U.S. Nintendo presser somewhat-liveblogging [update 8]

"In the meantime, please feel free to buy an Xbox 360 or PS3, a party game, and 3 extra controllers for less than that price and let us all know how much cheap fun you're having." -Exick

The difference is you aren't considering their strategy. I will probably end up with all three, but Nintendo is the only company of the three who is marketing heavily to casual gamers and pushing these 'party games.'

Microsoft and Sony are more interested in online multiplayer; Nintendo wants multiplayer in your living room.

The controller price simply pushes it out of the realm of the casual gamer who will just buy a slim PS2 and Guitar Hero this holiday season.

Is the Wii still, as promised, completely backward compatible with Gamecube games? How does it accept the smaller discs? I've never seen a tray-less drive that accepted the 3 inch discs....

R

yeah region free is confirmed:

"In Q&A with Wired News, NOA VP of marketing and corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan said, among other things, that Nintendo's upcoming Wii home console will be region-free. Kaplan said Wii will be able to play games from other regions, but did suggest there was a region lock that publishers would be able to use at their option, though Nintendo was unlikely to use that feature.

In addition, when asked about Virtual Console downloads, Kaplan offered reassurance that paid downloads aren't permanently tied to the console they were bought on. In the event your Wii is destroyed, serviced, or the like, Nintendo will permit you to redownload titles to your new Wii."

that cool, all nintendo published title will be region free!!! and it is up to 3rd party to decided if it is region free!

cool we can always import nintendo crazy never released titles in japan(i can pray for jump mega ultimate rumble superstar for wii....and import it!)

for people complaining for VC games pricing

frogger and old atari stuff for 5$ on 360
and yeah that ms puzzle game for 10$

pricing seem reasonable in comparison and 8% buck snes, anytime!

heck i would pay nintendo 10$ to play the japan only Sin and Punishment!! heck all voice over in the game is english and i can deal with the japanese text!!!


and for all the whiner of the console pricing!!

just dont buy it!! i can have more chance of lining up and buying the wii on day one

too much for a souped up 2-3 times x gc with a revolutionary high tech controller? it's worth it! plus it is in a slick ipod esque white(so much better than the gc original purple....) plus all the cool technological things like wii24 and etc

heck i wont be needing to buy a freaking freeloader to import jap game(just pray 3rd party will follow nintendo leads to offer region free too!) that a big plus for me, hell i expect sony to confirm the region free of the ps3....

@DBX00 -

Uhhh, I'm pretty sure that Reggie said 4 million will SELL before end of year in North America! Not "ship to the US and Japan". 4 million sold in the US versus 2.1 million shipped between 2 continents? No, that's not the same at all!

"It's like Miyamoto and Iwata and Reggie specifically designed a console for themselves. And that's kind of cool I guess."
@94 HECK YES!

NOEEM @146:
I feel what you are saying. But it is all about the expectation the company lays for you. 250 is not bad, but most people, going by all the things Nintendo was saying, were thinking about a 200 price point. But those that want a Wii will buy one. But everyone needs to stop comparing 400,000 units for Sony to 6 mil Wii units because that 400k is the number on launch day, and more will be shipped in. That 6 mil number is by March 31st, not 43 days. I like the Mii channel concept, it just might work, but that is like dessert after a meal, it doesn't make me want to go out and buy a Wii. Just like Blu-ray is an extra bonus for me when I get a PS3, not the sole reason for buying it. Us old heads tend to see beyond the marketing hype, but these young impassionate gamers are easily excited. I was too when the SNES and Genesis was the thing, just that we did not have blogs and instant access to info like they do now. Besides, if I want straight info boring tech info, then I blog at avsforum.com. To my old and young gamers, see you online.

Aside from being white, I am not surprised in the slightest. Actually, I'm rather excited because Nov. 19 is my birthday. And, pending a midnight release, it's going to hit the sweet spot at university between the time my papers are due and lull before exams.

Thank you Nintendo.

P.S. How much are we betting that tomorrow at the European launch details that they're getting a black Wii on December 9?

Or maybe they're still trying to figure out how to fit black Wii's into the size of a white one? Rumours say that black Wii's are a little bigger than the whites...

