Wii rumor wrap-up
With the international launch details for Nintendo's Wii all but certain to be revealed in the next few days, it will be time for journalists, bloggers, analysts and forum trolls everywhere to say goodbye to one of their favorite pastimes: rumormongering. In tribute to happy guesses gone by, here's a quick round up of some of the more memorable rumors that have emerged over the past few months, with original sources and dates noted.Whose information will reign supreme? You'll know the official word as soon as we do.
Price
America:
Official: $250 or lower - Nintendo senior managing director Yoshihiro Mori (5/25)
$150 - Vibe Magazine (9/10)
$170 - David Gardner, executive VP and COO of EA's worldwide studios (8/21)
$175 - Text of supposed Reggie speech from Go Nintendo (8/27)
$200 - Merill Lynch analyst Justin Post (5/17)
$229 - "sources suggest" to IGN (8/7)
$229 - "A source close to Nintendo" via NintendoPlayers (9/12)
$249 - EGM (5/8)
$299 - 7-11 flier (8/4)
Japan:
Official: 25,000 yen or lower ($213) - Nintendo senior managing director Yoshihiro Mori (5/25)
19,800 yen ($170) - Financial report from Tokyo-based Nikko Citigroup (8/15)
Europe/Britain:
Official: Less than 250 Euros ($317) - Nintendo's head of German operations, Bernd Fakesch (8/23)
149 pounds ($278) - Shopto.net via GoNintendo (7/14)
149 pounds ($278)- MCV (9/8)
Australia:
330 AUD ($248) - Sunday Herald Sun (9/10)
Release Date
Official: Q4, 2006 - Nintendo E3 press conference
America:
October - CNN/Money (7/5)
Oct. 2 - GamingTarget, based on software release date press release (7/25)
Oct. 2 - Text of supposed Reggie speech from Go Nintendo (8/27)
November - Insider source from Nintendo sales meeting, on Orange Lounge Radio (9/4)
Nov. 2 - Best Buy game listing
Nov. 6. - Sports Illustrated for Kids (7/2)
Nov. 6 - "an industry source speaking to Cubed3" (5/31)
Nov. 12 - "some have suggested" to IGN (8/7)
Europe/Britain:
October - Shopto.net via GoNintendo (7/14)
Oct. 2 - JeuxFrance (5/31)
Nov. 3 - EA launch date for Need for Speed: Carbon (7/19)
Shortly before Nov. 24 - MCV (9/8)
Australia:
November - Toys "R" Us
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
nick @ Sep 13th 2006 1:09AM
Strange how you guys would okay the Battlestar Galactica ad, which of course is a spoof on the whole Joystiq thing. But coming after your post about guerilla marketing ... hmm ... I dunno. After you handled the Summa thing, a lot of us are wary. Just a heads up.
nick @ Sep 13th 2006 1:14AM
But good rumor round-up. I don't want to sound like a nanny-pooh.
Cage @ Sep 13th 2006 1:20AM
Is it me or is the only thing to "rumor" about the price? I dont care about chips or other info on the Wii (except the online download system). We know what its going to do and who its marketed too. There arent too many functions outside of a nunchuk that really have me excited (again, except for the retro games).
vc @ Sep 13th 2006 1:25AM
Nobody on the Joystiq blogging team has anything to do with approving advertising, Nick.
We didn't OK the BSG ad. I personally hate it. I have actually already flagged it as dubious and dishonest to management. If you'd like to help it be gone, you can send a note to:
http://www.weblogsinc.com/contact/problems/
Marco @ Sep 13th 2006 1:45AM
Oct-cross your fingers
Scoobydiesel @ Sep 13th 2006 1:46AM
Hahaha justin cred....oh uuh i just want the system, anything under 250 is fine by me, just i want it like soon?
Cesar Daniel @ Sep 13th 2006 1:51AM
$229 for my birthday... oct 19th... :P
Nodnetni @ Sep 13th 2006 1:56AM
This might be the most exciting week of the year so far for me. I mean I huge apple announcement yesterday, and a huge Nintendo announcement tomorrow. It’s like Two Christmas’s in a week, all the excitement and suspense. Yesterday was great and lived up to my expectations; hopefully tomorrow will do the same.
