Though the name of Nintendo's next console, the successor to the Wii, has been labelled 'Wii HD' by gaming website, What They Play, and its claim that it will arrive in 2011 and boast "high-definition graphics" and "a larger internal HD with "greater emphasis on digitally distributed and backwardly compatible content," could have been predicted by any dumb-ass, it's also claiming to have knowledge that Nintendo has already shown early presentations of the hardware to the publishing and development community.

The site claims that 'multiple sources' have informed it that the successor to the Wii will retain the Wii name and that "Nintendo’s emphasis is again on what the consumer will hold in their hands and interact with, rather than the “console” itself."

WhatThey Play backs up its dubious evidence through further investigation into Nintendo's recent expenditure.

Based on figures from Nintendo’s annual financial reports, the company is currently spending more than ten times as much on research and development as it was five years ago, and since the Wii was launched in 2006, R&D spending has more than tripled. While this could be attributed to any number of additional projects, the level of spending suggests that a large project is in the works. In 2003, Nintendo declared that $34 million was spent on R&D. This figure steadily climbed to $103 million in 2006 (the year that the Wii launched) and the following year bumped dramatically to $370 million. When asked to explain the escalated spending, Nintendo representatives were unable to provide comment.

Could the additional spend have been Nintendo working on the DSi, it's new Nintendo DS model due out in the UK next Spring? Certainly some of the cash would have been spent on that, but such is the dramatic change in expenditure that it certainly does suggest that something bigger is in the works.

But, will "Wii HD" appear as soon as 2011 and do Nintendo really have a prototype out there already? Well, Nintendo is notorious for being able to keep its secrets fairly well hidden, so it's unlikely that we'll ever know the true story until much nearer the time. For now, we can just speculate and keep our fingers crossed that whatever the big 'N' has up it sleeve that it's as exciting a console as the Wii was, when we first heard about it anyway.

Source :: What They Play