Wii

[ragingfear79 0]

from IGN

September 13, 2006 - Nintendo fans finally have a price and release date for the company's new generation console, Wii. The Big N is set to officially announce that the system will hit retail in North and South America for $250 on November 19. The New York Times broke an embargo and published the information even before news hit out of Japan.

 

Nintendo's Wii console will come packaged with Wii Sports, a compilation sports game that best shows off the mechanics of the system's unique controller. Wii Sports features tennis, baseball, golf and a previously unannounced bowling game.

 

Nintendo said it would provide Wii owners with more than 25 unique games this year.

 

Wii's much talked-about Virtual Console download service, which enables gamers to purchase classic games, will offer a library of some 30 titles when the system launches. Titles will include entries from the Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong franchises, Nintendo said. Virtual Console games will cost between $5 and $10 each.

 

The Big N confirmed that it would charge $50 for its new Wii games, which is $10 cheaper than the cost of standard Xbox 360 titles.

 

In a surprise announcement, Nintendo said that it wanted to make Wii a living room centerpiece by shipping the system with features outside of the videogame realm. Wil will include a photo channel, enabling users to display their digital photos through the console. It will also boast regularly updated news and weather channels. In addition, the system will ship with the Opera Web browser, enabling users to connect online.

 

Sony recently announced that it would ready 400,000 PS3s in North America and another 100,000 in Japan for the system's launch. Nintendo said it plans to ship 4 million Wii units worldwide by the end of the year.

 

cool i cant wait, the virtual console has me very intrigued....

[devo 0]

Well, I was hoping for $200, but that definitely won't prevent me from pre-ordering the system as soon as humanly possible. I dig that they're packaging Wii Sports and all those cool little features with the system.

 

Gonna call my EB first thing in the morning and see when they're taking pre-orders. Can't wait to get my hands on this thing.

[Eclipse 0]

I totally thought this system would be at least 200, but 250 is still very affordable. This system is gonna sell based on how different and how very affordable it is. A price of 50 bucks for NEW GAMES is very appealing in THIS generation, since PS3 and XBOX360 games will be 60 new.

 

I gotta preorder this thing. Are any places preordering it?

[Guest Hotbutter Spoontoaster]

I thought it would have launched before November 17th at least, PS3's release date. Should've gone with the weekend before.

 

I'll be getting one straight away. The Wii, Wii Sports, and another launch game for $300? Done.

 

And November 19th is a Sunday? Weird. Only 66 days to go, anyways.

[fazzle 0]

Uh...the article says that the NINTENDO games will be $50. Same as the first party 360 games. Don't get yourself worked up over that.

[Guest Hotbutter Spoontoaster]

Okay, so $310? Whatever.

[Anya 0]

Too expensive.

[BUTT 0]

I thought it would have launched before November 17th at least, PS3's release date. Should've gone with the weekend before.

 

I'll be getting one straight away. The Wii, Wii Sports, and another launch game for $300? Done.

 

And November 19th is a Sunday? Weird. Only 66 days to go, anyways.

 

N64 and Gamecube launched on Sundays too.

[Guest Hotbutter Spoontoaster]

So it's a running theme from Nintendo, cool. They still should've picked the Sunday before the PS3 comes out.

[Use Your Illusion 0]

Wonder if they'll hit PAL territories with some wacky price conversion.

[Guest Hotbutter Spoontoaster]

It's suppose to be around 150 sterling in England. Probably 250EUR in the rest of Europe.

[Cartman 0]

So it's a running theme from Nintendo, cool. They still should've picked the Sunday before the PS3 comes out.

Why bother? Everyone hates Sony and their PS3 now.

[EricMM 0]

I think the good/bad decision of whether or not $250 is a reasonable price is in the quality of Wii Sports.

 

If the game is bad, then its a ripoff. If it is a musthave game? Totally worth it!

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Shipping 4 million W!!s would give them a big jump on Sony at least.

 

I dunno about $249.99 though, but with a game (even as lame as the W!! sports games are) isn't that bad. The games had to stay at $49.99 though because charging more would definitely give off a ripoff feeling.

 

And apparently its not launching in Japan until December:

 

CHIBA, Japan - Nintendo's next-generation game console Wii will arrive on time and at prices lower than its rivals, the company said Thursday.

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Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo Co., the Japanese maker of Super Mario and Pokemon games, said Thursday that Wii will go on sale Dec. 2, costing 25,000 yen ($215.50).

[dubq 0]

Wow I'm psyched for that! With the exchange rate these days $250 will be about $275 CAD.

 

November 19th release date? Sweet! Picking one up will be the first thing I go do when I get back from Tokyo.

 

I wonder when stores are taking pre-orders?

[bobobrazil1984 0]

$250's not a bad price, it helps offset the "cheap" mentality that plagues consumer mindset and actually punishes you for having something priced low.