GSI @ Sep 13th 2006 1:58AM
Well considering that Nintendo has officialy said "less then $250", there is no real point in listing 7/11.
Plus when was the last time a crap-tacular run down convienent store knew anything about technology. :-P
GSI @ Sep 13th 2006 2:01AM
-->"huge apple announcement yesterday"
HA! That's a good one. Sorry but $10+ for a movie that only be played on a certain device is a ripoff. This the the UMD movie thing all over again.
Zadillo @ Sep 13th 2006 2:23AM
"HA! That's a good one. Sorry but $10+ for a movie that only be played on a certain device is a ripoff. This the the UMD movie thing all over again." - Well, blame the movie studios for that. Note that the main reason that Disney is the only studio even signed up on the service right now is because the other studios wanted Apple to charge more than $10+, and Apple has been sticking firm to that as the highest possible price for older movies (just as he did with the music labels that wanted to charge more than 99 cents a song).
Ghost Box @ Sep 13th 2006 2:37AM
I suppose all Nintendo has to do now is ensure they have a healthy supply and they will avoid the problems troubling Sony this year and Microsoft last year.
Anderson Imes @ Sep 13th 2006 2:45AM
I want to second #1's Summa reference.
It's too soon after the loss of Summa for me to be reminded of that ill-fated day. Too soon, dear sirs.
GSI @ Sep 13th 2006 3:03AM
Ok...someone please enlighten me. What did Summa do exactly? (other then make a big deal about games being delayed)
Steve @ Sep 13th 2006 3:21AM
Cesar, October 19th for you as well, eh? Brother owes me a Wii, wouldn't it be sweet on my birthday as well! Though I did hear a little piggy tell me that it won't launch any time before October 23rd, when the WiiConnect online beta testing finishes. A little birdy also told me that they have at least a million units manufactured already, and that the first million will be shipping with a "startup disc" to upgrade the BIOS, since some features were added after the initial million were already manufactured. But really, how accurate can birdies be?
Sony Fanslave @ Sep 13th 2006 3:29AM
Nooooo! The end is near!
*jumps off building and dies*
Mr.Wednesday @ Sep 13th 2006 4:34AM
I am really looking forward to this! I wanna Wii! lol Anyways, I just hope they dont make us that live in Europe pay more for the Wii, I would rather buy a Wii from the US for 170 Dollars than spend 250 Euros (aprox. 317 USD)... Does anyone know is Wii will have one of those area restrictions?
Mr.Wednesday @ Sep 13th 2006 4:37AM
Oh, and its good to see that the Nuclear war didnt start yesterday! :P
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/15280
toygen @ Sep 13th 2006 5:12AM
I have a good feeling about October 20th or November 10th (the latter probably when Europe actually get some units). Either way I think we can say it will be here before Christmas which for Nintendo is a very good thing.
Infil @ Sep 13th 2006 5:56AM
To GSI,
Summa was fired over the mess that was created several days ago when the "major console news" he announced did not end up deserving the hype (simply that Nintendo is now in possession of the final Wii CPU, and theoretically could launch soon - most people thought there would be massive launch date/price news through some exclusive source). He spurred on the comments section of his original post past the 1000 comments mark by posting little teasers which kept the posts (and excitement) rolling in.
Joystiq offered an official apology to hyping up this news. All these posts should be on the right sidebar under "Most Commented On".
Some people were quite irritated with Summa and demanded an apology from him, while others did not want to see him lose his job over something that just got blown out of proportion. Either way, Summa was fired, but he didn't seem too upset about it, citing it was almost a mutual decision.
And that's the recap. Anyway, enough on that, this isn't a post about that.
Looking forward to some juicy Wii news in the coming days. Good rumor recap.
GSI @ Sep 13th 2006 6:04AM
Ahh...I kind of figured that was why. Anyone who seriously thought that Nintendo would release secret information to a weblog and not the "big dog" gaming media sites (1up, IGN, GameSpy, Gamespot, etc) was smoking crack.
