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seattlepi.com: Wii Nov 19th and $250

The Abominable Snowman said:
Microsoft rip customers off, NOW EVERYBODY RIP CUSTOMERS OFF!

I'm just shocked at how the hardware is probably profitting Nintendo in the region of $100 per system, yet the Better Business Bureau is turning their head...
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Holy shit. LAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWL

Clothing is like 80% mark-up at retail from the actual cost to produce, and that's just Wal-mart stuff, nevermind big designer labels. DVDs cost maybe $2 each to print, packaging, media, and all. Etcetera, etcetera.
 
Nintendo doesn't owe anybody anything. $250 is a good pricepoint with Wii sports packed in, imo. They'll pretty much sell out, regardless, and then they can drop the price by the summer of '07 to reboost demand, if they have to.
 
i don't really get the "rip off" arguments based around the idea that Wii is a repackaged GC. The entire $250 package is clearly much more than upgraded GC hardware and Nintendo's R&D efforts this cycle are clearly more radical than normal. I just hope the UK price isn't substantially more than the GC was (£130).
 
The Abominable Snowman said:
Microsoft rip customers off, NOW EVERYBODY RIP CUSTOMERS OFF!

I'm just shocked at how the hardware is probably profitting Nintendo in the region of $100 per system, yet the Better Business Bureau is turning their head...
Click to expand...


Are you retarded?
 
See, the launch is fairly piddly now, but I'll probably just pick up the Wii for Zelda/Wii Sports at launch, and then perhaps pick up Excite Truck or something at Christmas.

If Wario Ware seriously doesn't make US launch, that's insanely stupid.
 
I'm going to be waiting for the Wii to become a better value.

I guess I'm one of the more traditional console gamers that Nintendo has decided to abandon in their new strategy.
 
I don't think nerd anger has been this balanced in a while!

Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony? We hate 'em all!

Sigh. Where's my next Sega console... There's no place like home... there's no place like home...
 
While the VC prices are fairly reasonable, the price of the console is really iffy. Honestly, for a hundred more, you can get a legitimate next-generation console that will probably get the next Resident Evil and seems to have quite a library growing. Now, if there was a second nunchuck, the Wii would be the ultimate college party gaming system (bar Maddenheads).

I'm also starting to side with Luke (1Up) with the whole accessory thing. All I see are minigames...

Still, Red Steel and Zelda make the Wii rather attractive to me..
 
Hmm, I see a lot of the people posting in this thread have never taken a microeconomics course. Price affects demand. Positively or negatively, depending on the situation. If ipod chooses to raise its players a few dollars price will remain the same, it's a contemporary cultural icon. Nintendo, on the other hand, sets a premium price for a console that is working with outdated tech and demand will more than likely fall. This reaction is expected. Continue on GAF...
 
Microsoft rip customers off, NOW EVERYBODY RIP CUSTOMERS OFF!

I'm just shocked at how the hardware is probably profitting Nintendo in the region of $100 per system, yet the Better Business Bureau is turning their head...
Click to expand...

LOL

Heaven forbid a business would try to make....gasp.....here it comes.....profit!
 
Shig said:
I bet more than half the people bitching would have bought a $200 system and Wii Sports for $50 seperately anyway, and been satisfied with those prices. But put 'em together and OMG RIP-OFFPOCALYPSE.
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How could you have made that assumption?
 
Scuse if this has been asked but is there any indication as to how much the Opera Wii browser costs? According to the IGN doc, you have to purchase then download the Opera Wii browser?
 
I think we need to breakdown the prices and see that the Wii is still much cheaper since it gives you more right out of the box.

So right now the price break down is this:

Wii = $250 includes wireless and a 512M memory with free online.

X360 = $299 + $99 wireless + $99 harddrive + $50 for wireless controller with monthly fee online. Total = $546 + monthly fees

X360 = $399 (with Wifi and hardrive) + $50 for wireless Total = $448 + monthly fees

PS3 = $499 (Wifi? wireless controller, HDD, and Blu-ray)

PS3 Prem = $599 (Wifi? wireless, HDD, Blu-ray, memory card slots, HDMI)

I think in the end, Wii is still much cheaper for what you get and the X360 and PS3 is price closer to each other for their features (well, blu-ray is a big plus). Its a good value if you consider the features for the price. Of course another question is if we need these features. I think everything packed into the Wii is needed.

At first, I was disappointed in the price, I really wanted one at $199, but after doing the math, I feel better and will get the Wii :)
 
The Abominable Snowman said:
Microsoft rip customers off, NOW EVERYBODY RIP CUSTOMERS OFF!

I'm just shocked at how the hardware is probably profitting Nintendo in the region of $100 per system, yet the Better Business Bureau is turning their head...
Click to expand...


Nintendo is probably barely cracking a profit on the hardware, regardless of its 2001 heritage. Nintendo dosn't like sucking up a loss on HW like Sony and MS, but it won't be stupid enough to tack big early profits on at the expense of overall adoption.

