Wedbush Morgan have been making some dramatic new predictions this morning, the firm noting that a HD release by the end of 2010 could put an end to Sony's hopes of a fightback.

According to the report, Money for Nothing: How Ancillary Revenues Can Extend The Console Cycle, the analysts expect a revised Wii console to arrive within the next 18 months or so, incorporating into its controller, alongside specifications similar to the 360.

"We would expect such a console to be fully backward compatible with the current Wii, but would expect the new console to have additional features and functionality," reads the report, predicting a name similar to 'Wii Plus'.

The appearance of an HD Wii could serious hurt Sony's efforts with the PS3, we're told: "In our view, if can offer such a device by year-end 2010, it will be in a position to seriously damage Sony's chances of a comeback this cycle. We would expect publishers to support such a move, given that the cost of porting an game to the new Wii Plus HD format would likely be lower than the cost of building a ground up Wii game (we estimate under 5 million USD)."

Do you like the sound of this?

By Luke Guttridge