Short of actual news, the next best thing to read about online is abject speculation.

To wit: the Web chatter yesterday about a new Nintendo Wii with high-definition capabilities coming in 2011.

Gaming publications got busy after Square Enix president and CEO Yoichi Wada was quoted in the Financial Times as expecting the new Wii to come down the pike, but not offering evidence that a release was certain. He made his claim in light of Microsoft and Sony planning to add motion-sensitive controls to their consoles next year.

It makes sense then that Nintendo would respond by boosting Wii’s power to handle high-def, which Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 already do, he suggested. This way, Wii would be able to compete on the same level as those systems. Currently, Wii is viewed as a somewhat lesser system, yet one that’s distinctive because of its motion-sensitive controllers.

Square Enix produces the “Final Fantasy” series, an enormously popular role-playing franchise that started out on NES and has remained tight with Nintendo. If anyone outside Nintendo would know what’s going on inside, it’s Wada.

He didn’t offer up anything specific, though — which was good enough for 1UP.com.

“Granted, that’s not an official announcement by any stretch, but it’s about the closest we’ve come to a major developer acknowledging the existence of the so-called Wii HD,” writer Dustin Quillen said Monday.

TweakTown, on the other hand, interpreted Wada’s words as darn near official, as did MTV.com. But even the Nintendo World Report cited Wada as saying he only “believes” a new Wii is coming, not that it would for sure.

As for Game Guy, he’ll wait to speculate after Nintendo actually tells him something.