Wii launch date?

[Skynet]

Found this on a site that is not allowed to be mentioned here, but:

A retailer published some Wii launch information, only to retract it following a Nintendo request. The information reveals, pretty much, all the Wii details we were not given at E3 2006.

According to the information provided the Wii will carry a USD 229 price, a figure that is higher than we expected but may be a result of Sony's pricing policy. If this turns out to be true, Nintendo stands to make a decent profit on every console sold from day one.

The retailer also provided two launch dates, November 2 and November 12, although it did not specify territories. We were also treated to some additional information on the Wii colors as the console will be available in Black and White versions from launch day.

As with any accidentally released information, this could be a Nintendo attempt to test the ground before committing to some of the launch details but even if that is the case, we can still get a hint at what the company plans to do this fall. Hopefully Nintendo will get a strong message from readers that the choice of the USD 229 price is unfortunate...



The site so far has had a few Wii related things posted which I was going to repeat here, but not too sure on how legit it was. Only to see them being posted later on. So if anyone else has a source stating the same thing, I'd like to know

Speaking of which though, 229 US = 302 AU. It would probably then release for $399. Which, to me, is better than the $499 core and $650 premium 360 launch prices. And a helluva lot better than the ps3 $1000 launch price.

[DaMadFiddler]

$229?

Oh. So close.

If this pans out, that broke the deal. Unless, of course, it comes with some REALLY nice pack-ins. (I'd say at least one full-fledged retail title, and a decent amount of Virtual Console credit).

As I've said very many times before, I really like what I've heard about the Wii. It intrigues me, and I'm more than happy to sacrifice cutting-edge graphics for fresh gameplay and low prices. But this isn't quite the low pricing I was expecting. That's supposed to be the trade. We forgive you your dated graphics, you give us a unique controller and a bargain. That's a decent price, but it's NOT the bargain one could expect from what's basically a GameCube 2.0

I'm all set to get a Wii at launch (my first time *ever* for a console), IF, and ONLY if, it launches at $200 or less.

But then it becomes a game of psychology. If I buy at launch, I'm more likely to buy new games (at least around the launch window). But once I've resigned to waiting, I'll wait until things are prices I want...wait a year or two for price drops on the system, by which point most of the major early titles should be pretty cheap.

It would be foolhardy, at least in my opinion, to pass up the $199 consumer-psychology opportunity. Especially if they're trying to "expand the market" to people who might not be willing to throw a bunch of money into video games at first.

Silly as it may seem, those thirty dollars are a big deal. And, sad though it is, (if true) they will keep several hundred of my hard-earned post-college dollars from going to Nintendo this winter.

Close, but no cigar.

[Specially Cork]

I'm tired of all this Wii speculation, especially coming from a website that you can't even link to (just from knowing that I wouldnt consider it a reliable news source). Seems every week now a new rumour starts up about some leaked info or guesstimated details, then everybody starts thinking "What If?"

Is it really that difficult to just wait until Nintendo release the facts?

[Covar]

since when is 229 expensive for a game console. hell $300 is my limit to buy a console.

[DaMadFiddler]

Then you, sir, have more money for such things that I. I don't want to pay more money for a console than what I could build a PC for.

More importantly, though, the Wii is SIGNIFICANTLY less powerful than the competition. Hence, a fresh control scheme, and a low price. But at $229, I don't really feel like those savings are being passed on to the consumer.

[gamedudex2]

Then you, sir, have more money for such things that I. I don't want to pay more money for a console than what I could build a PC for.

More importantly, though, the Wii is SIGNIFICANTLY less powerful than the competition. Hence, a fresh control scheme, and a low price. But at $229, I don't really feel like those savings are being passed on to the consumer.

wii sports has been rumored to be a pack in

[Nick]

Then you, sir, have more money for such things that I. I don't want to pay more money for a console than what I could build a PC for.

More importantly, though, the Wii is SIGNIFICANTLY less powerful than the competition. Hence, a fresh control scheme, and a low price. But at $229, I don't really feel like those savings are being passed on to the consumer.

A $30 difference is going to break the bank?

[DaMadFiddler]

It's more psychological than anything else, to be honest. And to be honest, based on the hardware, I was kinda looking at $199 as the high end (but still most likely, due to market price inflation) of the price speculation. So something above that, even just the price of one semi-budget game above that, feels like a little bit of a gouge.

Plus, I've said all along that I'll buy the Wii at launch so long as the price is $200 or less. Setting the price so incrementally above that feels like they're just pushing a little bit, knowing where people's expectations are, and seeing how much more they can get before it's "too much."

And yeah, a lot of it's psychological, and some of it is based on my own expectations and assumptions. But my stance remains: Buy at launch if 200 or less, wait for a price drop if any more.

