Nintendo to Reveal Wii Mini?

Nintendo has already scaled down its Wii slightly, removing the backwards compatibility of the GameCube to reduce manufacturing costs, and that came rather out of the blue. However, what about the idea of a Wii Mini? It would be perfect timing with Apple advertising its iPad Mini and with Wii U out now there are bound to be those merely happy enough to snap up a cheaper console for little ones.

Where has this talk come from, though? Well, a major US retailer's internal release schedule has it listed with the following information:

Introducing the Wii Mini! Coming Dec 7 2012!

WII MINI CONSOLE

Compact Nintendo Wii Console. Comes with Sensor Bar, Nunchuk and Wii Remote Plus with Jacket.

There are a some questions raised by this. Firstly, how small could the Wii go after removing the internal components that allowed for backwards compatibility with GameCube games? Well, just take a look at Apple's Mac Mini:

Secondly, many would simply ask 'Why?' Well, there are many markets where Wii either has not been released or it could do with a kick-start to increase sales. South Korea, for instance, is long overdue a Wii boost, and Sony has used the tactic of hardware revisions in the past to target new markets. There is also the fact that Nintendo has never been shy about making hardware revisions, with more compact versions of both the NES and SNES arriving after their successors had been launched, and there is always the Game Boy micro to (fondly) remember.

What are your thoughts on the idea of a Wii Mini? Is it something that has potential to extend the console's lifespan for a few extra years like the PlayStation 2?