Critiquing Nintendo's Wii launch details

I dont feel the difference between 200 and 250 will affect my decision to purchase. I will probably just get 2 controllers at launch and wait for 3rd party controllers later. I agree with the point about the virtual console pricing. When I first heard about it I was hoping it was going to be free - but they definately need to lower the cost of wii points. I have no interest in the photo system. I do strongly disagree with the last point, since the ps3 launch is essentially a paper launch only they will sellout in a day and unless you want to spend $1500 on ebay you wont find a ps3 until next year.

you know everyone has good points about the price of the controllers and the games. But I personally think that they will grab the market with the free Playing on the net with other Wii's. I got into the Xbox live thing a little but after my free period was up I was able to afford paying for it.

pfft, forget that. The one that comes with the Wii will be my controller. Let my roommate buy his own controller if he wants to play against me.

I suppose with respect to DVD playback NOA was too cheap to pay for the DVD decoder software for playback, the hardware is all ready inside the Wii.

It's not that the Wii is so expensive. I kinda figured it would be about 250. The 50$ games were a lot more than I thought they would be, but I was only gonna get a couple of them (Zelda and Wario).
My main problem is all the other great games coming out this season for the 360, the PS2 (FFXII!), the PC, and the HD-DVD add on for the 360 and HD-DVD movies. Not to mention new games for my DS and PSP. There's just so much stuff I want to get for the systems I have that there's no way I could afford to invest money or time in a new system, much less a PS3. This is going to be one hell of a holiday for gamers (and game journalists).
Maybe I'll just relapse into my World of Warcraft addiction and forget the whole thing.

I just want to play zelda! I'm going to buy it for the gamecube, and then buy a wii when there is a good package deal. Spring-summer '07

What is wrong with some of you people?!
360: $400-$500
PS3: $500-$600
Wii: $250

Do some research and see how much Sony and Microsoft are charging and plan to charge for their accessories (aside from controllers) on top of the already very high price tags. Paying a little extra for innovative and ground-breaking motion sensoring doesn't bother me one bit. Hell, if anything I think Nintendo deserves the extra cash considering they're the only game company that is trying its hardest to put the wants and needs of the average consumer first. I can't believe I'm hearing complaints. Oh well, I guess you can't please everyone no matter how hard you try.

I wouldnot mind the 250 pricetag if it had 20 roms in it plus to nan chuks and to wii motes.

I have not seen any demoonstration yet that requires two people to have a wiimote AND a nunchuk attachment. So pick up one extra wiimote (without nunchuk) and you'll be set for most games. Tennis seems to be the only game that would make use of four wiimotes (without nunchuck) so I plan to have a friend come over with his two wii controllers when we want to try that.

Lets see... $40 for a bluetooth wireless remote with motion sensors, rumble, AND a speaker builtin. That's expensive?

Nintendo is not losing money on this console. They want to capitalize on those who want at launch and for their kids for Christmas. They are a company and a company wants to make money so I dont blame them. I think the price is doing that without gouging. Remember they have lots of room to drop in price as the price to manufacture drops.

x360 came with only one controller and no games at a price of $300 is still more expensive.

This just goes to show that most people don't understand economics of business and they will always find something to complain about. All publicly held companies purposes is to maximize profits and line their stockholders pockets with money. To do that they must make an innovative and desired product which nintendo has succeeded in doing.

I only have one nit to pick (as pleasant as that sounds) with the article... they suggested that coming out two days after Sony is forcing them to be compared to each other.. and that this is a BAD thing.

I can't help but think this is exactly what Nintendo wants.. this is Nintendo's big chance to show they understand what makes video games fun and marketable more than any of their competitors... and honestly if you think you have a good chance of 'winning' (which I personally think Nintendo does) this generation, then there is no greater expression of that victory than by embarrassing the 500 pound gorilla that is Sony at launch.

