Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter is no stranger to the gaming scene. In fact, it's his job to guesstimate, speculate, and estiguess on all things gaming, and in his latest report (via IndustryGamers), he paints the future for all three console manufacturers.

First up is Nintendo, a company that Pachter believes will remain in the top spot throughout this console generation. Due to the Wii's "low price point, innovative control mechanism, and compatibility with standard definition televisions." Pachter thinks that Nintendo will rest easy atop the gaming mountain. And he thinks the Wii HD is a big part of it, as Pachter firmly believes Nintendo will introduce a HD-compatible Wii at some point, even as early as next year.

Then there's Sony and its PS3. Pointing to Sony's win in the Blu-ray vs HD DVD war, Pachter says the PS3 will capture "significant market share" through this alone, and says the company will take second place. Regardless, Pachter sees the PS3 and Xbox 360 sharing very similar market share at the conclusion of this generation.

Moving on to Microsoft, Pachter believes the company will end this generation in third, largely due to the console's inability to sell in Japan. Pachter downplays the "losing" angle, however, stating that he believes Microsoft will sell twice as many Xbox 360s as the company did the original Xbox, which, granted it actually happens, would be a nice feather in Microsoft's cap.

During a recent interview, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto was quick to stick up for Nintendo's latest console and its graphical capabilities. It's one of the most criticized points of the console, as you're well aware, but Miyamoto thinks it's more than capable of getting the job done, stating that "When it comes to specific points such as generating high definition graphics we might appear to be rather relaxed and soft on graphics," further adding "the fact of the matter is that Wii is capable enough to cater to the needs of these hardcore gamers in terms of gameplay content as well as the graphical content, so I really don't want people to be concerned about that kind of attitude."

When asked about a new version of Wii with HD, Miyamoto wanted everyone to know that Nintendo isn't behind the times. "the fact of the matter is that technology is evolving all the time and in Japan, for example in the year 2010 all the analogue broadcast will be stopped and shifted into the digital broadcasting. So many things are taking place and we are working in terms of the changes of the technologies all the time." So, Nintendo isn't totally out of touch, and we could see a HD version of Wii release, but will we? "I'm afraid we cannot confirm what we are doing today."

Of course, Miyamoto.

[Via CVG]

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter believes that Nintendo is preparing the duct tape for a new Wii that will feature high-definition visuals. Speaking in an AFP piece about Wii's bid to appeal to "hardcore" gamers, Pachter insisted that Nintendo needs to overcome the technical gulf that exists between its console and those of rivals.

"A Wii HD would really position Nintendo well, which is why I'm absolutely convinced there is a Wii HD coming," stated Pachter, who thinks the console needs to shed its "toy for my mom" image. Ouch. If you're currently experiencing déjà vu, that's probably because Pachter made this exact same prediction more than a year ago, when he estimated a Wii upgrade to be "two to three years" away.

For the record, we non-analysts at Wii Fanboy still think that's too soon for an upgraded version of a system that continues to fly off shelves -- and developers seem to agree.

[Via videogaming247]

So, get this: Nintendo, having had pretty incredible success with the Wii, is going to make another one! We know, it sounds crazy ... but so did the idea that we'd still be having trouble finding Wiis into 2009. Despite our fears that Nintendo will continue trickling Wiis out the door until 2027 – at which point it'll finally offer a second, soon-to-be sold-out color offering – former 1UP editorial director John Davison says that "Nintendo is currently showing early presentations of its next home console hardware" (according to "multiple sources in the game development and publishing community" that is!).

So what's Wii 2 (Super Wii? Wii Advance?) got? According to Davison, the few that have seen this mythical beast have dubbed it "Wii HD" – it's got HD visuals (duh), "a greater emphasis on digitally distributed and backwardly compatible content," as well as a familiar "emphasis" on what's in your hand instead of what's next to your futuristic HOLO-TV. With R&D spending at the Big N tripling since the Wii launched in 2006, we're not certain that's just a plain-old-Wiimote anymore. Our best guess now: a HOLO-ARM.

Nintendo's upcoming (tomorrow!) media summit is a big mystery -- which is good, actually, or there'd be no point to holding a media summit to tell us about new stuff. Will they show off a new Wii console there? Most certainly not, unless Nintendo's plan to increase Wii availability for the holiday season involves convincing people not to buy a Wii.

It's a bit more likely that a new Wii will be revealed by 2011 than by ... tomorrow. What They Play's John Davison reports that some developers have already seen an early version of the next Wii, something they're unofficially calling the "Wii HD." According to these shadowy sources, the new console will include some kind of "local storage medium" and high-definition video output.

Davison cites Nintendo's skyrocketing research and development costs as evidence of this new console's development, but we don't even think that's necessary. There's no reason to believe Nintendo isn't readying the next console. What isn't so easy to determine is whether anyone has actually seen it yet, or if we're being told what we want to hear.

[Via Siliconera]