It's interesting though that most reports had it pegged anywhere from 175 to 230, and it turned out to be more. I'm guessing Nintendo saw everybody declaring their Wii love and realized they could wrangle more bucks without losing sale, especially since their competition is high priced. pretty much everybody who was going to buy it at 230 will probably get it at 250. The actual hardware itself is not that much of an improvement over GameCube, so from that standpoint it almost seems overpriced (if you're not thinking about Sony). Wasn't the fact that it didn't leap forward graphics wise one of the reasons it was supposed to be cheap? Add a nunchuk attachment or a second wii-mote, you're looking at 300 bucks.

[Downhome 0]

Well, while I was getting all ready for a Wii sooner rather than later, at least now I'll have time to play Saint's Row, Dead Rising, and Okami. About the price, I'll just think of it as $199.99 for the system and $50 for Wii Sports.

 

[Downhome 0]

 

NES - Starting at 500 points?

SNES - Starting at 800 points?

N64 - Starting at 1000 points?

 

I wonder how high the prices will go for each system if that's just the low end price for the games from each console.

[AndrewTS 0]

Official press conference over:

 

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6157575.html

 

My comments in italics.

 

"One price, one configuration, one color." So there's only a white one (for now) and it costs ... $250!

 

White sucks. Oh well.

 

But what's in the box? One Wii remote, one nunchuk both included. Don't forget about Wii Sports, the first pack-in game at launch since the SNES. Speaking of which, we're now seeing a demo of bowling, one of the games included in Wii Sports.

 

So much for the two wiimotes thing.

 

Additional Wii remotes will be $39.99, separate from the nunchuk, which will be an additional $19.99.

 

I figured by itself it would be pricey--but the nunchuck config extra? Ouch.

 

And the final Wii Sports lineup is...tennis, golf, baseball, bowling, and boxing?! That's new. This should be interesting.

 

Good--I'd like to hear how it actually plays.

 

Reggie's talking about the 25-game launch lineup, not surprisingly being led by The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

 

So officially Nov 19. About friggin' time.

 

all first-party games will be in at $49.99 or under.

 

Good.

 

Surprisingly, full pricing details are here. NES games will be available for 500 Wii points, Super NES games for 800, and Nintendo 64 for 1,000. Wait, Wii what? Looks like they're taking the same tack as Microsoft: Consumers part with fake money more easily than real money. A 2000 Wii points card can be had at retail for $20.

 

So in reality, $5 for NES, SNES for $8, and N64 $10. Occasionally worth it, but I'll stick with my original HW, thanks.

 

Uh-oh. GameCube Twilight Princess now pushed back to December.

 

2 weeks, but that's still stupid. String, string, string.

 

It's official: Metroid Prime 3 is now a "2007" title.

 

Not totally surprised.

[devo 0]

Bah, I was hoping to have Zelda at launch. Ah well, I guess I'll buy Dragon Quest and Metal Slug instead.

[AndrewTS 0]

Bah, I was hoping to have Zelda at launch. Ah well, I guess I'll buy Dragon Quest and Metal Slug instead.

 

 

Zelda is at launch.

 

But you'll have to buy the Wii one, not the GC one.

[devo 0]

Ah, thanks. Skimmed right over the word "Gamecube" when reading.

[Downhome 0]

I take back much of what I said in the other thread about Wii selling so many, it being likely that so many people (parents) will pick it up because it's so much cheaper, and it more than likely being the second console in many homes. While all of that is still possible, it's not as likely as I thought before. All of this is adding up for Nintendo if you ask me. In order to just play two player Wii Sports at launch, you're in for $310+ already. Add in another game, cards to save on, and then VC games if you want a few, and you're in for more than I thought we'd be in store for.

 

That said, I'll still preorder when I can.

[EricMM 0]

I would absolutely LOVE to know if Wii Sports is a decent game or not.

 

Why is no one reporting on the PACK IN game???

[Guest Princess Leena]

Yeah, as someone who plays mostly sports games, I'm wondering how that pack in game will be, also. If it's comparable to Mario Tennis, Mario Golf and whatever baseball for free, I'm buying a Wii.

[EricMM 0]

Well, having SEEN the game, it certainly doesn't LOOK like those games.

 

But this game is surely all about (ALL about) the new control scheme. If the games control well, are fun to play, and have a decent multiplayer mode, thats it. I'm a big fan of the more interactive games, be they DDR, Guitar Hero, or the drum game from Namco, or Point Blank.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Where can you see the sports game.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

So wait... we WON'T be able to play our old games on the Wii if we have the cartridges for them, right?

[Black Lushus 0]

But this game is surely all about (ALL about) the new control scheme. If the games control well, are fun to play, and have a decent multiplayer mode, thats it. I'm a big fan of the more interactive games, be they DDR, Guitar Hero, or the drum game from Namco, or Point Blank.

 

what about this guy?

 

[tominator89 0]

Not a bad price for the worst name in video game console history.