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.

Comments

Roping non-gamers in

[Hitto]

So with the weather channel, news channel, internet browser and picture viewer/editor, Nintendo's goal is to rope totally-non-geeky people to buy something that does what a PC does better, but that's easy to use and affordable. Then, if mom of grampa wants to try out a game, it's just a click away.

Can't say how it will turn out as my crystal ball is at the dry cleaner's, but I think this could work. I mean, I don't live in a very tech-literate country (france), but I know more than a few people who'd want to give the "digital lifestyle" a try. And yeah, I know peter moore coined that term first.

As a casual gamer, I can't say I care about those addons. Hey, it's free, and it could be good, but it also means some people were out coding this instead of a mario game. But it's an interesting strategy nonetheless.

I want to clarify a couple of things

[Frag-A-Muffin]

Cuz the kotaku thread got out of hand. Too many clueless people. Here's my take on the launch:

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 :\ ) 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).

2) a) Pricing. They said it would be under $250. When companies say that, it'll probably be $249.99. Which it basically is :) 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.

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 .. 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!")