There’s a good chance you’ve already heard the rumors, but in the off chance that you haven’t, allow me to fill you in: today Game Informer hit on something big. According to numerous anonymous sources, it looks like Nintendo is primed and ready to announce a new HD console at this year’s E3. Maybe sooner. The system itself is rumored to be slated for a late 2012 release.

Details are still sketchy, as nothing has been confirmed by Nintendo, but according to these mysterious insiders “[It's] not a gimmick like the Wii.” IGN claims that sources have also mentioned that the console will be “significantly more powerful than the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360,” and support 1080p for anyone who gives a crap. They’ve also said that this mysterious uber-system will be backwards-compatible with regular Wii games.

This is all well and good, but what’s really exciting is that Nintendo seems to have learned a few things about how not to fail miserably at third-party sales. They’ve supposedly already begun to show the system off to publishers in an effort to hit the ground running, as it were. Assuming any of this is true, this means that these publishers and developers will most likely have a much more thorough understanding of the system’s capabilities and be able to spend more time making quality titles rather than cobbling together awkward crap that serves more as a stepping stone to something greater.

Whether Nintendo actually manages to create something that rivals (or surpasses) the 360 or PS3 remains to be seen, but this is certainly worth a few cheers wouldn’t you say?

[Via: Game Informer and IGN. Image Credit: Pixeloo.]