Nintendo will release a new, post-Wii console in 2012

Remember the GameCube? The cutest widdle videogame console, which sported a Spyro-purple paint job that made it look a little bit like an overgrown steampunk SweeTart? The GameCube debuted in 2001 and looked deliriously out of place in a moment when the videogame world was trending towards badassery (the XBox), epic swagger (the PS2), and the ability to actually play DVDs. Thanks to the GameCube, the iconic gamesmasters at Nintendo spent the first half of the decade lost in the wilderness. What a difference a generation makes: Nintendo debuted the Wii in 2006, igniting a revolution in casual gaming that paid off with an estimated 86 million devices sold worldwide. (By comparison, both the XBox 360 and the PS3 have only just sold 50 million.) Now, Nintendo has officially announced that it will debut the successor to the Wii in 2012.

The company promised to have more information about the new system at June’s E3 conference. Very little is known about the new system, although gaming website Kotaku has theorized that the new system (allegedly codenamed “Project Cafe”) will feature a slightly more traditional controller in addition to Wii-style motion gaming. We’re just guessing, but you can probably also expect a Super Mario game that everyone agrees is at least much better than Super Mario Sunshine, a Legend of Zelda game that no one likes as much as Ocarina of Time, and a new Super Smash Bros. that features a character from a deep-cut videogame no one has thought about in decades. (Oh please oh please oh please Battletoads oh please.)

Excited about the new Nintendo system? Sad to hear that the Wii era is almost over?

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