Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has predicted that Nintendo could be working on a new HD-enabled Wii SKU which could surface in a couple of years time.

"It's easy to envision a Wii 2 in a couple of years that runs at full HD, and has both a Wii-mote and an analog controller, so that all games can be ported to it," Pachter told Games Industry.biz.

"If Nintendo were to introduce such a device, it would be fully comparable to the Xbox 360 - perhaps it wouldn't have Blu-ray, so a comparison to the PS3 may be unfair - and would likely have most of the same third party content as the other two devices."

Pachter made the prediction following comments from SEGA executive Scott Steinberg,who recently told Reuters that he was "a little concerned about the creative depth of the Wii pool" and that the console "will start to look really dated in a couple years when developers get more value from the 360 and learn more and more about the PlayStation 3".

Whilst Sega's Steinberg suggests that developers are running out of ideas to utilise Wii's motion-sensing controllers, Patcher believes that they haven't even scratched the surface and dismissed the notion that we've seen the last of hardware innovation from Nintendo.

"I can't begin to imagine what is on the drawing board for the Wii, but I can say that most developers I've spoken with are extremely excited about the potential for the console... I believe that we've only just scratched the surface."

Back in 2006, Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime publicly said that the company had made "tough choices about not including high-definition capability at the start." It seems like its not a matter of 'if' Nintendo will release a new SKU, it's only a matter of 'when.'