Wii U 2 in the works: just as it should be

Today you're going to see more than a few stories on how Nintendo is working on their next console release. This would appear at first to be big news – wow, another Wii, coming your way soon! But in fact, the source of this news is none other than a relatively tiny mention by Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata. In an interview earlier this month, Iwata speaks about the next console in line for Nintendo and some features he's hoping it'll have. Nothing too massive – and nothing that'll be released in the immediate future.

When a video game company that makes game consoles releases one of their major consoles to the public, they immediately go to work on their next device. In fact, it's not uncommon for a company as large at Nintendo to begin development on their next device BEFORE the release of their most current device.

The process never stops.

According to the 4Gamer interview from whence this Iwata information comes, the one feature Nintendo is working on – that Iwata is willing to speak about – for the next console is Sleep Mode. The first system Nintendo created with Sleep Mode was the Nintendo DS.

According to Iwata, Sleep Mode was implemented on the Nintendo DS because of a frustration with seeing the feature appearing on systems in the wild, but being unable to use it on the GameBoy Advance SP. With the Nintendo DS, they were able to make it work.

The interviewer suggests that "designing hardware seems tricky because it requires you have a couple of years worth of foresight." Iwata suggests that they "talk about two years ago," suggesting that right after the Wii U launched, Nintendo got a lot of helpful feedback on what could be made better.

"On various points," said Iwata, "I thought 'we have to do that next time!' ... Because of that frustration, not only do we want it to connect with features next time, we are actually working to fix it for next time."

So Nintendo is working on their next gaming console.

Surprise!

Also note: Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto also suggests the next Nintendo console is well in the works.