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Nintendo sets upper limit Wii price
Posted: 2006-05-25 01:26pm
by Bounty
As expected, it's $250 or less
Japanese games giant Nintendo has confirmed that the price of its new Wii console will be much lower than its rivals.
The Wii will cost 25,000 yen or lower in Japan and $250 (£133) or less in the US, said Nintendo as it revealed its financial results.
The company added it aims to sell six million machines by March 2007.
The Wii is due out towards the end of the year, competing with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360.
The three companies are battling for a share of a video games industry worth some $30bn (£16bn).
Cheaper machine
Nintendo unveiled its Wii console at the E3 games expo in Los Angeles earlier this year.
At the time, it did not reveal the cost of the machine, but analysts had expected it to be lower than its competitors.
At a news conference in Osaka, Nintendo senior managing director Yoshihiro Mori confirmed what many wanted to hear.
The price range set by Nintendo contrasts with the cost of Sony's new PlayStation 3, which is due to hit the shops in November.
A basic version of the console will cost $499 (£266), while a premium model will sell for $599 (£320). The exact price in the UK has not been announced.
Prices for Microsoft's Xbox 360, which went on sale last November, start at $299 (£209 in the UK).
Wii hopes
The Wii console is key to Nintendo's future success.
The company has just posted a 19% drop in annual profits, warning that results for its current financial year will be weaker than previously expected.
It is looking to the launch of the Wii to help its bottom line. Nintendo plans to ship six million consoles by March next year and aims to sell 17 million games for it.
The console has a one-handed controller that looks like a TV remote control.
It uses motion-detection sensors that allow players to control the game by moving the controller in the air.
That's well below the X360's Core price and half of Sony's crippled PS3. For us Eurotrash, that's €195 and change.
Re: Nintendo sets upper limit Wii price
Posted: 2006-05-25 01:35pm
by Praxis
I read that the Japanese price converts to ~$220 USD.
That means the U.S. price could round to either $200 or $250...
Re: Nintendo sets upper limit Wii price
Posted: 2006-05-25 01:38pm
by Adrian Laguna
Praxis wrote:I read that the Japanese price converts to ~$220 USD.
That means the U.S. price could round to either $200 or $250...
How do you figure that? Wouldn't they just round it to $220?
Posted: 2006-05-25 01:54pm
by Archaic`
No. It's a marketing thing, based on the emotional impact of prices. With that kind of figure, I'd be saying you're looking at a price of $199 or $249 in US Dollars.
The writer there really needs to do their research though. That kind of drop in profits is expected at the end of a console life cycle, when there's a lot less income coming in from games produced for the old product. The DS (Lite) and its software have helped keep up the bottom line for now, but they can't provide all of the profit for the company on their own.
Posted: 2006-05-25 02:19pm
by Darth Raptor
This seals the deal. Bravo, Nintendo.
Posted: 2006-05-25 03:20pm
by Molyneux
Darth Raptor wrote:This seals the deal. Bravo, Nintendo.
Amen to that.
Now, if I can just manage to save up $300 or so by release date, I'll be very happy.
Wonder if they're going to bundle the system with any games?
Posted: 2006-05-25 03:27pm
by Prozac the Robert
Do we know the likely release date yet?
Posted: 2006-05-25 03:27pm
by Spanky The Dolphin
Molyneux wrote:Wonder if they're going to bundle the system with any games?
I doubt it. Bundled games are generally a thing of the past except for special one-shot reissues. Nintendo hasn't bundled a game with one of their consoles at launch since the Super NES in the Fourth Generation.
Prozac the Robert wrote:Do we know the likely release date yet?
Before Thanksgiving in the US (23 November this year).
Posted: 2006-05-25 03:28pm
by Darth Raptor
My Gamecube came with Starfox Adventures. *shrug*
Posted: 2006-05-25 03:32pm
by Spanky The Dolphin
Darth Raptor wrote:My Gamecube came with Starfox Adventures. *shrug*
You caught me in an edit. That would qualify as one of the special one-shot reissues I mentioned, not the system at launch.
Posted: 2006-05-25 03:34pm
by Sriad
Darth Raptor wrote:My Gamecube came with Starfox Adventures. *shrug*
Toward the middle of a console's cycle, game packs start showing up... I remember some Best Buy package with an X-box and some sports games or other... Platfoms LAUNCHING with bundled games hasn't happened for a while, though.
Posted: 2006-05-25 03:55pm
by Equinox2003
This is good news. I hope it comes out quite soon. As long as it was
under $500 I had planned on getting one. Now it looks as though I can.
Any news on the stuff about getting acess to older Nintendo material?
That was a big plus with me.
As an owner of a Ps1 and currently a PS2, I had planned on getting a
PS3, but unless I win the lottery, I will never pay $600 for a game
system. Yeah, spend $600 for the privledge of buying $65 games?