If the Wii and PS3 fall along the same lines as the DS and PSP, Nintendo will have won this one straight out. And direct competition is exactly what they would want.

i'm not really shocked about the price of the controller. i bought a motion sensing glove(not the powerglove :o) ) for 50€ so paying 60€ for a controller with 2 motionsensing part,and ofcours the ability to aim is not that bad. i'm going to buy a second controller.im not sure if there is a virtual controller packed within the 250$ package, if so, it would be a good deal, or else we would all just get ripped of.
a 30$ videocard(made for 20$ or less)
25$ sound sytem (made for 15$ or less)
60$ motion sensing capability.(which is made for 30 $ or less)
4 gamecube ports, a gamecube drive and memory card insert. aprox 35$ ( they have lots of unsolled drives they can use in stock)
and a menu(w00t a menu 0.o)(takes me 2 hours to make the same menu, even better)
a 512 mb sd card.(i can buy it for 10€, its probably made for 10$ or less)
wifi cabability.( don't know price, but definetly not expensive)
with a few ports and outputs( 15$)
a 50$ proccesor(made for less than 35$)

so that makes us a price of 155$ which is 125€.
im not going to pay 250€ for a 125€ console.
thats like paying the damn double price. damn nintendo, just fudging up my dream. i' no spoiled rich kid so i have to work to get a console.
paying 360€ for a crappy console set with game and two controllers? i rather add 40€ and get myself a 360 an save for a little longer so i can buy a decent game.

Releasing two days after is going to increase sales for the 360, not the Wii. Let's face it, you're looking at spending $250, $310 with two controllers. Throw in a game for $50 and you're up to $360. You can buy a stripped down 360 and a game for that price. But if you're going to pay that much, save the extra $40 and then buy a beefed up 360 for $400.

The idea was that if they released for under $200, I would buy one for sure (and was looking forward to it). But now, if I have to dig deep out of my bank account, then I'll just get the 360.

Since when does any console come with two controllers? Why are we being negative toward Nintendo for doing exactly what every other console manufacturer does?

At least it comes with a controller. I could see being upset if the console didn't come with anything extra. Let's cut Nintendo a break. I understand that some people were EXPECTING more than one controller, but that was false hope.

I don't see where Nintendo ever once gave any inclination that there would be more than one controller. So any expectations were unfounded and not Nintendo's fault.

I live in Europe and I am pretty happy with the things the way they are. Europe has always been expensive, so the prices compared to the rest of the world are not realy suprising.

The Wiimote and nunchuck, well that seems expensive. But Nintendo controllers were always expensive so I figured this in advace as well. Adding to that its a pretty advanced controller. I just hope they get cheaper packs with a Wiimote AND Nunchuck.

And the release date is fine! I mean I live in Europe and I am going to have it a few weeks after its launch in the US and a few days after the launch in Japan! This makes me realy happy. And above all, it beats March 2007 :P.

And for the virtual console. Well it makes me smile to see all things in action. I believe the interface is right and it seems all so natural (the photo thing especialy). Something the xbox360 does not do (let me remind you, this is my opinion). For the cotsts, well I expected something like that. It all seems to fit.

Freaking weak nintendo. I already have an NES and SNES so what is the point? It would only be a nice feature if I could challenge someone to a multiplayer game much like on xbox live arcade. If you are only offering the game why would anyone give you more money for games they already own? Also, kiss my ass wiimote. In order to play with four people that is going to cost me 180 JUST ON WIIMOTES!!! Three controllers and a game cost about the same as the damn console! Very dissapointed Nintendo...You had me but now i'm all 360

If you don't like the $250 price, wait until you can get the Wii without WiiSports for $200.
Taa-daa!
Luckly not all games will need the nunchuck. Though I do believe $40+ is a high price for a controller =x.
...maybe I'll make my friends buy their own controller p_p

I think the controller price is right on target as well. I don't know why everyone was expecting the remote to be a $20 brick of plastic.

