Could Nintendo's next home console entice the early adopters/graphic whores?

[WCP]

1) Nintendo wants this year to be focused on 3DS. Otherwise, what would be the point of slow-playing and snowballing the handheld's success if a new home console steals its thunder come Christmas 2011. Having your two systems butting heads for consumer attention is not a smart move, IMO.

Well, if the price of this "Super" Wii is in the area of $349.99 or $399.99, I just don't see it really affecting 3DS sales all that much. They are going after two completely different consumers. I think Nintendo would love to just stick with the Wii and promoting their new 3DS, but they have this first-movers advantage right now, and they don't want to take the chance that Microsoft secretly has a console ready for 2012. ( a longshot I know, but Nintendo doesn't like to get caught with their pants down)

2) Hardware sales-wise: there's still plenty of life in Wii 1 and announcing a next-gen console release so soon will dampen any or all future productions and releases (not to mention profit margin) for the system in the next year or so.

Well, the price drop seems to indicate that sales have plateaued, and that it's all downhill from here, just a matter of how long they can milk it. Again, with the new Wii price of $159.99, I think that a $349.99 or $399.99 Super Wii would be going after a totally different consumer.

3) Time-wise: 2012 is perfect. Nintendo's not in any rush since MS and Sony won't supposedly release theirs til 2014 but they won't...but that's a totally different topic altogether. Also, allows Nintendo to start at a more affordable price point (i.e. $300).

The key word in the above quote is supposedly. Sure, the smart money says that Microsoft and Sony can't launch till November 2013 at the earliest, but I still think that Nintendo would be taking too great a risk if they wait till 2012. It's not completely inconceivable that Microsoft isn't secretly targeting November 2012. All this talk of them just getting started in the initial design of their next system could be a complete smokescreen.

The Xbox 360 will be a full 6 years old this November, and a full 7 years old in November 2012. I just can't see MS going a full 8 years. It's not totally impossible of course, but I'm guessing that Nintendo is being cautious as well. They want to GUARANTEE a full year all to themselves.

The bottomline is that a good chunk of these rumors need to be completely false, or we are getting a new home console this Xmas. It's absolutely obvious. No way in hell this much SPECIFC info leaks out if the thing is still 18 months into the future. Either many of the rumors are bogus, or start saving your pennies, because you only have 7 months to save up the necessary dough.