Nintendo Wii to launch November 19th at $249.99

[SkiDragon]

Ok, I guess the price of the console isn't too bad, but the controller price definitely is. I would forgive one for being expensive and not the other, but now both seem to be rather pricey. Even though the controller is innovative, there is not really enough going on there to justify a $60 price. And the console on its own is also not worth the 250-60 ($190) price.
I wonder if we will see third party controllers, or at least numchuck attachments or "classic" controllers.

The virtual console games are too much but I was never interested in that in the first place. Not a fan of emulation.

I already am first in line on a reservation, so now it's a question whether I keep it or ebay it. I kinda hope it sells out and can get me a nice profit.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Bitching about the cheapest next gen console being overpriced?!? *whine* Oh noes, it has a pack-in game that completely suits the new control scheme. Holy tamales... GET SOME PERSPECTIVE PEOPLE!

With that being said (sorry, couldn't help it), I am very pleased with Nintendo's announcement. November 19th is Wii Day YEA! Don't think I'll even need to preorder, with as many units as they are on track to run with there shouldn't be any shortage. Sorry eBayers :P Looks like y'all are gonna have to scalp PS3's and be happy with that.

Was rather shocked that a Japanese developed system will release in North America FIRST. Seriously, that just doesn't happen.

Region-free is also nice. Cheap as hell AND import friendly... all I can say is, "Wow, about damn time."

Now wth does Nintendo have planned for Wii/DS connectivity? I'll bet it's real good

My last thought. Nintendo made us all some promises and managed to keep them all. Less than $250, check. 2006 release, check. Nunchuk included, check. Online service, check. Virtual Console games, check. Healthy stock at launch, check. Plus they are delivering things they never promised, such as a pack-in game. That is a HELL of alot better than the competition whom thrive on broken promises and missed marks, or at least it seems that way to me.

[Daniel Thomas]

I think everybody was expecting this console to sell for $199 or less. All the hype has been on its "overclocked Gamecube" angle, so we expected things to be super-cheap.

From Nintendo's angle, they're the low man on the totem pole, price-wise, so they'll win with consumers against the competiton regardless. Better to rake in a little more profit now, since pretty much every Wii that hits the shelves (man, that just sounds wrong :P ) will sell out from now until next spring. If and when Microsoft institutes a price drop on the 360, Nintendo is perfectly situated to drop the price of Wii to keep the distance. Don't forget, there's also the option of a core system, sans game. I'd have to believe that would become an option at some point in the near future.

So Nintendo's pretty much in the driver's seat. They have the buzz, they have some really cool games, and they have the advantage with price. Microsoft and Sony (especially Sony, which is taking a bath) don't have that freedom, since they're both losing quite a bit of money on their consoles. Hmm. Perhaps the next generation technology is simply too expensive. In another age, it wouldn't be out of the question to postpone it another year. But that's all academic now.

And, yeah, I hear the complaints. The whole damn videogame industry is nickel-and-diming us to death. The extra controllers are going to be the thing that really hurts. I suppose we'll have to buy one here, one there, and build up piece-by-piece. Throw in $50 games - why we ever shell out more than $35 is beyond me - and even the Wii gets expensive. Hey, at least we're not talking about Sony, right?

Anyway, crew, if you want to head over to my blog, V - The Next Gen, I've been writing a few posts on what upcoming games I'm looking forward to this season. Obviously, the big-name titles like Zelda and Madden and Metroid will sell, but I'm curious to see what everyone else is really interested in.

[ROBOTNIK666]

To all who complained about the launch price, here's something for you.
The Gamecube launch price was $199. Since many of you called the Wii a "souped-up Gamecube" I think it's worth paying $50 over the GCN launch price. And I say launch price, because in about six months the price will drop.

[THATinkjar]

Nintendo have just announced that the Wii will launch in Europe on December the 8th for £179. I am very relieved that we'll be seeing the Wii this side of Christmas. As for the price, though - I am undecided as to what I think. At least Wii Sports is included, though.

It was also said that games will retail for around the £30 to £40 mark. I am also happy enough with this.

Overall, I am fairly happy. Microsoft must also be pretty pleased, too. But, as long as Nintendo do their job properly in educating the masses, then perhaps the price won't be an issue at all.

