A national survey (of the US) was carried out with the intent to find out how many gamers want to purchase the Wii 2 based on everything we know about it at this stage (or at least, everything that rumours lead us to believe we know). The results were as follows:

• 27% intend to purchase the console
• 28% do not intend to purchase the console
• 45% are undecided
• 8% more women plan to purchase the console than men

I find it somewhat disappointing that close to a third of the people surveyed were outright planning to not get the system – I mean, is there anything solid to base such a decision upon at this stage? I’m willing to bet that that 28% will drop significantly once the system gets unveiled, so don’t take it as a hard indicator of how successful the Wii 2 will be.

Anyway, IGN then conducted a similar survey of their own reader base, which had noticeably more positive results:

• 39% intend to purchase the console
• 22% do not intend to purchase the console
• 39% are undecided

I think the whole notion of deciding whether or not the Wii 2 is worth buying or not is ridiculous at this stage – but then again, I’m firmly set on getting my hands on the system myself next year, no matter what shape it comes in, so I guess it makes me a bit of a hypocrite to say that. As for yourself, have you made your own decision yet?

The folks at IGN decided to something I’d call a little crazy, and built a PC with specs roughly equivalent to what Project Café is rumoured to pack. They made a video of it in action, which shows off the Frankenstein-like machine and several PC graphical heavy-hitters like Crysis 2 running silky-smooth on it, with comparisons to their Xbox 360 equivalents.

The machine was packed with a 3.2 GHz tri-core AMD processor, 2 GB of RAM, and a Radeon HD 4850 (which uses the R700 series of graphics chips).

Don’t take what you see in the video to be hard evidence of the Wii 2’s true power, though – for one, absolutely none of the rumours about the system have received official confirmation, so there could be anything inside Nintendo’s own system. Second, when games are programmed specifically for a console, developers can optimize it for the hardware to a degree that is simply impossible when coding for computers. That’s how the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 still manage to put out very respectable graphics even though the underlying technology in them is getting close to 6 years old now.

Special thanks to SonOfMrPeanut for sending this one in!

Yoichi Erikawa, Tecmo Koei’s CEO, mentioned at an earnings briefing today that he wants to support the Wii 2’s launch with a few games from his company. He noted that Tecmo Koei has a solid reputation for being able to have games ready for new hardware platform launches, most recently having brought us Samurai Warriors: Chronicles on the 3DS, and that he would like to continue this trend with the Wii’s successor.

Does this mean Tecmo Koei has a development kit for the system? I’d peg it as a “probably,” because if Nintendo’s planning to launch their new bad boy next year, now would probably be a good time to start developing for it. If that’s the case, we’ll probably know what Yoichi and co. are up to at E3…

Is Ubisoft gearing up to fill the Wii 2 with PS3 and 360 ports?

Comments by Ubisoft CEO, Yves Guillemot, seem to suggest that 360/PS3 ports could be making their way to the Wii 2. While speaking at an investor call, Yves Guillemot explained that Ubisoft would be able to use a lot of the work that they had done for the HD consoles when developing new games for the Wii 2.

The platform Nintendo is coming with is really a fantastic platform. We think it will be extremely successful. What we see is that we will be able to leverage a lot of the work we do for Xbox 360 and PS3 while we create games for the platform. So we will not have to redo completely the games that we create. We’ll be able to use all the capacity the console is giving but also use all the work we do for the other platforms.

It is good to see developers supporting Nintendo’s next home console and are impressed with what it can do. However, what is worrying is the prospect of many ports. Of course ports can be worthwhile, especially ones that come with content exclusive to the platform such as Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition. It would also be good to see some franchises such as Assassin’s Creed on the Wii 2. We will just have to wait and see what Ubisoft intends to do.

Emily Rogers stayed true to her word and put up some screenshots of what is allegedly two Project Café games. The two games pictured are Pikmin 3 and Endless Ocean 3. They may or may not be the real deal, so take them with a grain of salt. Emily herself even re-iterated the point several times that she does not entirely guarantee their authenticity. Continue reading…

Could the Wii 2 receive a port of Saints Row 3?

