Should Nintendo release a Wii HD?

The idea of an HD-capable version of the red-hot Wii—well, the formerly red-hot Wii, anyway—has been kicked around for a couple of years now, but so far, no dice, and the boss of Nintendo's U.S. operations recently slammed the door hard on the idea in a recent interview.

As Kotaku reports, Reggie Fils-Aime of Nintendo of America was asked on GameTrailers TV whether a Wii HD—which noted gaming analyst Michael Pachter, among others, had previously pegged for a 2010-11 release—is in the offing, and his answer was nothing short of a flat-out denial.

"Michael [Pachter] continues to be the only one who believe that this is gonna happen. I don't know how forcefully we can say there is no Wii HD," Fils-Aime said (as quoted by Kotaku).

GameTrailers TV host Geoff Keighley then tried one more time: "It's not coming, period?" The answer: "No."

That's about as definitive as you can get, I suppose, although it's interesting that Nintendo execs were openly musing about a possible, unnamed, and very theoretical HD-capable console as recently as last week. Maybe there is no Wii HD in Nintendo's future, but it's safe to assume that Nintendo's next big console—whatever it's called, and whenever it arrives—will do HD.

Anyway, enough with what Reggie said (or didn't say); I want to hear from you about the whole Wii HD question.

Part of the reason I ask is because the game console landscape has changed dramatically in just a few months. A year ago, the then-$250 Wii was the cheapest of the new consoles (well, besides the hard drive-less Xbox 360 for $199), so it didn't seem all that unreasonable that it was the odd man out in terms of only playing SD games.

But since then, the PS3 and the Xbox 360 have both seen big price cuts, with the 120GB versions of both consoles now selling for just $299, a mere $50 more than the Wii's original price tag (since cut by $50, to $199)—which doesn't even let you play DVDs, much less play games in HD.

Also: sales of the Wii aren't what they used to be. Demand has dropped off, shortages have evaporated, and even the PS3—once the whipping boy of the next-gen consoles—managed to beat the Wii in terms of monthly sales in September.

No question, Nintendo's facing a lot more pressure now than it was just 12 months ago, and—from where I'm sitting, anyway—the Wii is no longer the bargain it used to be, even with its recent price cut.

Then again, I'm not a Wii gamer. Oh, I've played it, all right ... badly (I think my Wii age is, like, 78 or something), but the system never grew on me. I've got an Xbox 360 in my living room, right next to my PS3, but no Wii. I'm the first to admit that I'm no Wii expert.

So I turn to you, Wii aficionados, and ask: Should Nintendo make a Wii HD? Would Wii Sports, Wii Fit, and the various Mario epics be more fun if they were in HD? Or are you perfectly fine playing the Wii in SD? Sound off below.

Related:
Nintendo: There Is No Wii HD [Kotaku]