I Dont Understand Why You guys HAVE to buy more controllers! there's NO good multiplayer launch titles! And If Your friends wanna play Wii tell them to buy it or buy a controller because i know i wouldnt spend $40 just to play my ONE of my friends at a time! I would wait for a Solid multiplayer game like Smash Bros. Brawl THEN Buy 1 Or 2 Controllers when they've dropped to about $35-$25.

So Basicly My Wii price would be - Wii+Zelda= $300+Tax= About $310 Not That bad...No reason to buy more controllers for zelda. Wii sports? i doubt multiplayer is worth $40. I Would NEVER Buy another controller untill they drop atleast $10 or If SSB Brawl came out id buy 1.

At 300+ comments, I'm sure most of my points will be covered but here's my reply to the article:

--$250 price: "A $250 system becomes less of an impulse buy, and more of an investment. At $199, the systems would cater quite nicely to the EveryMan."--

Nintendo will sell enough of these at $250 to equate or surpass demand over capacity to produce. The fans will buy it first, and spread the word, and by the time the expanded market is ready to buy the Wii, it will drop to $199.

--Cost of controllers:...--

You're right these are pricey, but innovation has a price. Wireless 360 controllers are $50... and the Wiimote has recent technology that's still not cheap to produce. It's obvious that Nintendo would want them to be cheaper.

--Virtual Console pricing: "Most NES games aren't worth $5. Although I don't support the practice since it's illegal and all (wink wink), it's damned easy to find ZIP files with every single NES ROM included in them."--

Meh...Have you seen any announced NES games that are not worth $5? Games that are worth less than $5 won't be sold at this price, they'll be freebies and bonuses.

The majority of people don't even know that emulators exist, and sending those people on the net searching for ROMs and emulators is a good way to get them infected with malware (if they're on Windows).

--Photo system: "Sorry guys... it's hard to sell me on a Photo manipulation/storage idea when the system holds less than a gig of storage space."--

You can buy larger standard SD cards, and Nintendo stated you'll eventually be able to plug an USB HD for storage.

--Nov 19 launch: "Launching it two days after the PlayStation 3 means that, whether they like it or not, Nintendo is now competing with Sony for exposure."--

It was expected since a long time that the two consoles might be launched at around the same time. The near simultaneous launch creates a bigger event that will receive more press, Nintendo can ride on Sony's exposure and vice-versa.

It will be a good occasion to expose what's different between the two, such as the price and target market.

Once again SCREW THE CONTROLLER PRICE!! NO REASON TO GET ONE!!!! IF FRIENDS WANNA PLAY MAKE THEM BUY THEMSELVES A CONTROLLER!!!!!!! WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND SPENDS THEIR OWN MONEY ON CONTROLLERS TO LET FRIENDS PLAY?!? And they're no good multiplayer launch titles (to me atleast) so no need for controllers. Vitual console isnt one of my concerns......i just want 6 or 7 games overall off it.....

No hard disk, no cpu, no graphics, no DVD, but at a high price. - Sorry, I am missing the strategy in this.

...So this is how it all played out. Nintendo's last console just never got the numbers...

MS & Sony can adjust their package as time goes on because their systems have more horse power & storage to play around with. Nintendo does not have the luxury of fart-arsing-around in the beginning.

If the install base is not built in the first year, what are they going to do? Dont shoot me down for saying this; but is it possible that the novelty of the controller will wear off after one summer? Then what...

Virtual games - just static electricity stored on the limited 512Mb internal memory at how much? What the hell are they doing? They should have priced this to kill off use of abandonware titles.

Nintendo people are indeed strange - but what the heck, it's their choice and their funeral.

I saw 9 year old kids getting their parents to pay 350€/400€ for a new PSP at launch day.
$40 is too much for the Wiimote?
I have to pay 33€ for a new PS2 controller. 6 years after launch!!!
What is your problem with the price?! Thay make you pay $500 for a Sony and it's ok because the same people tell you that a BluRay player it's worth 2 times more. And you go for it! Come on: it's the same company, it's the same people, it's the same strategy. As any other company, Son's about profit. They don't care if it's by selling Blurays, PS3s or Milos. It's marketing all over. And Sony's a genious at it. But don't expect HD to have the same impact as DVD.