Anyways...as for birthdays, mine on Oct. 24th so any money I get from relatives will reduce the amount of cash I will have to spend on the Wii (not that I needed help in the first place.) ;-)
John Z. @ Sep 13th 2006 7:01AM
For the record, the average price rumored is $256.80 USD. This is skewed a bit by including the European and Australian numbers; counting only the US rumors, the average is $216.78. I'm personally leaning more towards that end of the spectrum as the appearance of $229 twice in the list seems to lend a little credence to that number.
Bill @ Sep 13th 2006 7:25AM
I heard a good rumor.
Nintendo will go out of business when Wii flops.
toygen @ Sep 13th 2006 7:33AM
@24 > even if the Wii did flop, Nintendo would still make enough money from the Superb DS and DS, GBA and software sales on other systems (which it could branch out into as Sega did).
Inverse Fanboys (Hateboys?) don't think things through properly do they?
Bill @ Sep 13th 2006 7:41AM
Well, DS isn't catching on in the West anyway.
PSP has ten years to clobber that thing. Bank on it.
toygen @ Sep 13th 2006 7:49AM
Bill > where have you been living this past year, under a rock in rocksville, rockland?
Bill @ Sep 13th 2006 8:11AM
toygen, last NPD DS fell 35% from previous month. Which itself fell like 40% from previous month when DS lite launched.
It's doing ok. It's not anywhere NEAR Japanese level.
Lets see, it did ~280k in NPD for August (in USA case you dont know what I'm talking about).
In 4 weeks, = 70,000 per week.
USA = 300 million population, Japan=128 million.
Japan weekly DS sales = 150k.
So in a country with less than half the population it more than doubles the weekly sales. So yeah, it's not catching on in the West like it has in Japan. This is not a new situation. In fact, PSP sales dont lag DS by all that much in EU and USA to date.
I saw a new sales today that Spain, PSP has sold about 600k to 800k for DS, despite DS coming out months earlier.
DS has some momemtum in the west, that's about all I'd say. PSP could end that tomorrow by dropping to 149.
And in Japan, very soon Nintendo will have saturated that market.
Considering handheld life cycles are ten years or more, I'd say PSP has all the time in the World.
Unless Nintendo wants to release a new handheld. LOL go ahead. They still couldn't even top PSP in power, so I guess they could add a third touchscreen? Come on, Nintendo is stupid.
Jackie Chan @ Sep 13th 2006 8:12AM
Robert Summa also mocked Steve Irwins death in a post that was taken off the site after much outrage. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
VerdigriS @ Sep 13th 2006 8:16AM
I'm gonna laugh my ass off when SI for Kids nails it on the date.
Like Nintendo was thinking, 'Let's just let SI in on it, so no one will believe it...'
Makes the suprise all that more amusing...
John Lucas @ Sep 13th 2006 8:16AM
I swear sometimes game media is as bad as cable news.
Speculating about speculation. whew. Conventions like these are what made The Daily Show become the icon that it is. Because it parodies that very thing!
The price in America is 200 United States Dollars.
Get over it!
And that is what it should be.
In other regions as always Nintendo will be the cheaper of the admittedly pricey options.
Blame it on taxes & tariffs or whatever.
You'd think that after 23 years of making consoles & 4 systems launching at the same price in USA that this kind of thing wouldn't even be a story.
Oh well, maybe I should quit the griping.
It shows they're excited for the Wii AKA The Future of Gaming. And that can be nothing but a good thing.
Just dial it down a notch, that's all I'm saying.
John Lucas
KR @ Sep 13th 2006 8:36AM
Why the Justin Credible picture?
LaughingTarget @ Sep 13th 2006 8:45AM
Bill -
Flawed analysis.
Given that Japan is sucking up the DS like no body's business (it is nowhere near saturated in Japan yet), and has more than 50% of the worldwide sales, the DS has the bulk of the third party developers onboard, something the PSP cannot claim to have. This provides software momentum. The DS simply has a larger and stronger software lineup when compared to the PSP.