Well i am going to be getting the Wii on day 1 and a Zelda to. 300 dollars isnt all that much compared to the ps3 which is WAY TO MUCH MONEY! Also the 360 is still to much so i think Nintendo will rule this christmas. Good job Nintendo.

$250.00 USD = Nintendo has been reading too much positive spin.

That is $50.00 over price. I was pretty gung-ho on wii when the estimates were $200.00 with 2 controllers, wii sports, and one nunchuk. nowww, uummmm not so much. I will definitely be waiting for a cheaper bundle down the road.

@ ktmracer

Ok, I doubt this is actually your plan, but if it is...couldn't you just get Zelda for the GC, and then pass on Excitetruck? I mean, I would pay someone 100 bucks to not force me to play Excitetruck....

So people will pay up to $15 for puzzle games and SFII on Live Arcade, but they complain about paying $5-$10 FULL games with narritive and proven success?

I don't get it.

"So people will pay up to $15 for puzzle games and SFII on Live Arcade, but they complain about paying $5-$10 FULL games with narritive and proven success?

I don't get it."

I completely agree, Chris! Those folks are hypocrites.

Neither of those things are worth any money at all. Remember the Kool and the Gang song?!?!?

"EMMMM-U-LAAATE good games, come on!

There's a party goin' on right here
An emulation, to last throughout the years -
So bring your good games...and your Karnov too!
We gonna emulate that Zelda for you, come on now

EMMMM-U-LAAAATION!
We gonna emulate, and play some good games"


I was going to continue on with the other verses, but then I realized that there are no other verses to that song. Oh well, you get the drift.

Frankly - I'm more PO'd that the Gamecube version of Zelda got pushed back to December 11, just so Nintendo can try and force people like me, who want to play the GC version first, to by a Wii and play *that* version.

I was debating waiting until Super Mario Galaxy came out to by a Wii, since I knew I would have Zelda to keep me occupide till it came out, and would have one last great game to play on my GC, and probably wouldn't pay much attention to the new system if I got it at launch.

Now I *know* I will wait to buy one.

I love Zelda and can't wait to play it, but it looks like I will, because I'll be *damned* if I'm going to by a Wii just to play a version of the game that was *ported* for it and not made and built for it like Mario Galaxy was. :-

Lots of people said it before: stop whining.
Did somebody really expect the thing be 150$?
Get realistic.
Even when you call it a "souped-up" Gamecube, the souping-up clearly costs money. Can you imagine how much money developing such a machine costs? Especially when you put in technology that is new in this field?
They have hundreds of technicians who want to be paid every month. (This applies to all companies, also Sony and MS btw...)
Sony and MS sell their consoles at a loss, and still they cost between 299 and 599$ (or up to 810$ in Europe :( ) If they didn't do so, they might be *wild guess* 500(XBox360)-900(PS3).
Nintendo assumably sells Wii with NO loss from the beginning. Still it's cheaper than the competitors.

And stop comparing 360's basic 299 to the Wii.
The games you can play on those platforms are totally different.
On the 360 you get great visuals (most of the time, on HD panels) in FPSs, beat'em ups and racing games.
The Wii gives you (assumably) fun party games, more RPGs (me thinks), games with totally new control schemes,... generally said a bigger variety.
To get the best of the 2 worlds you should buy 2 or even 3 consoles. You always miss out on something if you only have one.

I will probably buy only a Wii (not at launch... I'm too busy with graduation). And that only for Nintendos first party games. Those alone should be worth the money over the years.
I'm ok with the graphics Nintendo has.
Hell, I still enjoy SNES and NES games to this day.
And by today's standards those have *really* crappy graphics. ;)

I honestly had a feeling that the wii and its accessories would be a bit more expensive than those of the gamecube, considering all of the consoles are much more expensive this time. Even if it does come out after the PS3, there's still a large difference between the prices so I think that most people will wait. While $60 is a bit expensive for the controller, if you really think about, you're getting what you paid for. It's the most complex and unique of the three console controllers.

I'll be definetly getting the wii as soon as possible.

The cost of the system wasn't ever going to be a huge factor for me. $250 isn't too bad, and I might wait a little while to pick up a second control since I'll be busy playing 1-player games (Zelda, Red Steel).

