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The Wii Takes NYC
The news came in late from Japan, with details on the North American launch. This morning, Nintendo's New York press conference expanded our understanding of what's going to be happening on November 19th. 1up has coverage of the event, as well as Japan's virtual console pricing, the opening lineup details for Japan, and news that the ex-FFXII director is excited about the Wii. Hopefully this will mean innovative support of the platform by Square/Enix. Over at Gamespot, they have their own conference coverage, as well as a rundown on the system's media functionality and first-hand comments from the engineers that built it. Finally, for a bit of analysis, Next Generation explores what the return of the pack-in (the inclusion of Wii Sports with the console) means for the industry at large.
I honestly think that if Nintendo had released at a $200 price tag they would have simply covered every gamer out there, as well as the broader audience that they are shooting for. At $250 its so easy to say "well... I could drop an extra $50 and buy a xbox 360 core system" (even though its a striped down hunk of junk compared to its real older brother)
So the thing I'm curious about is if they are trying to do this in order to make bank on the release. (Nintendo always tries to turn a profit on the console as well as the games. What an insane business model) and then once the period where they sell out instantly every time a shipment comes in is over they will drop the price, hopefully causing another huge wave of adoption.
I think the $250 is the right price. If it was priced under $200 it wouldn't seem next-gen at all, but looking at the specs they couldn't charge much more than $200 with a straight face. Bundling a game makes the Wii seem like a good value when it's sitting next to the still more expensive yet stupidly stripped down 360 core and $500 PS3. If your kid decides he wants a 360 you have a minimum of $450(premium + game) and I doubt many parents will even have the option to pick up a PS3.
Personally I don't see what the big fuss about a $100 difference between the 360 and PS3 is all about, and I don't think the buying public will think it's a big deal either. The 360 and PS3 are both in the "damn pricey for a toy" category, while the Wii falls into the "pricey for a toy" category. If you already have a HD TV I think the $600 PS3 looks like a deal since you can use it to watch HD movies.
I think the difference is when the feature boost the cost of the console. Nintendo can add things like weather and browsing without boosting the consoles price... Blu-Ray is costing Playstation fans a boatload weather they like it or not.
Collector's Edition
US will get the Wii November 19th.
Japan will get it December 2nd.
Now figure that one out.
I notice that a lot of people seem to compare the Wii's price to that of the PS3... Yes the PS3 is *very* expensive, but the x-box 360 core isn't much more than the Wii..
...
The core you say? But thats crap, it's missing so much! It depends, if you compare it to the Wii (games aside), the controller is (more or less) all that the 360 doesn't have (this is of course a big lacking), on the other hand the 360 has pretty impressive horse power (games like dead rising show how horse power when properly applied can be more than just nice graphics, getting all of those zombies on one screen requires some oomph).
So is the price really that amazing? The Wii is nothing special hardware wise, sure Nintendo is taking a profit, good for them, and MS makes a loss on the 360, but what does the consumer care? All they see is $250 vs $300...
Now what about the controllers? You have to buy the parts *seperate?*... Being in australia that $20 and $40 will probably be a sales price of $95 AUD total... That is almost twice what we were paying for game cube controllers.. How can you justify that? Sure the controllers are innovative, but then again as mentioned the 360 is powerful, loss or profit aside, the public sees the price. Really tho, just how much can it cost to make a controller?..
As a small credentials check, I have owned just about every nintendo platform there is (virtual boy aside...), so I definately don't want to bash them, but really, as someone who is approaching the Wii from a gamers perspective, I have to wonder if it is all it is really cracked up to be. $250 is cheap for this generation, but it is still a lot of money, the game cube launched for $200, 5 years ago (to yesterday), and the Wii's hardware isnt *that* far ahead of it, I would have thought that it could all be manufactured for much less.. Well, I am sure it is, but Nintendo really is being a little greedy here
As a final note, maybe its worth it, as in one of their major markets (japan), and hell, in europe, they really are only competing against the PS3 unless some major things change with the 360. Being in a country with US like tastes (finding game cube games here in australia is hard, EB is about all that stock them these days), it is frustrating...
