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Nintendo Announces $99 Wii Mini For US Release
Zothecula writes "Nintendo recently announced that it was ceasing all production of its original Wii video game console. It seemed as if it had run its course, and Nintendo was shifting 100 percent of its focus to the floundering Wii U. Turns out, the Japanese company had other plans, announcing that its previously Canada-exclusive $99 Wii Mini is making its way to the U.S. 'The $99 price has been neglected in this product generation, but in the past, it has been a very successful price for game consoles. More than half of the volume of machines in the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 generations sold at the $99 or under price."
Now I can get a Wii that takes up less room in my closet.
Or, Nintendo has enough data to suggest there is room for a budget console with no internet capability.
If you have a large segment of your market which never uses the internet for gaming, they don't need internet capability.
If you want the big shiny one with an internet connection, you probably already own it. But if you have a 5 year old who just wants to play a Mario game, you may not even want internet connectivity.
Not everyone plays games on-line. I know I don't, so surely in the demographic for a Wii there's plenty of people who don't either.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Any content you've purchased on one Wii is stuck there forever in most cases. Nintendo won't transfer digital purchases unless you have documentation showing your original Wii was stolen, and that's iffy. Why people keep paying for the same, tired rehash of their game catalog and obvious abuse of the platform is beyond me.
"Powers. I have them."
Oh come on. N64 had Golden Eye, Turok, various Star Wars games, Mario 64, a decent Star Fox game, some good Zeldas, and even Pokemon Snap was a unique rails shooter.
Wii U (and previous Wii) owner here (I know, the lengths we dads go to so our kids can play Super Smash Bros. Brawl...) Anyhow...
Nintendo is doing a crap-tacular job of marketing the Wii U. The Gamepad isn't so much a tablet as a controller with a screen and camera in it. Thus far it's enabled four different usage modes:
1. DS-ifiy home console games. Display secondary info on the Gamepad screen, as is common on the DS. Wind Waker HD, for example, allows accessing the map and inventory screen on the Gamepad without pausing the game. Sonic All-Stars Transformed Racing shows a track map in single player. In multi-player, Player 1 plays on the Gamepad
2. Asymmetrical game play. The player with the Gamepad sees things the players looking at the TV do not. Nintendo Land is perhaps the archetype, with it's Hide and Seek game.
3. Streaming video to the Gamepad. The Wii U can stream Wii U and Wii game play and streaming video to the Gamepad. Thus freeing up the TV while the Wii U is in use. As I type this, one kid is playing Wind Waker while the others are watching Spongebob on the TV the Wii U is connected to.
4. TVii. Provides a more slick interface to my cable TV subscription than Comcast's set-top box. The Gamepad's IR blaster lets me turn on the TV and switch the input without finding the TV or cable remote.
Selling ROMs doesn't make your retail partners happy - a $100 console at Christmas time? That's golden.
Majesco and Sega teamed up to release a $20-$30 Genesis in the late 1990s, which helped retailers clear out a ton of unsold software. It, too, lacked expansion abilities.
Atari released the 2600 for $40 in the late 1980s. It, too, let stores boast an incredible deal - even if it's not a desirable one - which allowed lower income families access to a massive library of software.
In the era of digital downloads, you've got to throw your retail partners a bone. While Nintendo rakes in massive profits at incredible margins of that digitally downloaded Pokemon X/Y (that it doesn't have to share with Best Buy), stores don't get a cut. This way, Nintendo can make Walmart happy - and sell those bargain basement bin games, too - bringing the retail circle of life forward once again.
Don't think about it as maximizing your profit - think about it as making your customers (the buyers at big box stores) happy. A Nintendo impulse buy console? This has a lot of potential to sell to the downtrodden, the uninformed, people who can't read, and your aunt who wants to buy you something from the Nintendos.