The question is, what is really holding the PSP back in sales? True, the price is quite hefty, but the lack of software and the failing UMD format doesn't help matters much. If third party developers are shirking the PSP, then it is dead. Unlike Nintendo, which provides its own powerful development houses and makes a profit on each handheld they sell, Sony doesn't have that luxury. Sony is entirely reliant on third party developers to drive sales of their product and, in turn, bring in profits.
The PSP is already a failure as a gaming machine. As even attested by the ardent PSP supporters on this very blog, the PSP is being used primarily as a homebrew device. Sony makes no money on it as a homebrew device, all they did was lose the money on selling it to the PSP fan and spend more money developing new firmwares to fight them. PSP owners are massive money sinks without any profitability. This is further proven by the fact that there are only 3 million+ sellers on the PSP, two of them bearly breaking the one million mark, to the DS's 13, 10 of which handily clear the 1 million mark. The PSP is a piss-poor software mover, and this is why it is a major failure, even though the shipped numbers are reported as fairly strong.
The Sony Fanboy is the biggest enemy to Sony when it comes to the PSP. The Nintendo Fanboy or Microsoft Fanboy who refuses to purchase the PSP is doing less damage to Sony's finances. The PSP already failed, and selling more will only make the failure even worse.
Bill @ Sep 13th 2006 8:57AM
>>The PSP is already a failure as a gaming machine.>>
Nonsense. You may wish that was the case but it isn't, and you know it. The PSP is still lurking waiting to spring up and you know it.
Like I said where is Nintendo going to go? They've nearly saturated Japan. So what do they do? Release another handheld and get everybody mad? Or wait the long slow ten years for PSP to beat them? Lose-lose.
>> As even attested by the ardent PSP supporters on this very blog, the PSP is being used primarily as a homebrew device. Sony makes no money on it as a homebrew device, all they did was lose the money on selling it to the PSP fan and spend more money developing new firmwares to fight them. PSP owners are massive money sinks without any profitability. This is further proven by the fact that there are only 3 million+ sellers on the PSP, two of them bearly breaking the one million mark, to the DS's 13, 10 of which handily clear the 1 million mark. The PSP is a piss-poor software mover, and this is why it is a major failure, even though the shipped numbers are reported as fairly strong.>>
Whatever, to this day DS still sells ridiculously shitty third party sales. The only thing that sells good on it in Japan is Nintendo games. That's it. So nobody else is going to make games for it.
>>NDS - 278,000
PSP - 146,000
The NDS outsold every other console.>>
And what were July figures? Oh yeah, DS sold almost 400k in July. So DS dropped 35% in sales from July to August. June DS sold 500k, so they dropped 35% from June to July. Etc. And before June, they were getting outsold by PSP every month. Now they are trending down and we will see what happens.
A lot of DS lovers were trying to claim DS was doing just as great in Europe lately as it was in Japan. Well it looks like that is not the case from the new Spain survey.
So to recap, just what I said. DS is not catching on in the West, and it better get going soon, or it is in deep trouble.
Sony used to have 0% of the handheld. Now even if they only have lets say 30%..guess what that's a lot. Nintendo used to have 100%, now they have maybe 60 or 70%. See? Nintendo cant really win.
And PSP is going to come back and beat the DS ass anyway. That's my prediction. It is going to take a while but it will happen. I doubt DS is even going to keep selling so great in Japan much longer. And the rest of the world, it is a much closer battle between DS and PSP.
PSP is a failure LOL. That's one of those things you try to say to convince yourslf it's true. But you know deep down it isn't, and you know deep down it's probably still going to beat the DS's ass, period.
Justin @ Sep 13th 2006 9:06AM
I'm sorry Joystiq, but I'm a bit disappointed in your reporting. These "rumors" as a news source is ok if you've been under a rock for the past six months. However, the true news story here concerning the Wii's launch isn't really when or how much because we have a general idea. What we don't have an idea about is Nintendo's initial push and long term strategy for its past systems and the future titles on the Wii. Will every single game from the last twenty years be available at launch? If not, why? Will every game for the Genesis and TG be available at launch? If not, why?
