Nintendo's Iwata on the Wii Price Point

kukyfrope writes "Satoru Iwata, Nintendo President, recently talked with GameDaily about the rumors surrounding the $249 Wii price point, his take of the PS3 price point and controller, and to reassure us that the GameBoy is far from dead! 'You may want to check our past records of price points when launching past hardware... I think you'll agree that we always come up with an affordable price point.'"

Comments

Two hundred fifty bucks!

[LoRdTAW]

$250? Yea that sounds like the good ol days when Super Nintendo cost 200 at launch. And if you want to adjust for inflation I bet its about even. If thats the price, Nintendo will definatly appeal to those with less money. A smaller investment in the hardware leaves you with more money to purchase software which IMHO is way more important then the console. I know a kid who spent 800 on his 360 at launch and didnt have any money left for a single game. He just played his old xbox games for a month before he had enough saved up to buy a 360 game.

Just wow

[Anonymous Coward]

BIZ: Speaking of Sony, I wanted to know what your reaction was to their media briefing, especially their expensive price and the fact that they now announced motion sensing for the PS3 controller.

SI: As for the latter part of the question, actually we were anticipating that Sony would make that kind of announcement, so I had to make a kind of wry smile at the time. Having said that, however, putting the motion sensing technology into the classic [PS3] controller, which is going to be held with two hands, is pretty much different from the motion sensor being incorporated into the Wii remote or the combination of the Wii remote and the nunchuk controller... There's a huge gap between the two, I can tell you, with that whole experience, so I really don't think that the inclusion of motion sensing into Sony's classic type of controller can affect in one way or the other the advantage that we have with the Wii controller.

As for the comment on the price point that Sony announced, the only thing that I may be able to tell is that probably there's a huge gap between how the platform supplier wants to price it and how the customers want the supplier to price it. And other than that it's very hard for me to comment on that as the corporate president running a rival corporation. I think the ultimate decision has to be made by the actual customer and as one of the potential customers of PS3, of course I think it's going to be kind of a [tough] price point for anybody to purchase; that sentiment has been shared by a number of people working in this industry that I've been able to talk to so far.

After these weeks of Sony trashing on Nintendo in their press conference, and Microsoft trashing on Sony every time they opened their mouth after their press conference, and Sony trashing Microsoft right back, the amount of tact Mr. Iwata is showing here is rather shocking.

Re:Just wow

[Robotron23]

The candid Japanese. Honour takes precedant above all else over there my good man; and taking an opportunity to add to the gargantuan amount of criticism against Sony is not an honourable practice. Iwata knows gamer's are dismayed by Sony; he knows BIZ want him to bash Sony with fervour; but he will not.

Such as it is: Iwata, and all of Nintendo Japan will hold their national traditions and quirks. The only persons from Nintendo you'll hear actively bashing Sony will be execs from Euroland/the U.S.

I personally was surprised the DS Lite official price is £100 - I was expecting more along the lines of £120. If Nintendo are willing to price a handheld at this level, then who knows - the Wii may be merely £130 - £150. In which case, hooray! :)

Re:price doesn't matter... much

[Chode2235]

I think you fail to account for the increased price of creation/production when you insist that the PS3 will have the widest variety of games. The one thing that traditionally lured developers to the PS console were the low costs of production and licensing. With huge budgets and expense to make a game I don't really think developers are going to take multi-million dollar risks, they will play it safe. PS3 will see a deeper entrenchment and reliance on established franchises/IP, and genres. With the 27 games on the show floor, I think Wii not only had the widest variety of games but the most interesting and cutting edge. They really seem to be encouraging new ideas and trying to lure smaller developers. My guess is that they are hoping for the next big thing. Point being, the way the cards are set out now I don't see Sony having a wider variety of interesting games than Nintendo. Plus at 60+ a pop, it will cost a lot more to game on the PS3 than the Wii.