[Slate]

Good to finally see the date and price.

And you know what, i don't care if it's $300 as long as it comes with two wiimotes, one standard controller, and the component cables.

This will be the first system i have bought at launch.

[Nature Boy]

I personally think the pack-in game is a good idea, as I can't see it being *that* big of a seller on it's own, and this way they get software that shows off the system's uniqueness into the hands of every Wii owner.

The price also seems reasonable to me. As a Sony fan who isn't going to touch a $600 console unless he wins a lottery (and I'm not buying any tickets mind you), the idea of spending less than half that and getting a game to boot is exactly what they need to do to get my money.

The only launch games that jumped out at me though were games I've pegged for purchase for my current systems (Twilight Princess and Dual Agent).

I'll keep my eyes on the situation, see if I can find a game that excited me, and go from there, but at this point I'll wait until Halo 3 comes out, see what it's like, and *maybe* make the 360 my first next gen purchase. Maybe.

[Lady Jaye]

BTW, the Canadian MSRP will be $279.99 and game MSRP will be $60.

I'm really, really interested by the Wii. BTW, there will be controller ports for GCN controllers on it. And Nintendo has announced a full backward compatibility with the GCN library (in comparison, how many Xbox games aren't compatible with the 360?). So if there are any incompatibility issues, they should be few and far between.

And if I get the Wii, one retro game I'm buying for sure is Paper Mario.

[FantasiaWHT]

Three cheers for a system FINALLY coming with a pack-in game once more! Hurray!

[Kejoriv]

cant wait for it! I have a preorder at FYE. I wonder if the preorder people can get them earlier than 19th

[PentiumMMX]

Wii is going to have a pack-in game? Too bad it wasn't sonething worth playing. But I have a solution for dealing with Wii Sports:

1. Buy a Wii
2. Tahe out Wii Sports (If it's sealed, then unwrap it)
3. Take it into Gamestop
4. Buy something you'd actualy play!

...Am I a genius or what?

[Darren870]

Wii is going to have a pack-in game? Too bad it wasn't sonething worth playing. But I have a solution for dealing with Wii Sports:

1. Buy a Wii
2. Tahe out Wii Sports (If it's sealed, then unwrap it)
3. Take it into Gamestop
4. Buy something you'd actualy play!

...Am I a genius or what?

The trade in value is going to be like $5. Its going to be like the next mario/duck hunt.

Anyways

I am 100% pumped for this!

[MrRoboto19XX]

I was thinking last night about the wii and its various capabilities, and this bit came up.

The wii mote with a nunchuck is essentially a gamecube controller, right? Analog stick, Z button, A, B, X, Y buttons and a D pad. This makes me think that for games requiring the nunchuck, the GC controller might be an option as a substitute controller.

Granted, this may just be a pipe dream, but Im positive that nintendo still has one or two surprises up their sleeve before launch.

[jajaja]

Probly mentioned before, but Nintendo removed the possibility to play DVD movies on Wii. They did it to save money. No problem tho, most already have a DVD player, but i wonder how much extra it would cost if it could play DVD movies.

[Kejoriv]

Probly mentioned before, but Nintendo removed the possibility to play DVD movies on Wii. They did it to save money. No problem tho, most already have a DVD player, but i wonder how much extra it would cost if it could play DVD movies.

exactly. so many people have dvd players. doesnt it really matter that it doesnt play dvds? How big are the discs though? Gamecube size?

[jajaja]

I guess it still uses DVD, but just no support for playing movies.

[DreamTR]

Robotnik wrote:


"The Gamecube launch price was $199. Since many of you called the Wii a "souped-up Gamecube" I think it's worth paying $50 over the GCN launch price. And I say launch price, because in about six months the price will drop."


Why would NIntendo drop the price to $199 before Summer? It's not like they have any competition price wise. Historically, competitors only drop their prices when they want a bigger jump on the market, (which Nintendo will have plenty of based on this price point), OR if a competitor drops the price themselves. Even if the core 360 drops to $249, Nintendo still will not drop this console price that soon, they have way too much to gain from being the cheapest system on the market with tons of downloadable exclusive titles, online capabilities, and of course, the whole games actually being fun and not a damned movie experience.

