Reggie: not looking to replace Wii soon

Speaking to Reuters at an investment conference, Nintendo front-man Reggie Fils-Aime downplayed the idea that Nintendo would release a new console soon.

"We believe the role of a new console, a new system, is to bring great new entertainment ideas to life. We launched [the Wii and DS] when we had great ideas that would benefit either from a touch screen or from a Wii remote," he said.

"We will consider the launch of new consoles when we have got great new entertaining ideas that can only be done with a new console.

"As we sit here today the Wii console has a long run ahead of it... So as we look at the near term for us its all about maximizing the opportunity with the [Wii and DS]."

Fils-Aime also rubbished the idea that boxed games were on the way out, to be replaced with online gaming and digital distribution.

"I don't buy some of the core propositions. We have seen with our own systems that the consumer wants an experience that today is better delivered via packaged content," he said.

"There can be add-ons and additional content but the sheer amount of entertainment enjoyment — 50, 60 hours - is pretty difficult to provide through an internet connection."

He agreed with other industry leaders that the outlook for Christmas sales was "cautiously optimistic" - but said that Nintendo's own outlook was "very optimistic". With Wii once again topping the American hardware sales charts by a huge margin in October, it's not hard to see why.