Pachter Predicts Wii 2 Could Be In Stores In a 'Couple of Years'

Michael Pachter, Wedbush Morgan analyst, believes that a higher-spec, HD-enabled ‘Wii 2′ could be in stores “in a couple of years.” Pachter was responding to SEGA’s Scott Steinberg expressing concern over the long term future of the Nintendo console.

Pachter said, “I think that a lot of people consider the Wii a “fad”, and attribute that conclusion to the type of people who have been attracted to the Wii so far.” He went on to say that many publishers “don’t know what to do with” the new demographics of female and older gamers. “Also, Scott’s analysis presupposes that we have seen the last in hardware innovation from Nintendo. I disagree. It’s easy to envision a Wii 2 in a couple of years that runs at full HD, and has both a Wii-mote and an analog controller, so that all games can be ported to it.”

How would this theoretical console compare to current Microsoft and Sony offerings? Pachter says, “If Nintendo were to introduce such a device, it would be fully comparable to the Xbox 360 – perhaps it wouldn’t have Blu-ray, so a comparison to the PS3 may be unfair – and would likely have most of the same third party content as the other two devices.”

While this is of course all theoretical, the idea is intriguing. Innovation from Nintendo is nothing new. They’ve been innovating for years, and the Wii is just another example of the products of that innovation. If the ‘Wii 2′ were to come along, it could perpetuate Nintendo’s newly reclaimed market position. We’ll have to wait and see what happens, but I’m curious. What do you guys think of the idea?