Nintendo Wii Price Announced

[Jessterw]

For Japan at least, the price has been set at a nice 25,000円 or possibly less...
http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/200...53806,0,0.html or http://www.videogamesblogger.com/200...-wii-price.htm for us English speakers

Basically, during a session with reporters at the Osaka Securities Exchange, after an announcement on financial statements, it was stated that "It is not thought to set a price that exceeds 25000 yen". The formal release date and price will be announced later. Nintendo, however, expects to ship six million units by the end of March next year.

As a basic conversion, that'd be about $225 USD.

[Jammrock]

Wow ... severally undercutting the competition. This could make things interesting. You really will be able to buy a Wii and an Xbox 360 for the price of a PS3.

[ZokesPro]

Wow ... severally undercutting the competition. This could make things interesting. You really will be able to buy a Wii and an Xbox 360 for the price of a PS3.

Or, just not buy an Xbox360 or PS3 and get a Wii.

Is it pronounced: Why?? or Wheee!!! or Why eye?

[Claymonkey]

It's pronounce WHEEEEEEEE!!!!!

I'm buying a Wii but there hasn't been anything to make me want to buy a 360 and I refuse to buy a PS3 at there price.

[Jessterw]

I second that. I already have a DVD player and such, so there's absolutely no reason for me to want a PS3, or the 360 for that matter. The PS3 appears to be yet another stab at that elusive, complete entertainment system market that everyone tries to capture every few years. It's just not worth the price of entry.

True there might be some games I want for it, but more often than not, those games will be available for other systems/platforms. And, that's just it, the Wii is first, foremost, and almost exclusively a gaming machine. I want a system that, well, plays games.

[Gurm]

Sony has pinned too much on Blu-Ray. Some business retard somewhere said "oh, well Blue-Ray players sell for $500, so we can charge that much for a PS3 easily!"

'tards.

[Claymonkey]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060914/tc_usatoday/wiigamesystemrollsoutonnov19

Looks like they've made the price $250 in America. It even comes with a game. My question is how much are extra controllers going to cost? A wavebird has been $35 pretty much the entire existence of the product. I heard a rumor of $60 per controller but that seems steep. If the console was $199 I'd be a bit more understanding of that cost. Still, very exciting.

[TransformX]

Take into consideration that list price and street price are never the same

[Kooldino]

My question is how much are extra controllers going to cost? A wavebird has been $35 pretty much the entire existence of the product. I heard a rumor of $60 per controller but that seems steep.

The controllers will be $40, and the extra nunchuck add on peice to the controller is $20, totaling $60 for an entire controller w/ nunchuck.

Sounds expensive, but I can't blame Nintendo for the price. The thing has gyros and such in it, and it's wireless to boot.

Right off the bat, I'll be getting a Wii, Zelda, and an extra controller w/nunchuck. 250+50+60 = $360. $40 less than the Xbox, I start off with a couple of games, and I have two controllers, PLUS the my old GC controllers which will work with the Wii.

[Jessterw]

Cool, didn't realize the GC controllers work with the Wii as well. Makes my decision to get it all that much easier to make since games will be forward compatible as well.

[Claymonkey]

Yeah I can take the GC out of the center and slide in the Wii and not worry about diddly... yes I said diddly... wait.. diddly.. wii.. moving on.

[Claymonkey]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/285027_nintendo14.html

Nintendo gets Wii ready for holidays
Company plans to put console on market Nov. 19

By SETH SCHIESEL
THE NEW YORK TIMES

In a move that may allow Nintendo of Japan to take advantage of stumbles by its main rival, the company plans to announce today that it will release its new Wii video-game console in North and South America on Nov. 19, just as the holiday shopping season begins, and that the machine will cost $250 in the United States.

Nintendo executives said this week that the company also would announce today that more than 25 new games would be available for its video-game machine this year, a substantial portfolio from several genres that is intended to help the company broaden the appeal of its console. The company plans to ship 4 million of the Wii consoles worldwide this year.