The only thing that gets me about the whole release of the wii is the controller. 60$ seems like a lot to pay for a controller but then again the price will surely fall and it is roughly equal to the price of the other next gen controllers. And for the people that are complaining that it will be more worth it to buy a 360 because of the wiis price you are wrong. With the system and the harddrive it is much more than the wii and the 10$ more on the games and the fact that ethernet is 100$ more the price adds up. The wii will be much cheaper but I try to think of it as an extra. There will be a hardcore section of fans for the 360 and a section for the PS3, but everyone is going to get the wii because it has the fun factor and the price that everyone can agree on.

I wish all you whiny babies would just shut up already!! Its the cheapest price, as they stated, so what more do you want, are you forgeting that the Wiimote is personalized any way, meaning if your friend wants to play with you, he/she will mostt likely bring his/her own control................And its still the cheapest, even with the controls. Buy a 360, the "real" 360 with 3 more controls and a game, it'll be more way more, and you know it! So stop your whining!

How is around the Wii too expensive to be a family console? For the $450 many families would spend on an Xbox for their kids a family could get the Wii, an additional three controllers (with the nunchuk expansions), and a memory stick. the Wii comes with wii sports so a family can start playing right from the start, and each additional game would be fifty dollars anyway.

Oh and Willie, the wii has a low power level for several reasons. First off this low power means less cooling system reuirements, which means that the Wii can be smaller. Also, The low power and cooling allows the Wii to run 24/7 which means it will automatically receive updates while you sleep. It's 24/7 abilities will also mean that if your too dumb to realize you're low on memory when you get a game you don't have to worry about saving, you can just leave the game running until you get a chance to buy more memory.

You wanted to know what's in there? Its the same exact technology in the Xbox 360, but used in a different and better way. Also $249.99 for the Wii would round down retard. That meansit's not "almost $300", it's not even half!

Now I want to know how getting a system with small power requirements would cost almost two hundred dollars to get up and running. I also want to know how one person can make so many grammatical mistakes in one post, GOSH!

I have to agreed with the depressed rodent however, There should be a bundle with the controller and the nunchuck which would only cost $50.

All in all i think the price is just right. although im hopping they bundle the cosole with 4 controllers for a family (cheaper) price than if you buy seperately. People that are complaining about not being able to play dvds, what a joke, this is year 2006 you must have at less 1 dvd player, i have at less 5 dvd players, whether its a ps2, xbox 360, dvd player, divx player, pc, laptop. and anyways if you haven't got 1 why you need one when if you aint got one then you wouldnt have any dvds to watch. dvd players you can pick up for under $20 if you really want one. i also hear you can attach your gamecube controllers to the wii? is this true?

Listen up assholes. I'm going to have to go out on a limb and explain to you that the PS3 is launching with bugger-all stock(meaning none, for all of you non-Australians), whereas the Wii is launching a shitload of units in essentially the same time period. Oh, did I mention the fact that the PS3 is not launching worldwide now? Damndest thing.

If you ask me, the Wii will have a very strong launch, though I still have reservations on the fact that they can move 4 million units by the end of the year.

The PS3's oringinal stock of 500,000 units will be sold by Christmas, yes, but the fact remains that when they look at a Wii, they see a bargain, whereas when they look at a PS3, they go "what the fuck is blue ray?"

When the Gamecube and the N64 came out, they were exactly the same price as the Wii is now. The Wii will undergo a price drop soon, Nintendo just has to have a look at their stock and market share after the holiday season and then decide on one. Remember, the DS got a $30 price drop before Advance Wars and Nintendogs.