Q: How many games will support Widescreen aspect ratio and how would you compare the visuals to other next-gen systems?
A: Most titles will support widescreen. Nintendo has a different paradigm for what turns on the consumer. "If you want power, you're going to go somewhere else."
How many other companies would be as forthright as this? Nintendo friggin rocks. As I was playing Monkey Island 2 with SCUMMVM last night I realized how little cutting-edge graphics matter in the construction of an outstanding game. I haven't been this excited about a console since the SNES. I'm getting in on the ground floor with an extra wiimote and Warioware.
Cuz the kotaku thread got out of hand. Too many clueless people. Here's my take on the launch:
:\ ) What they also do is avoid being over-shadowed by the PS3 launch (say if they were to launch a few days before the PS3).
:) I'm sure they contemplated $199, $229, but decided for launch, they could probably get people to pay $249, but they'll also include a game. That's a business decision, which for the most part makes sense. It'll probably sell out at launch anyhow.
.. wifi. Take a look at the cost of the wifi adapter for the 360. Now let's do some stupid math (as people generally like to do when comparing apples to oranges) and deduct the cost of a 360 wifi adapter ($100+!) from the Wii. That makes the Wii console $150. Wait, it still comes with a game. The game won't be full priced (as confirmed by the Japanese press conference last night). So say $25 for the game. That brings the console down to $125. Less than half the price of the 360?! See, I can do stupid math too! :) My point is, $250 pricing should have been expected, and I myself was predicting $249 with 2 controllers and Wii Sports. I Was close. The price is fine. It's still $50 cheaper and comes with a game. THAT'S what non-gamers will see. ("Wow, this system is newer AND it's cheaper AND it comes with a game!")
1) The date. Everyone was hoping for an early release (me included!) but I'm assuming the business strategy is to go after the poor schmucks that won't be able to get a PS3. The PS3 launches only 2 days before it, and there will be VERY few of them. (Half of which will be bought up by people only to be put up on ebay
2) a) Pricing. They said it would be under $250. When companies say that, it'll probably be $249.99. Which it basically is
2) b) For those of you saying "$250? Pshaw, XBOX 360 Core is only $300. People will think it's only $50 more and buy a 360". Right, let's compare a 360 Core system that comes with nothing. To a system that comes with a game, and ahem
AirSpeak - http://itunes.com/apps/AirSpeak
Hopefully I'm not bashing anyone because obviously its just how i feel. But the Wii is the console I really really want my friends to buy. I want to go over there and I want to sword fight for an hour and then I want to come home and settle into some Dead Rising on my 360... and heres why.
I think the wii-mote is a really cool idea. Similar to ideas in the past, the power-glove, the fishing-rod, the gun. But so much more so and can definitely be used in interesting ways. My apparent (i haven't touched anything yet) problem with it is that when i want to play video games I want to sit down on my couch, put my feet up and unwind. I fear that with the wii-mote you'll be forced to move around! Oh no. What if i just want to sit there but the sword game I'm playing requires me to be all active and crap.
Eh maybe it won't be a problem, but as i said, I really want my friends to get one.
so... I know this is really jumping the gun... BUT how possible do you think using the Wii as a music/video player would be? Couldn't you just stream it through opera from a local apache server or something... and hell they've already said opera will support ajax, maybe you could look pretty doin' it. Just a thought.
I gave my mom an old computer with Ubuntu Linux on it as her first ever computer. She browses the web a little bit and uses email a lot. A Wii might be a perfect replacement when that computer dies.
The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
The weather and news are largely useless. Especially for gamers. But these features are not for gamers. These "channels" are part of Nintendo's marketing plan to make the system more aproachable to the rest of the family.
Nintendo's (American) marketing strategy is interesting. The pictures on the website look like something out of Ikea or Apple's play book. Pictures of hip 20 and 30 year olds, and their families. The website has a clean almost stark look. It seems aimed at the more adult 20-30 year old crowd then most other gamer web sites.
Let me add my name to a long list: I am a pc gamer. I have never owned a console. This is the first console I am interested in.