Where is a list of playable games (either new or old) that will be available at launch? I've seen the previous Joystiq posts about some games, but is that a partial list of popular games or is that the official launch list?
Every Xbox owner that became a 360 owner seems to have one or many games that they want backwards compatible for the 360. But, as of this post, that isn't the case (ahem: Psychonauts, Kung Fu Chaos, etc).
As a future Wii owner I am curious to find out about those games, more so in fact, than I am about the launch or price. If I find out about the launch date what does that really mean? And, the price of the system isn't dramatic like the PS3, so why should it matter?
How much are the games going to be, which ones are available at launch, and what companies are developing Wii games for after the initial launch (ie. Qtr 1 and 2 of 2007)?
If the Wii is $150 and launches in October versus being $250 and launching November 17th, then why does it matter?
Is it just to know when to go stand in line? I'm ordering online, btw. Or is it to know how many lunch money days I need to save? I've got a budget for the Wii and if it costs $150 then I can buy more games and some Virtual Console games.
I want to know which VC games I can buy, officially.
As far as the Wii specific games, I'm getting Zelda, Metroid, Project HAMMER, Madden 07, and Red Steel. If I don't see any VC games then I might pick up Mario.
Its an easy post to put up Wii Rumors, but it takes some effort to get a real scoop.
TravistyOJ @ Sep 13th 2006 9:26AM
Ahh yes, this was fun. Here were my predictions from August 21st.
http://bigheadmode.blogspot.com/2006/08/wii-predictions.html
J B Cougar @ Sep 13th 2006 9:26AM
"PSP is a failure LOL. That's one of those things you try to say to convince yourslf (sic) it's true"
Like all the baseless hyperbole and opinion you yourself just cluttered my monitor with in your last three posts? Read any of the non-Sony boards, comment sections and web sites on the Net today. The public perception has been set about the PSP, and it ain't changing anytime soon: It does many things, and none of them well, least of all play games. You can comment til you're blue in the face and spout all these pointless numbers, because the fact is the DS is a system that a buyer continues to play 6, 12, 18 months down the line, while the PSP is something Trendy Kid gets his parents to buy for Xmas and then forgets about a month later when he realizes that his shiny new iPod plays music better, the games are something he can get in the PS2 bargaiun bib for half the price, and the DS is, hey, actually FUN!
But I digress, maybe youre right... maybe Sony really is betting on the PSP to do well. Maybe that's why they have these fun new combo packs with a memory stick and the Lords of Dogtown UMD movie! And lifecycles of portable systems are 10 years? Why, because that's what Sony said? (re: Sony marketing exec saying support for the PSP would last 10 years)
But by all means, hold onto those numbers. They're a good point to make, just like Japanese interest in the DS will probably die off "soon." I imagine you have all this time to post because you're still pateiently waiting for that "killer app" to come out for the PSP. It will come soon, I'm sure!
And, just a side note: Please specifiy if you are using Sony Logic, and are citing "units shipped" when making your comparison to the DS, which is always listed as "units sold" by Nintendo.
Catprog @ Sep 13th 2006 9:28AM
to bill
128,085,000 people in Japan. If nintendo sells 1 to everybody that there is more then the ps2 shipped worldwide. So far they have sold about 10 million ( I think)so not even close to saturating.
About crappy third-party sales have a look at this (http://www.clubskill.com/?view=article&article=4295) final fantasy III (3d remake) almost half a million in the 1st week. along with 3 other 3rd party games in the top 10.
With the USA figures the PSP had a bigger drop then the DS from May to August and unless it turns around the DS will be on top in japan and the USA.
lols @ Sep 13th 2006 9:34AM
if its more than 50 dollars im not gonna buy it lols
GWX @ Sep 13th 2006 9:45AM
What does the ECW(WWE) wrestler (pictured)(Justin Credible) have to do with Wii rumors?
Todd @ Sep 13th 2006 9:53AM
Wary? Who's wary?
