A new version of Nintendo Wii, complete with HD graphics and a better storage option than the current edition of the console, is currently being pitched to various game developers and publishers by Nintendo with the intention of being released sometime in 2011, according to a What They Play report.

Apparently set to hit the market “by 2011″ the new device is said to be the true “next generation” Nintendo console, and far more than a simple refresh of the current hardware. Unlike previous console transitions from Nintendo, the new system will be presented as a true successor to the Wii, and is being dubbed by those that have seen the presentation as “Wii HD.” There is no indication if this will be its eventual name, but the nature of the transition has been characterized as similar to “the shift from Game Boy to Game Boy Advance,” where familiar, key elements were left intact while the core hardware was made more powerful. It is expected by all those that we have spoken to on the subject that the new device will retain the Wii name in part. — What They Play

What They Play cites “multiple sources in the game development and publishing community” as providing confirmation of Nintendo shopping around the concept of a Wii successor. The site also points to the growing spending that Nintendo is doing on Research and Development, which could mean Wii 2 is on the mind of the Big N.

Based on figures from Nintendo’s annual financial reports, the company is currently spending more than ten times as much on research and development as it was five years ago, and since the Wii was launched in 2006, R&D spending has more than tripled. While this could be attributed to any number of additional projects, the level of spending suggests that a large project is in the works. In 2003, Nintendo declared that $34 million was spent on R&D. This figure steadily climbed to $103 million in 2006 (the year that the Wii launched) and the following year bumped dramatically to $370 million. When asked to explain the escalated spending, Nintendo representatives were unable to provide comment.

Keep in mind that Nintendo is almost all-but-confirmed to be readying a new DS with a bigger screen, camera and music playback functionality that might be announced at this week’s Nintendo press event, so a good chunk of the company’s R&D budget could have gone to that.

Whatever the case may be, the most important thing to note is that Nintendo hasn’t confirmed or denied any of the preceding information, so for now we’ll just have to wait and see what kind of showing the company makes in San Francisco and/or wait for Nintendo to comment on the recent speculation. We’ll keep you posted either way.

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