Pachter's Podium: Why Wii HD is a 'Must,' Xbox 360's Third Place Finish This Holiday and More

Pachter is crazy. No Wii HD is coming.

None of Nintendo's big hits would benefit from HD. Wii owners who want 360/Ps3 games also have a 360/Ps3. New Wii HD with enough power to play 360/PS3 ports would be costly (for consumers and Nintendo) and split the install base and would still be inferior in number of games made for it and features like Xbox Live or BR.

No Nintendo will do just fine being a complementary system for core gamers and the first choice for the rest of the masses. Many gamers that don't have a Wii will pick one up when the price drops. Nintendo's 1st party stuff is worth playing and after nearly 3 years there's quite a few of those titles. Plus there's a few good 3rd party titles as well.

They'll save HD for the Wii 2. My guess is then Nintendo will have comparable power again because Ms and Sony will be less likely to make the big costly bets on processing power they did this generation because those bets haven't paid off.

You could be right trip1ex, but I can certainly envision the scenario Pachter is talking about too. There are pros and cons to both. The bottom line is Nintendo has seen Wii sales dropping quite a bit this year, especially in the last 5 months (50% decline). They likely will cut the price, and if that helps them out enough then perhaps they don't bother with a Wii HD. Somehow I suspect that the decline they've seen is not just tied to the $249 price though.

I can think of a few Nintendo IPs that would benefit from a HD upgrade: Metroid, Starfox/Starwing and Super Smash Bros. are the first to mind. Not only do Nintendo need to catch up with HD graphics but with DLC as well. Both of Nintendo's rivals have hard drives built into their home consoles and Microsoft are selling aging 360 retail titles through its Games on Demand service. Having already experimented with releasing old titles through Virtual Console, I'd be surprised if the Wii HD doesn't come with a hard drive that is less than 80GB, preferably 120GB, and doesn't sell retail GameCube and Wii titles digitally.

I think the idea that Wii players will grow more 'sophisticated' and suddenly want to play BioShock and GTA (the height of a sophistication) shows that Pachter understands the casual gaming audience about as well as the fact that he is certain Nintendo should focus on HD as their next big feature shows he understands Nintendo.

Casual gamers don't want to play the same game for hours, shoot things, etc., they want a quick fix. Nintendo has made itself strong by innovating, not following what others are doing.

The next Nintendo console may have HD, but I would be quite surprised if that was actually the selling point. I expect that by then, it will be as much of a selling point as the fact that Nintendo plugs into your TV now is.

And for those looking for more 'sophisticated' game experiences, the Wii actually does have several excellent titles already for those core gamers to play when they get bored of their 360's and PS3's, such as RE4, Fire Emblem, Mario, Zelda, No More Heroes, etc...

Pachter, what do you think the traditional video game companies will do faced with the social games business model where virtual items and goods are rapidly growing? Is there a longer term threat from these "video game light" products and services? Regards, Mark