Nice list of rumors, let's see which one wins the gold star for being correct.
dsub @ Sep 13th 2006 9:53AM
an October 2nd launch is WAY to soon. That's only 2 weeks away. That gives retailers no time at all to take pre-orders, or get accurate orders in for that matter. I'm guessing end of October.
Trylks @ Sep 13th 2006 10:27AM
Here you have one more: €200 at launch date in Europe. Reasons:
- It is the usual price for Nintendo consoles at launch.
- Seems a reasonable price for a console at launch, as much as a PSP actually, and people will probably buy it at that price, why choosing a lower price then? (I would really like a lower price, but Nintendo sells consoles to make as much money as possible, it's a company!) Beside of that DS lite is €150, I don't think Nintendo will price a console closer to one of their handhelds.
- If it is more expensive, for example €250, it will be too close to core 360, and for only €50 more many people would choose the 360. Beside of that microsoft probably could drop the price to €250 and have their wished XMas.
- It is a direct translation from the $200 in US, that I think is the most probable price for the same reasons stated here.
2slick @ Sep 13th 2006 11:30AM
someone at joystiq should be shot for puttin that just incredible pic. up there...........totally scares off the women and children.
congrats to the guy that nutted in his pants over the 5 dollar games already available on live arcade, the internet, and sure to be everyones shadow, the ps3. congrats to 10 dollar movies that you can easily bootleg for free, and convert to the ipod format, ALL FOR FREE!!!!!
as for the wii, while it's not a "christmas" for me, i'm interested to see what's gonna be announced and when we can purchase it.
Mr.Wednesday @ Sep 13th 2006 11:32AM
Its funny to read those fervorous Sony believers like Bill here... I wont even say much because I believe that others talked way better than I could But theres one thing I wanted to say...
Nintendo Never had 100% of the handheld market... They always had a huge part of it though (kinda like the Ipod) but never had it all... When the first game boy appeard, shortly after other companies relieased they own handheld devices... GameGear, Lynx and a bunch of other handhelds competed with GameBoy and even with weaker graphics and least powerfull machines, the GameBoy managed to win over the competition... Why? Because it was fun and had a strong suport of 3rd party games which in my opinion is whats happening the DS aswell...
You could compare the PSP and DS "war" like the GameGear and GameBoy war years ago...
The Game Gear was way more powerfull, color screen, Backlight Screen, a tv antenna for it so you could watch tv... But the problems were: Most of the games were the same as the Master System Console and all the good new games were simply MegaDrive ports for it... Kinda like PSP... The battery life was ridiculous, not ot mention that you have to buy 6 AA for it for just some hours of game play... The same for the PSP... 3 to 4 hours of gameplay is nothing...
The GameBoy won because it was fun... It was less powerfull than its competitors but it was cheaper, more fun and had unique games for it... Of course it had its flaws... But history proves us that power is nothing if you dont know how to use it... I seriously believe that Sony has a bigger chance to go down than Nintendo has... Sony is doing the same mistakes that Sega did years back... And if they dont learn by those mistakes it could be their end in the gaming business...
RUSKULL @ Sep 13th 2006 11:37AM
based on Nintendo's history with this thing, my guess would be that the release date and price will be the least exciting of the rumors. I'm betting November with a $250 price tag.
Case @ Sep 13th 2006 11:58AM
Ummm...
November 11th, US $159.
Totally random guess.
js beckerist @ Sep 13th 2006 12:00PM
You forgot Gamefly mentioning that it will be released on 10.26
delldude420 @ Sep 13th 2006 12:31PM
be funny if it comes out september 14th
Tom @ Sep 13th 2006 12:41PM
I just bought my first PSP game nearly a year, LocoRoco, and there doesn't seem to be anything else good on the horizon. By contrast, here's a short list of the upcomming DS games I'll be buying:
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
Children of Mana
Final Fantasy III
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
DK: King of Swing
For those keeping track, that amounts to over $200 in software sales going to Nintendo... vs. $35 going to Sony. It's really no wonder PSP sales are suffering; Where are all the good games?!!
Shore @ Sep 13th 2006 1:37PM
Only 1 person made a Justin Credible joke? For shame on the rest of you!!