Wedbush Morgan's esteemed industry analyst Michael Pachter has long predicted that Nintendo would release a Wii HD. These prognostications have popped up more frequently as Nintendo's competitor's both introduced motion controls at the E3 convention earlier this summer and have even appeared with a timeline now, with Pachter portending it's arrival by Fall 2010.  Pachter argues that as households increasingly adopt HDTVs, more consumers will appreciate the HD offerings of the XBox and PlayStation 3, leading Nintendo's market share leadership to slip away.

In a lot of respects, Pachter is spot on.  With HDTVs predicted to become a majority in 2010 in the US and 2012 in Europe, prospective buyers will become more aware  of HD content and the Wii will begin to look even more dated.  Consumers will still want their innovative motion control gameplay but they'll want it in something that can show off the muscle in their new home theater set ups.  And at that point, consumers will turn to Michael Pachter's fabled Wii HD.  Luckily for them, the Wii HD will become reality in 2010, but it won't be Nintendo delivering the product to these end users.  Rather, it will be Sony and their PlayStation 3.