Next Nintendo console could be less 'revolutionary' than Wii

We've often wondered how Nintendo could possibly out-do the Wii in terms of innovation. Now we know the answer to our question is possibly "nothing." Speaking with Forbes on the topic of future consoles, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata admitted it will be difficult to one-up its latest console effort. When asked about the importance of hardware innovation, Iwata explained that "This time around, it happened to be we had a revolutionary user interface. Will it be the same for the next generation? I really can't tell."

"It's natural for the current customer to expect Nintendo is going to once again do something different," Iwata added, admitting, "If the people are expecting so many different things from Nintendo, it's going to be difficult for us to go beyond that expectation again." In the article, Iwata confirms that Nintendo is actively developing its next machine, but seems far more interested in software offerings. "The hardware is a kind of box that consumers reluctantly buy in order to play our games," he said. Reluctantly, Iwata-san? People are practically buying Wii without knowing what it even does.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/29/ne...nary-than-wii/