[Lartrak]

Then you, sir, have more money for such things that I. I don't want to pay more money for a console than what I could build a PC for.

More importantly, though, the Wii is SIGNIFICANTLY less powerful than the competition. Hence, a fresh control scheme, and a low price. But at $229, I don't really feel like those savings are being passed on to the consumer.

wii sports has been rumored to be a pack in

It really should be. It is listed as a seperate release in a lot of places though... But looking at all the video I've seen of it, it looks way to simplistic to justify even a $20 price tag to me.

[Prophet][]

Considering the PS3 price in Aus is confirmed to be $1000 AUS I think the Wii will be cheap.

[Disheveled DrFreeze]

i agree with fiddler

nintendo has done some very nice inovative stuff and everything, but in terms of what the hardware is worth, i wouldnt pay over 200 euros for a WII, considering the hardware specs are basicly a gamecube times 1.5 plus extra ram and a SD slot

Sure nintendo did some very nice R&D on the controller, but in terms of the chips, they had some tweaks done to the flipper and ghekko and had IBM take care of the Die shrink, so compared to what GCs hardware must have cost in the day the Wii must be ultra cheap for them to produce, little R&D costs to win back, small chips with excellent yields.... In fact i would go as far to state that the Wii would cost somewhere between current and launch production prices for a Cube to build

I have no problem with nintendo running a constant proffit on the cube hardware, but a 230 euro launch price on the Wii would make me think they want to make hardware a main cash cow, and i disagree with that

and for me its price psychology too, i dont play my consoles near as much as on the cube launch, and the cubes 220 price tag was the most i ever payed for a console, granted i have more money to spend now, but unless i can walk out of a store with a Wii for under 200 and 50 for a game, im gonna sit it out untill something must have (read: SSBB) comes along

[Specially Cork]

They said "less than $250" at E3. Im pretty sure if they planned to make it less than $200 they would have said "less than $200". Aditionally, with Sony's crazy pricing, it wouldnt suprise me if the do slap more profit on.

[MetaFox]

Yeah, I saw this at IGN yesterday:

http://wii.ign.com/articles/723/723894p1.html

It doesn't sound very reliable to me. I'll wait for Nintendo's official announcement rather than complaining about a speculated price point.

[BlackAura]

nintendo has done some very nice inovative stuff and everything, but in terms of what the hardware is worth, i wouldnt pay over 200 euros for a WII, considering the hardware specs are basicly a gamecube times 1.5 plus extra ram and a SD slot

And all sorts of other junk too. Specifically, 512MB of internal flash, a bluetooth transceiver, WiFi hardware, sensor bar (whatever that actually is), SD slot, USB controller and ports, and probably a few other bits that I'm forgetting.

Granted, none of that stuff is particularly expensive. Still, it's all stuff the GameCube didn't have.

I'm sure they must have done something to either the CPU or graphics hardware beyond a die-shrink, even if they've not exposed it to third-party developers yet.

[APE]

New instruction set? More cache?

[Disheveled DrFreeze]

those are all minor, very minor changes, stuff like a USB controller is trivial, seeing how Ati could simply bolt on a usb controller to the flipper chipset if they are anywhere near worth it is a company

my point is, both Sony and MS have very new, very large, very powerfull and thus very expensive chips, which obviously cost a lot to make too, while nintendo uses small upgrades to cube chips

[Veggita2099]

AT $230 for those graphics it better have something special. Either 2 controllers (Gasp can a console company do that anymore?), full retail game, or maybe a memory card, or $30 worth of downloads from there overpriced old school downloads.

Honestly this is still just speculation, possibly even still somebody guessing.

[Covar]

AT $230 for those graphics it better have something special. Either 2 controllers (Gasp can a console company do that anymore?), full retail game, or maybe a memory card, or $30 worth of downloads from there overpriced old school downloads.

Honestly this is still just speculation, possibly even still somebody guessing.

probably speculation since people like you haven't heard a price for the virtual console yet still call it overpriced.

[Ex-Cyber]

I'm sure they must have done something to either the CPU or graphics hardware beyond a die-shrink, even if they've not exposed it to third-party developers yet.

I agree. I think a lot of this is based on misinterpretation of info about the devkits. If memory serves, it wasn't too long ago that ATI was saying that the Hollywood design still wasn't finalized, and I've seen statements saying that the E3 demos were not running on final hardware.

[stagg]

AT $230 for those graphics it better have something special. Either 2 controllers (Gasp can a console company do that anymore?), full retail game, or maybe a memory card, or $30 worth of downloads from there overpriced old school downloads.

Honestly this is still just speculation, possibly even still somebody guessing.

Wow, that was stupid.