It could be that THQ have something in the works for the Wii 2. According to IndustryGamers, Brian Farrell, boss of THQ shared his thoughts about the Wii’s successor in an earnings call a few days ago. Unsurprisingly, he did not release any eye-popping details about the Wii 2 or confirm that the publisher had any games for it.

He would only reveal that he was ‘excited’ for it and that THQ intended to support Nintendo’s next home console. According to gaming website CVG, in February, Brian had let slip that Nintendo announcing a new console might not be a suprise for the company, suggesting that they had already come into contact with it.

THQ is responsible for publishing popular games such as Red Faction and Saints Row. They have already showed support for the 3DS and had intended to bring Saints Row to the platform before it was cancelled for unknown reasons. It seems quite plausible that they would support the Wii 2 and maybe even grace it with a Saints Row game.

I stumbled across two (probably fake) pictures of Grand Theft Auto V. A rumour that has proven to be popular is that the sequel to Grand Theft Auto IV is going to be a launch title for Project Café. This is supposed to be our first look at the game, but it’s much more likely that it’s not.

I know it’s not the leak you’ve been waiting for, but you may be interested in it, anyway.

I couldn’t find out where the pictures originally came from, and they just scream fabrication in my eyes, but if you think they might be real, tell me why in the comments.

Next up, we’ve got the May 10th leak Emily Rogers promised us. Let’s see if it turns out to be as blatantly fake as this one – if it even happens at all. I’ll be sure to update you on

We already knew the date and time of Nintendo’s press conference at E3, but had no information as to where we’d be able to watch it. Now, though, we know that Nintendo will be live streaming the conference through their own website, just like last year, at e3.nintendo.com. So bookmark the link and remember to check back there about a month from now at 9 AM PDT. If you have no idea what time that is for you, do the math or use an online timezone converter like this one to find out.

By the way, the embeddable countdown timer I created is still running, and you can get the code to use it yourself from here.

This story isn’t directly related to the Wii’s successor outright, but it’s still relevant and a great cause for speculation nonetheless.

Not too long ago, THQ announced that Saints Row: Drive By had been canceled for the 3DS as well as every other platform it was in development for. Interestingly, last June, THQ spoke about why they started working on getting it onto a Nintendo platform in the first place – namely, because Nintendo apparently really pushed them to do so.

Nintendo really wants to launch with a very balanced portfolio. They really don’t want it to feel like a kiddie platform. They were very clear: they really wanted Saints Row on it.

So, there’s a load of kerosene poured onto the rumour that Nintendo’s wooing Rockstar Games with a development kit for the new console. If they already convinced THQ to at least start work on bringing a major franchise to the 3DS (the reason for its unfortunate cancellation is probably unrelated to Nintendo themselves), it’s more than likely they’ve been, still are, and will be in similar talks with third parties about the Wii’s successor.

Maybe THQ themselves are even working on something as we speak. Brian Ferrel, the company’s CEO, hinted very strongly a couple of months ago that Nintendo may announce their new hardware this year. And I don’t think he would’ve said that if he hadn’t already seen the system, and how far along it is in development. “We’ll let [Nintendo] announce their new hardware,” he said.

Is Microsoft preparing a Wii 2 challenger?

If the latest rumours are to be believed then it seems that Microsoft is gearing up to challenge the Wii 2 at E3. The website Develop Online has been told by a source that EA has the successor to the Xbox 360 and is busily getting to grips with it.

“Quite often when new consoles come around they’re packaged into a PC shell, but actually what’s inside is an entirely new console,” the source claims.

Microsoft has declined to comment on the issue and at first so did EA but now they have come out completely dismissing the rumours. “This story is very contrived, 100% not true.”

It does seem very unlikely that Microsoft will be delivering a surprise announcement of their successor at E3. This would directly go against the rumoured 2014 release for an Xbox successor. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has also refered to Kinect as the “next generation Xbox 360” and that they will be focusing their efforts on Kinect.

If Microsoft is developing their Wii 2 challenger then it is probably in the very early stages and we’re unlikely to see it for some time. In reality, it seems like it going to be a bit of a quiet E3 for Microsoft in comparison to its competitors.

Sources: Examiner, Business Area, Develop