Nintendo confirmed that will release its next home console later this year, after weeks of rumors that it would deliver a successor to its highly-successful Wii console.

Nintendo Co., Ltd. has decided to launch in 2012 a system to succeed Wii, the company announced in a note today. A playable model of the new console will be presented at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, the company said.

For Nintendo, the move could not come at a better time. Though the company has sold 86 million Wii units since 2006, sales of the aging console have dipped considerably in the past year. Nintendo's profit dropped over fifty percent last year to $2.09 billion. The Wii has also faced competition from other motion-control systems, such as the Sony Move and Microsoft's Kinect.

While the name for the next console has yet to be announced, much speculation suggests that Nintendo will maintain the Wii branding by calling it Wii 2. A number of fan-made mock-ups have already appeared for the online, with many rumors proposing that the console will feature a touch screen-based controller and high-definition graphics.

The console will likely launch in the fourth quarter.

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