I've seen a couple people mention this, but what I have the biggest problem with is the lack of choice in color. Okay, so it might sound funny to be complaining about what color my Wii is, but when I'm spending $250 I'd at least like a choice. I bought a black GCN and I was really hoping for a black Wii. I almost feel like I should wait, but how long am I willing to wait and should I even bother? Seeing as how it's still two months away, do you think they might reconsider the color choice? I'm just wondering how many people are thinking about this topic instead of worrying about cost.

the wii come out on world toilet day

Why has no one mentioned the "first" online game going to be Pokemon? What the fuck does that mean? Will they even have their online service ready by launch?

Man you guys really though it was going to be cheaper? Man ok... Didn't expect that one. People feeling cheated by buying a "supped up GC" man please. If it's so supped up then the price is warranted (you buy supped up vid cards and cpus all the time) and if you don't think it can produce the kind of graphics you'll be fine with then you should get an xbox360 or save up for a PS3 really. Complaining will only show how cheap you really are... I mean dang it's freakin 250... Go buy a DS or some thing...LOL

As for the controllers... well good luck with going to buy a Gyro mouse (with less buttons than the controller for the wii}. It won't even have a port for the sleek Nuchuck attachment and it will be over a hundred dollars easy... GO to CompUSA or Best buy and you'll see...LOL 60 for the controller that’s a steal for real. And it's only 10 dollars more that the 360 pad that has no WII-mote functionality.

reply to :97. "I will pay $250, you will pay $250, probably everyone dedicated enough to read and post on joystiq will pay $250....

BUT THE GENERAL PUBLIC, NINTENDO'S AUDIENCE, PAYING $250? Plus the $40+$20 for an extra controller, etc.? I'm sleptical. Until they play it at my house. "

Actually they will buy it before we do, why because they don't care about specs at all do they? I mean if they did why would the PS2 have won last gen? Even if Nintendo release the real specs I don’t think most gamers would know how to look at them any way( with out an understanding of the program model or the effectiveness of the set up). Really it’s up to companies like capcom to show us why the Wii is better than the GC graphicly.

94: greatn hey this is just the building blocks. Yes it does seem more grown up but take another look, the system is more transparent now isn't it just like the NES. By that I mean I could really see this sitting on every ones tv old, young, college student, ceo... Always on... Really convenient and low cost even in power usage… prefect companion for your standard def tv. Yet it still looks cool some how?

On another note for developers I think this channel thing could be quite cool.... I like the idea behind that.... I mean It's the prefect way to set up episode-base games... *Gasp* yeah I said it...LOL and even MMOs because you could turn on that channel to see what you missed. With the Wii not supporting HD then downloading a new character or any asset will be way less painful. 300,000 polygons static meshes are around 200 megs easy. 2048 textures are about 5-15 megs depending on compression. These numbers are steep but if you really want HD gaming that what your be paying for. I wonder if Nintendo will talk to Adobe so that they can include Wii remote functions in the new flash player. With the wii having Opera and being able to actually play flash movies setting things up for the new controller would be a really cool way to surf and play game from * Gasp * web pages… This would also kick start indie development. One example would be alien homid… It was a flash game at first remember?

Plus too Opera on the TV with the Wii remote is so cool... I'll pay for the extra fee and now all I will need is a quake 3 port ...LOL Better yet make it part of the virtual console... yeah like the PC channel..LOL Come on you know ID would jump on that... Plus They have doom on cell phones... Don't know whos buying that one but the fact that the Wii can connect to alot of out side devices could be a nice feature that developers could use also. So far I'm liking the direction but, Hey It would be nice to know actually what was done with the LSI just from a chip geek perspective... I guess I’ll always have EE times for that stuff. Really though the graphics are fine and even impressive in some games… We just need some art that does not rely on plying tons of crap on an object for it to be consider good. Which seems to be the case with the normal map craze. I like the way Metal gear solid is handling the new tech though…

Really I felt like the DS was too expensive also for the tech but look how that did and surprise surprise it’s 3d games where great.

Once you get a core gamer type developer releasing games on this box that could be the death blow, really. Other wise the race will be close with lots of unknowns. Like will the channel thing be big? Will other developers have access to this? Will Flash incorporate the Wii controls! If so then we all already have Wii development kits in front of us!

