Wii, to which she replied succinctly, “Sure, absolutely. You'll see the ways in which we do that.â€
