Datschge said:
It should be noted that at least with their past systems (haven't looked into different Wiis yet) Nintendo always had internal hardware revisions where chips are being combined and the board layout is being simplified, without the outer shell being changed in any way. The SNES for example had at least four very different internal revisions, the first one filling out the shell pretty much completely while the last one left a lot of space for air in there. Significant redesigns of the exterior seem to be the exception for Nintendo consoles and not linked to hardware revisions anyway, after NES Jr and SNES Jr the only changes were colors and thematic adaptions (Pikachu N64).
Fair enough. Nevertheless, I don't think a hardware revision that consumers, for the most part, won't ever notice was what BishopLamont had in mind. : )
BishopLamont said:
Nintendo can make a more compact Wii while at the same time reducing cost and making more profit.
Of course they can. However, my point isn't that there's no money to be made from a hardware revision, but that this money can be made more easily without one.
A cheaper slim Wii would be a bigger sell then just a cheaper Wii.
Why?
It's not like the situation with the PS3, where the original machine was bulky and big. The Wii, as it stands now, is simple, small and unassuming. I don't think a consumer that would ever want to buy a Wii would suddenly stand up and take notice because it is a couple of inches smaller; Japanese homes aren't
that strapped for space.
Nintendo seems to love revisions on the handheld side, this is the first time in modern times when Nintendo has had a successful console that will survive til the very end of this generation. So we'll see a revision sooner or later, it's just a matter of time.
You say this, and yet you seem to ignore that Nintendo doesn't love handheld revisions "just because", but that it loves them because they
make sense financially.
If a revision does not make sense financially, Nintendo will not make it.