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[Pop-O-Matic]

Put WiFi and Wii Shop Channel back, have Wii Sports pre-installed and keep the Nintendo Selects line alive in retail as Wii U games that "Also works with Wii", and you might have a product worth selling.

VERY bad idea. The public already is confused about the WiiU and think of it merely as an add-on rather than a new console. Doing this would only make it worse.

 

[axisofweevils]

According to @NintenDaan on Twitter, it's the same for every European Nintendo website.

https://twitter.com/NintenDaan/status/305393685787443200

 

[Kazerei]

Completely anecdotal, but there always seems to be a stack of Wii minis around here...

 

[mooooose]

This should've been Wii Mini and the Wii U should've been Wii 2.

This should have WiFi and a SD card slot. Come the fuck on.

Wii Sports Resort preinstalled, New Super Mario Bros Wii preinstalled, Netflix/Hulu/Amazon preinstalled.

$89.

Would've kept the Wii around much longer.

 

[fernoca]

I'd buy one becuase I like the look, but seeing that you can't so anything online related (download games, channels, etc.) it seems worthless. Heck, can't even use component cables on it.

EDIT:

...have Wii Sports pre-installed ...

Wii Sports Resort preinstalled, New Super Mario Bros Wii preinstalled, Netflix/Hulu/Amazon preinstalled.

To add pre-installed games they'll need to increase the memory to at least 1GB (Wii Sports games are over 350MB each) and the Wii only has 512MB (and 256 of those used for save data/channels, etc.). Putting them on the SD Cards won't work, as the Wii doesn't read data from them, but copies data from it to the internal memory.

 

[olimpia84]

The Wii mini is, from a consumer perspective, one of the most pointless console 'revisions' out there. It lacks a ton of features and it's not really "mini" since it's about the same size as the original Wii.

Even if this product sells like crap Nintendo will make a killing since it probably costs $5 to manufacture this pointless console.

 

[boyshine]

VERY bad idea. The public already is confused about the WiiU and think of it merely as an add-on rather than a new console. Doing this would only make it worse.

Nintendo is doing it with the rebranded controllers, and it doesn't seem to be a problem, neither for Wii U or Wii.

 

[BriBri]

I wonder what price it'll go for? I guess £69.99 or less is very optimistic, probably be £79.99 or even worse £89.99. Why am I now thinking the next price point up?!

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

Nintendo is doing it with the rebranded controllers, and it doesn't seem to be a problem, neither for Wii U or Wii.

The games are a completely different issue, though. Doing what you are suggesting would make people think that all WiiU games can be played on Wii, and therefor make them think that the WiiU is just a rebranded Wii or a Wii addon.

 

[lunchwithyuzo]

Putting them on the SD Cards won't work, as the Wii doesn't read data from them, but copies data from it to the internal memory.

It also wouldn't work since Wii Mini doesn't have SD card ports.

 

[TheCongressman1]

No Nintendo, that's a horrible idea. Focus on the U, please.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

I keep forgetting this exists...

 

[FyreWulff]

The Wii mini is, from a consumer perspective, one of the most pointless console 'revisions' out there. It lacks a ton of features and it's not really "mini" since it's about the same size as the original Wii.

Even if this product sells like crap Nintendo will make a killing since it probably costs $5 to manufacture this pointless console.

People that want the full featured Wii already have one. If you wanted GC backcompat, you bought a Wii back when they had it. If you wanted Wii netplay or streaming, you bought one for that.

Strange as it may seem, this is not targeted at you. It's a lower cost version to try and get people that weren't interested so far in buying it. It also has a side benefit to them of not being able to play pirated games through it.

 

[jooey]

Nintendo, just focus on the Wii U, please.

They do. Did you see TV commercials and hype for this thing?

 

[KarmaCow]

People that want the full featured Wii already have one. If you wanted GC backcompat, you bought a Wii back when they had it. If you wanted Wii netplay or streaming, you bought one for that.

Strange as it may seem, this is not targeted at you. It's a lower cost version to try and get people that weren't interested so far in buying it. It also has a side benefit to them of not being able to play pirated games through it.

Are the people who care about that $30 price difference despite losing out on all those features really the kind of people who want to spend $100 on a console without a game?

 

[grandjedi6]

The last thing Nintendo needs to do is create even more brand confusion between the Wii and the Wii U.

'New Wii Mini released now' right next to the Wii U stall.

I mean the point of the Wii mini (other than cutting down on the Wii's manufacturing costs) is to help eliminate brand confusion by rebranding the Wii itself. Sony did the same thing years ago when it rebranded the PSX as the "PSone". Only Sony was way more successful at it.

 

[abasm]

I'm probably alone in this, but I really like the exterior design of the Wii Mini. I just can't believe that they robbed it of so many key (and probably inexpensive) features. A lack of WiFi cuts off the Wii Shop Channel, which, while not user-friendly by any stretch of the imagination, has a huge number of genuinely amazing classic games. Nixing the SD card slot means that you can't "upgrade" to the Wii Mini from your old Wii, since there's no way to migrate your saved games. And, for whatever reason, they nixed component output. I like the idea of a rugged flip-top game console, but the Wii Mini is insulting.

 

[Ghazi]

No, it has no online and no BC.
There is someone at the N quarters whose bad ideas have been getting too much space lately.

Maybe the creator of the Wii Mini was the same genious who came up with the name Wii U. Throw another irrelevant suffix into the game just to confuse people even more...

No.

LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMME!