Leave it to the heavy handed Americans to put their fist down. While Shigeru Miyamoto himself has been wishy washy on the possibility of HD for the Wii, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime took the time in an interview airing on GameTrailers to shoot down those pesky rumors once and for all, saying:
Michael [Pachter] continues to be the only one who believes that this is gonna happen. I don’t know how forcefully we can say there is no Wii HD.
This may come as a surprise to some, as Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda (general manager of Nintendo’s Integrated Research and Development Division) were shifting their feet on the issue as recently as October 30. Said Takeda:
Since our division has been reviewing and developing a number of hardware, we are looking into many different things, including HD and SD. Also included is the review over the systems with which the creators can easily create video games with limited budget and resources. However, we have not come to the stage where we can announce which is the most appropriate means. Since an increasing number of the TV sets at home around the world are becoming HD today, it will be natural for a machine to be able to generate graphics that people will be accustomed to see on HD televisions. Since the ordinary TV programs are now shifting to HD, moving to HD appears to me a natural flow.
Adds Miyamoto:
“Regarding the question of SD or HD, it must depend on each software. For example, we have to ask ourselves if HD is really necessary to develop Wii Fit. Won’t HD be better for the games like Pikmin? The developers should choose the most appropriate graphical format depending on the software they make.”
Granted, none of these are a solid yes…but they’re not a solid no, either. It would be silly to talk about the possibility if there really was none. Is their discussion of the logistics of Wii HD just an effort to deflect? Or does Reggie Fils-Aime know something even the founders of Nintendo don’t?