Color choice wise I feel ya man... But really the white one is cool also... and as small at the thing is I couldn't imagine it going too long before you'll be able to get custom snap on cases with car type paint jobs...LOL and lambo doors...LOL


On another note for developers I think this channel thing could be quite cool.... I like the idea behind that.... I mean It's the prefect way to set up episode-base games... *Gasp* yeah I said it...LOL and even MMOs because you could turn on that channel to see what you missed. With the Wii not supporting HD then downloading a new character or any asset will be way less painful. 300,000 polygons static meshes are around 200 megs easy. 2048 textures are about 5-15 megs depending on compression. These numbers are steep but if you really want HD gaming that what your be paying for. I wonder if Nintendo will talk to Adobe so that they can include Wii remote functions in the new flash player. With the wii having Opera and being able to actually play flash movies setting things up for the new controller would be a really cool way to surf and play game from * Gasp * web pages… This would also kick start indie development. One example would be alien homid… It was a flash game at first remember?

Plus too Opera on the TV with the Wii remote is so cool... I'll pay for the extra fee and now all I will need is a quake 3 port ...LOL Better yet make it part of the virtual console... yeah like the PC channel..LOL Come on you know ID would jump on that... Plus They have doom on cell phones... Don't know whos buying that one but the fact that the Wii can connect to alot of out side devices could be a nice feature that developers could use also. So far I'm liking the direction but, Hey It would be nice to know actually what was done with the LSI just from a chip geek perspective... I guess I’ll always have EE times for that stuff. Really though the graphics are fine and even impressive in some games… We just need some art that does not rely on plying tons of crap on an object for it to be consider good. Which seems to be the case with the normal map craze. I like the way Metal gear solid is handling the new tech though…

Really I felt like the DS was too expensive also for the tech but look how that did and surprise surprise it’s 3d games where great.

Once you get a core gamer type developer releasing games on this box that could be the death blow, really. Other wise the race will be close with lots of unknowns. Like will the channel thing be big? Will other developers have access to this? Will Flash incorporate the Wii controls! If so then we all already have Wii development kits in front of us! Also too If that is true I wonder if the Wii points would be handled thur there system no matter where you get content...

Really If nintendo worked this system right they could easily get the type of numbers that say a game like Maple story enjoys... If you don't know about that game wikipedia it... It's insane.... install base wise... Plus too nintendo is one of the few companies that needs an online distrubtion point because they could have easlily sold 2 million brain train games on line... really in a very short amount of time.

Really from a game play and business stand point the Wii seems to have the most potiential. Of course if HD tvs drop in price retardly then Nintendo could be in for a rough ride... But who sees that train coming... hell I think it might have even been derailed.

Oh come on, how many of you people will need a second controller at launch anyway?

Pokemon

Online

Hells YEAH!

The one thing that infuriates me is the GC version of Zelda is delayed ONCE MORE for no F-king reason. That really pushed my button Nintendo. It really did. What is it, does the GC version come with a golden trophy or something? or a real life size master sword? WHY THE ****ING DELAY WHEN THE WII VERSION IS READY ALREADY!!!!

I apologize for my manners. Nintendo made me do it. Now I really don't give a crap about Wii.

"Has it occured to anyone that you only need an extra controller if none of your friends get a Wii?

They're also saying the controller will be your memory card, so to play at a friend's house I would definitely want to bring my own controller with me..."

quin is right. Most people won't need a second controller to play with their friends if their friends already have the system. They can play some games online, or they can bring their own controller (with internally stored profile, configs, etc) to the other player's home. $60 for a bluetooth controller with the most impressive technology ever is very reasonable to me. I'm sure the control peripherals will drop in price as it becomes cheaper to manufacture.

Just to correct some misperceptions...

-Wii comes with BOTH the Wii-mote and the Nunchuck attachment
-The Opera Browser is free until at least June 2007 (at which point, Opera devs will likely conclude that royalties from Nintendo will always exceed profits from selling it individually)

Well I tried to pre-order.. no such thing as "abundance" of systems.. the store got 11...

Of all the new games out there this is the only one who brings something new to gaming other than "oh it looks prettier when I blow something up"..

So its still has my vote, particularly I skipped the game cube and its cool taht the Wii cana play those titles.

I agree with the 2nd controller its steep. BUT someone pointed out the coolness of just bringing your own controller to your friends house.. beat that PS3!

Anyway.. I hope I can get one at launch cause its my B-day pretty much..