Do the math:

Wii + Remote + Nunchuck + Classic controller + Game

= $390

Now:

XBox360 + Controller + Wireless router + Game

= $560

Nintendo wins, motherfuckers.

Kinda pissed that they are sold out everywhere on opening day... yet I kinda expected that...

I'm sick of people complaining about the cost. Every comparison has been using the cheapest version of the other consoles (how many people really want a 20GB PS3?) vs. the Wii with 4 controllers.

And really, how many controllers do you plan to buy? Nintendo seems to be going for this: everyone will own a Wii, and you will be using YOUR controller on any Wii when you play with your friends. I don't see myself getting more than 2. And maybe ONE classic. The controllers are also a lot more durable than they look. The PS3 controllers are the ones you should be worried about breaking.

@ the cost of the VC games: they're still going to sell. Look at how much money the iTunes Music store has made for Apple. Yet you can still get a large majority of the content for free (usually illegally).

The launch date wasn't too brilliant, but I think Sony will be sitting this gen out. It's Wii360 time.

Oh my friggin god...

you people have obviously never played the wii.
I own two of them, and my wife and i waited 26 hours in a wal-mart garden center in order to get them.

This system is perfect. It makes the PS3 and Xbox360 completely obsolete. I would have paid any amount to get one, and anybody that thinks the big N is charging too much for anything is dumber than the PS3 fanboy crowd.

The Mii channel is fun as hell, Wii Sports is addictive (and two players can use one controller). The Wii Shop is ingenious, and the virtual console is insanely cool. The photo options are amazing, and you don't even need a freakin' hard drive.

The technology inside the controllers is amazing (and you don't actually *need* more than one for anything). The classic console is awesome, and yeah i've got an emulator on my PC, but it's just not the same. The games are well worth it, just think about how long it takes to program a 9GB fully rendered 3d game. Then add the time it takes to motion capture every possible movement a player can make with the wii remote. The thing senses speed, altitude, yaw, pitch, roll, depth, and minute changes in the tilt and curve of your body!

The only issue i have with nintendo is the fact that they only have one more restock date before christmas. The rumor mill said they'd have plenty on hand, but i don't see that happening with the current shipment plans. Black Friday will be the last time you see the wee for a *while*.

Now that the wii has made the other console into obsolete worthless pieces of garbage, the wii wil be hard to come by before the holidays.

oh, and if you check out my site, you'll see that i'm not exactly a gamer.

Simply put, I have no real gripes about the Wii. I have the best console on the planet, and i know for a fact that If you have any complaints, its because you've never actually played one.

Wii is the future. Nintendo got it right. I haven't played a video game since 1997, and the wii has renewed my faith in gaming.

Good luck to those of you that haven't played, or were so dumb that you bought a PS3 or Xbox 360. Eventually you will all play the wii, and you'll realize what you're missing.

I will briefly mention that my wife has one for sale with a copy of zelda, first $500 takes it. email admin@binarygrey.com.

Why are all of you freaking out about the price? It is considerably cheaper to buy the Wii than any other game system. To buy the basics it costs about as much as buying the upper priced 360 without extra controllers or any games. The games run at 60$ a piece, controllers for fifty. You don't need memory for the 360, however. And the 360 is even lesser than the ps3.

Plus all of you are also missing the point of the system anyway. The point is to make a fun gaming system, set at a reasonable price range, and something for the whole family.

If you're into the graphics and such, then go for the 360. It is also set at a reasonable price, and has a great line up of games that are already out, and even greater ones to come. The ps3 is just ridiculous, but all of you who are trying to say the wii is too expensive, or comes out to being the equivalent cost as any of the other game systems have obviously not done your homework.

And for the person who previously stated that nintendo wouldn't be able to keep up with sony. If you have any type of legitimate news source, then you would have found out that the nintendo is kicking sony's butt. Considerably.

The obvious decision that needs to be made is not the price value one. They're all priced at reasonable prices. Buy the one you'd find more enjoyable for yourself.