Nintendo also will explain today a plan to expand the video-game market beyond its core of young men.

Today's announcement comes as Nintendo's main rival, Sony, has been forced to delay and scale back the introduction of its own game machine, the PlayStation 3, at least twice amid serious troubles with that company's new Blu-ray Disc technology.

Last week, Sony said that the PlayStation 3 would not be introduced in Europe until 2007 and that it would ship millions fewer units worldwide this year than it had promised. The top version of the PlayStation 3 is expected to cost around $600.

Another competitor, Microsoft, has sold more than 5 million of the Xbox 360 game console since its introduction in 2005 and hopes to sell more than 10 million by year's end.

Nintendo's Wii (pronounced we) is less technically ambitious than Sony's PS3, which is why it will cost far less and be far more available in stores this holiday season. To market the Wii, Nintendo hopes to make up in innovation and accessibility what the machine lacks in sheer silicon horsepower.

Nintendo is No. 3 in the console video game market, behind Sony and Microsoft. But while those competitors have largely focused on appealing to hard-core gamers, Nintendo is now trying to appeal to a broader audience.

"Our goal is to bring gaming back to the masses," Reggie Fils-Aime, president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, said in a telephone interview. "You see that in our pricing, you see that in the number of units we plan to make available this year and you see that in how we are positioning the Wii to appeal to every member of the household, including but not limited to the hard-core gamer."

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The Wii's major innovation is a wireless controller that the user can tilt and point to produce action on the screen. In a sword-fighting game, for instance, the player can simply swing the controller to thrust and parry with an on-screen blade; there is no need to master the complicated combinations of buttons and triggers that make many video games so intimidating to the reflex-challenged.

Nintendo intends to announce today that every Wii will come with a game compilation called Wii Sports -- including tennis, golf, baseball and bowling -- meant to show off the machine's intuitive controls. (Most consoles, including Nintendo's GameCube, do not come with games included.)

Nintendo plans to announce that 25 to 30 top-tier games will be available for the Wii this year. The most-anticipated game comes from Nintendo itself: an installment of the long-running "Legend of Zelda" series, "Twilight Princess."

Nintendo also will deliver a driving game called "Excite Truck" this year but will likely provide a minor disappointment to gamers in saying the next version of the popular "Mario" franchise will not arrive until 2007.

Nintendo intends to charge $50 for its Wii games, $10 less than the standard price for Xbox 360 titles and the same price generally charged for GameCube games.

Top games expected to be introduced for the Wii this year from third-party publishers include a version of "Madden NFL" from Electronic Arts, the sword-fighting game "Red Steel" from Ubisoft of France, an addition to the "Sonic" action series from Sega of Japan and a "Tony Hawk" action-sports game from Activision.

While Nintendo is certainly counting on the success of top-tier games sold at retail, many gamers may be at least as excited by the Wii's Virtual Console, which will allow players to download versions of older Nintendo games from the Internet.

Nintendo plans to announce today that about 30 classic games will be available for download when the Wii is released, including ones from the "Zelda," "Mario" and "Donkey Kong" franchises. Downloadable games will cost about $5 to $10 each.

More broadly, Nintendo hopes to make the Wii a living-room centerpiece by including various media channels meant to appeal to and draw in people who do not consider themselves gamers.

There will be a photo channel that will allow users to use the Wii to display digital photographs on television.

There also will be an easy-to-use interactive news channel and weather channel.

Perhaps most intriguing, the Wii will make it possible to browse the Web on the television. Microsoft's Xbox 360 does not permit this because that could negate the need to buy a Windows PC.

"We are including all of these capabilities as part of our overall strategy to expand the gaming market," Fils-Aime said. "Broadening the market is important because it will breathe new life into this business. Otherwise, this industry is moving down a path of being more and more limited to the hard-core gamer."