I think not. Where I come from hobbies are paid for with pocket
money AKA spending, disposable money. $600 is not what I call
disposable.
Of course, to anybody who can flush $600, by all means, have a good
time.
Posted: 2006-05-25 05:05pm
by Master of Ossus
Sriad wrote:Darth Raptor wrote:My Gamecube came with Starfox Adventures. *shrug*
Toward the middle of a console's cycle, game packs start showing up... I remember some Best Buy package with an X-box and some sports games or other... Platfoms LAUNCHING with bundled games hasn't happened for a while, though.
Microsoft had a hell of a lot of package deals that you could buy with your 360, when it launched. It was entirely pointless, since the savings by buying massive numbers of other games and such were essentially zero.
Posted: 2006-05-25 05:13pm
by Spanky The Dolphin
Wasn't that ball-twisting 360 launch bundle done by a specific retailer rather than Microsoft, though?
Posted: 2006-05-25 05:44pm
by Praxis
Molyneux wrote:Darth Raptor wrote:This seals the deal. Bravo, Nintendo.
Amen to that.
Now, if I can just manage to save up $300 or so by release date, I'll be very happy.
Wonder if they're going to bundle the system with any games?
I would expect that at least they would give you a coupon for a few free classic game downloads
Posted: 2006-05-25 05:45pm
by Praxis
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Wasn't that ball-twisting 360 launch bundle done by a specific retailer rather than Microsoft, though?
Yup.
Posted: 2006-05-25 06:02pm
by DPDarkPrimus
Awesome. Now to check if Best Buy has preorder forms yet.
Posted: 2006-05-26 04:19am
by Dalton
*gibber* This will match nicely with my Zelda preorder at EB Games.
Posted: 2006-05-26 04:22am
by DPDarkPrimus
Dalton wrote:*gibber* This will match nicely with my Zelda preorder at EB Games.
See now, I just wouldn't be able to trust them with a console preorder after the bald-faced lies they told to get 360 preorders.
Posted: 2006-05-26 09:07am
by Molyneux
DPDarkPrimus wrote:Dalton wrote:*gibber* This will match nicely with my Zelda preorder at EB Games.
See now, I just wouldn't be able to trust them with a console preorder after the bald-faced lies they told to get 360 preorders.
Does Gamestop have a good record with preorders? I've got a copy of Spore preordered there, and there would be a night of fire and blood if they were to cheat me out of my rightful copy.
...not literally, of course.
Posted: 2006-05-26 11:16am
by Archaic`
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Molyneux wrote:Wonder if they're going to bundle the system with any games?
I doubt it. Bundled games are generally a thing of the past except for special one-shot reissues. Nintendo hasn't bundled a game with one of their consoles at launch since the Super NES in the Fourth Generation.
Given the whole "Virtual Console" thing though, I wouldn't be surprised if there's one or two classic NES, SNES and/or N64 games preloaded on the consoles.
Posted: 2006-05-26 02:00pm
by Prozac the Robert
Archaic` wrote:
Given the whole "Virtual Console" thing though, I wouldn't be surprised if there's one or two classic NES, SNES and/or N64 games preloaded on the consoles.
Are we still thinking there might be free downloads, or are we expecting everything to cost money now?
Posted: 2006-05-26 03:02pm
by Qwerty 42
It's always been non-free downloads for the Virtual Console, that's how their keeping all of the hardcopy games free for online.
Posted: 2006-05-26 07:13pm
by DPDarkPrimus
Molyneux wrote:DPDarkPrimus wrote:Dalton wrote:*gibber* This will match nicely with my Zelda preorder at EB Games.
See now, I just wouldn't be able to trust them with a console preorder after the bald-faced lies they told to get 360 preorders.
Does Gamestop have a good record with preorders? I've got a copy of Spore preordered there, and there would be a night of fire and blood if they were to cheat me out of my rightful copy.
...not literally, of course.
Games and consoles are completely seperate beasts. I've never had trouble reserving games at the local Gamestop.
EB Games and Gamestop were outright lying to people for Xbox 360 orders, telling them the more they ordered, the sooner they'd be on the list; that if they paid in full, they'd be guaranteed a system on launch; etc, etc... Imagine if you had given them $400 and you didn't get your system for over three months after you were promised it? Or hey, worse yet- what if you spent over a THOUSAND dollars on accessories, and were handed a bunch of games and controllers, but no system to play them with?
Games are fine, but I'll
never preorder a game system. I'll stand outside in line at Best Buy if I want one, thanks.
Posted: 2006-05-27 06:26am
by Vendetta
Given that the Wii is not carrying a completely brand spanking new multi-core bells and whistles chip design like the 360 was, I don't forsee Nintendo being struck by the kind of yeild problems that hit the 360's launch.
It will be demand that limits your chances of getting a Wii, not supply.