[BrokenFlight]

I just thought I'd point something out to the people going for the "Wii60" choice, saying you can buy the two for the price of a PS3. You could actually have a PS3 and a good game for £460, as well as a high definition movie player and the same type of "revolutionary" controller as the Wii. Whereas with a "Wii60" you only have one crap game that almost no one wants and no next gen movie player.


Roll on the "troll" and "Sony fanboy" remarks.

[Anthony1]

To all who complained about the launch price, here's something for you.
The Gamecube launch price was $199. Since many of you called the Wii a "souped-up Gamecube" I think it's worth paying $50 over the GCN launch price. And I say launch price, because in about six months the price will drop.

I actually completely disagree with your logic, and I congratulate you for making my following point for me. When the GameCube came out way back in the year 2001, it wasn't a souped up Nintendo 64. It was a real deal "Next-Gen" system. It had an advanced GPU from ATI, and a nice fast IBM processor. In fact, it was actually much more advanced than the PS2. Not quite as advanced as the Xbox 1, but quite a bit more advanced than the PS2. It sold for $199.99.


So here we are, 5 years later, and we get a system that is only "marginally" improved over the GameCube from a technological standpoint, and they are going to price the thing even higher. Now, I know what everybody is going to say, "But this time we get a pack in game!!" Well, yes, but does anybody really feel that Wii Sports is a true full featured game? Or is it a collection of little mini games that will keep us entertained for minutes upon minutes? lol. But seriously, as interested as I am in Wii Sports (it's actually the game I'm most interested in playing), I wouldn't want to spend more than $34.99 for it. Yet, with this package deal I have to pay $50 for it. And all this on top of the fact that the GameCube sells for $79.99 brand new, and the tech in the Wii is only marginally advanced beyond that. The fact of the matter is that Nintendo decided that they are going to make a profit from the very beginning, a healthy profit I might add. The only reason they can get away with it, is because both Microsoft and Sony are going in a totally different, and much more expensive direction.


Here is a quote from your boy Reggie:

"We will make a profit on the entire Wii proposition out of the box--hardware and software," Fils-Aime told Reuters. "That really is a very different philosophy versus our competitors. "


I would be shocked if they wouldn't be making a nice little profit with the exact same package at $199.99. Pack in included. But they want an even greater profit, and their focus group testing has shown that the system will sell just fine at $249.99 so why not make even more money. It's like you guys are celebrating the fact that Nintendo is going to make even more money off of you, I don't get it.

Also, please don't start with the "Oh, Anthony1, just go back to playing on your big HDTV's and your RGB's and your 7.1 sound, all we are interested in doing is having fun with our Wii's and we don't want your elite ass coming in here and ruining our party". If people want to have this misguided opinion of me, fine, go the fuck ahead. I'm still getting a Wii on day 1, and I will be playing some Wii Sports Tennis, and I'm sure I'll be enjoying it, but that doesn't change the fact that it's an overpriced GameCube 1.5 and that Nintendo is milking me for everything I got with the fact that I'm going to have to pay an additional $60 just to get an extra controller, and probably another $30 to get a component cable. All of a sudden this so called "cheap console" is going to cost me $366.31 with tax. I don't consider $367 to be cheap. I'm still getting it, and I'm sure I'll still enjoy it, but let's stop pretending this is cheap or some super great deal.

[Fighter17]

Also, please don't start with the "Oh, Anthony1, just go back to playing on your big HDTV's and your RGB's and your 7.1 sound, all we are interested in doing is having fun with our Wii's and we don't want your elite ass coming in here and ruining our party". If people want to have this misguided opinion of me, fine, go the fuck ahead. I'm still getting a Wii on day 1, and I will be playing some Wii Sports Tennis, and I'm sure I'll be enjoying it, but that doesn't change the fact that it's an overpriced GameCube 1.5 and that Nintendo is milking me for everything I got with the fact that I'm going to have to pay an additional $60 just to get an extra controller, and probably another $30 to get a component cable. All of a sudden this so called "cheap console" is going to cost me $366.31 with tax. I don't consider $367 to be cheap. I'm still getting it, and I'm sure I'll still enjoy it, but let's stop pretending this is cheap or some super great deal.

I consider $367 cheap compair to $599 for a PS3 without any extra stuff. For $367 with a extra controller and component cables, plus a free game, that's good.