Get your $250 ready for November 19
Nintendo finally decided it was time to reveal the official Wii specs, to a world increasingly hungry for next-gen material. The big news came straight from the press conference when a price tag of $250 was set, for the console with one controller and Wii Sports bundled. Additional Wii-motes cost $40 while extra Wii Nunchucks are worth $20. The price is slightly higher than previously rumored. The introduction of “Wii Channels” was announced, an interface where Wii players are able to create “Mii”, personal avatars that work in supported games. Nintendo is expected to open up a Wii Shop where Virtual Console games can be purchased for “Wii Points”, similar to the XBL Microsoft point model. With extra photo, movie, and web browsing abilities, Wii launches in the Americas on
November 19th.
Even more, Nintendo’s own Reggie Fils-Aime told Reuters that the company will be making a hefty profit starting from day one, unlike Sony, its prime competitor due to the concurrent PS3 release: “We will make a profit on the entire Wii proposition out of the box — hardware and software”. “That really is a very different philosophy versus our competitors. We are a company that competes only in the interactive entertainment space so we have to make a profit on every thing we do,” he further explained.
The fight just got more interesting as apparently, we could see 3rd party titles go for $59.99, just like the anticipated price for PS3 titles. All those in a region free Wii, ready to take on the challenges of worldwide distribution. At least, Nintendo will by no means restrict their games, although other developers are free to use this option as they see fit. Wii’s storage will be exclusively via flash memory storage with the option of an extra hard drive being implemented sometime in the future. Be sure to count in 30 titles by the year’s end, 30 more “legacy” titles available at launch for Virtual Console, NES titles at 500 Wii points ($5), SNES titles at 800 points and N64 titles for 1000 Wii points. Unfortunately, there are no online titles expected at launch, with Pokemon going online in Japan on December 2nd.
Source: softpedia.com