This is just what it costs, but I AM pissed that I don't get a dollar or two of DVD licensing fee thrown in for free. ****ers.

TheJesusFactor said:
I think in the end, Wii is still much cheaper for what you get and the X360 and PS3 is price closer to each other for their features. Its a good value if you consider the features for the price. Of course another question is if we need these features. I think everything packed into the Wii is needed.
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It's been said before, but the comparison with 360 tard pack is faulty. 360 has a half gig of RAM, three power PC cores and some very serious ATI hardware. A more realistic comparison is the original Xbox - 10 gig hard drive, almost identical hardware and so on.
 
Even if the tech is "outdated" graphics-wise, it's still spent several years in development to make it more efficient and all that dev time cost money. Hence, they couldn't sell the things at $50 a pop or something ridiculous.

I am a bit disappointed that this price point breaks the $199 trend in the U.S. but oh well. It's still low enough to make the Wii60 feasible =P
 
Man, $250 USD really sucks especially for someone like me who is attending Uni and isn't making a $1000+ per month.

The Wii to 360 and PS3 price comparisons are stupid, 360 is only $50 more and actually has next gen graphics, the PS3 may be hundreds more, but it's also a Blu Ray player and again has cutting edge technology. The Wii has so far shown nothing that would have it surpass the Xbox visually.

If they made it $199 or less, I would have definitely bought it because then I can use that extra $50 to buy a game that I actually have interest in, not this Wii sports bs. If they're seriously using Wii sports to justify the price, that's just dumb, because Wii sports alone should be a budget title.

Well Nintendo, hopefully your next price drop will be reasonable because a price drop will be the only way there's gonna be a Wii in the house.
 
"The final pieces of this fall's video game battle fall into position today as Nintendo announces that its new Wii home system will sell for $250 - half the price of Sony's cheapest PlayStation 3 - and launch Nov. 19, two days after the PS3."

that was in USA Today. I'm sure Nintendo is just fine with their price. People act like they have any more history than any other company of not squeezing their customers. They will still do great at that price on the shelf. There are a lot of parents who will buy the Wii on a shelf next to a comparatively priced 360 just because of the type of respective games on the unit.

Sony is the one getting sort of screwed, with a lot of room for their competitors to undercut them. And still make a profit.
 
I think the price is fine, but I don't like having to pay some much for the VC games. $5 for a NES title? are you kidding me? NES hurts my eyes and can give you epileptic seizure. SNES titles for $5 is ok, N64 is also ok at $10.
 
neptunes said:
How could you have made that assumption?
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Because it seems like a fair one to make? People were almost universally saying $200 was a fair price, and there was a lot of interest in Wii Sports. I can say fairly certainly that the game would have had a strong tie-in ratio were it not bundled.
 
Shig said:
Because it seems like a fair one to make? People were almost universally saying $200 was a fair price, and there was a lot of interest in Wii Sports. I can say fairly certainly that the game would have had a strong tie-in ratio were it not bundled.
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so it's okay to force you to buy it with the system.
 
The Abominable Snowman said:
get the stick out your ass. thx. that comment wasn't completely serious
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skifree.gif


it's not a stick, it's dildo replica of my penis
 
Musashi Wins! said:
"The final pieces of this fall's video game battle fall into position today as Nintendo announces that its new Wii home system will sell for $250 - half the price of Sony's cheapest PlayStation 3 - and launch Nov. 19, two days after the PS3."

that was in USA Today.
Click to expand...

If Nintendo can get that kind of positive press, then they may have a serious contender for the casual market.

If all the press is going to do is point out price differences, without going into exactly what you are getting for the price, then Nintendo is pretty much going to get the equivalent of free advertising. The press is not going to get into the details about how Nintendo's system is close to the equivalent of the top end console released in 2001.
 
GSG Flash said:
The Wii to 360 and PS3 price comparisons are stupid, 360 is only $50 more and actually has next gen graphics,
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That's also a stupid comparison, considering the 360 unit that extra $50 would earn you is incapable of saving games or going online without paying for an additional pheripheral.
 
Shig said:
That's also a stupid comparison, considering the 360 unit that extra $50 would earn you is incapable of saving games or going online without paying for an additional pheripheral.
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To be fair you could also mention the cost of the wireless accessory.
 
ElectricBlue187 said:
so it's okay to force you to buy it with the system.
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Not really. It also wasn't okay for Sony to force people to buy a bunch of crappy pheripherals (and Spiderman 2 on UMD for a "lucky" some) with their PSPs, yet that didn't seem to hinder US sales much. It may be wrong, but from a business sense, based on previous models' success, it makes perfect sense. Such is life.

I will say that $60 to buy extra Wiimotes/nunchuks is effin' ludicrous, though.
 
I think there could be legitimate reason for anger if Nintendo had decided to price the Wii at $300 or 350, something out of the expected range. $250 was the high end of the price range Nintendo gave us since E3, and more than one person have predicted that to be the Wii's final price, myself included.

Expectations aside, considering many posters here was already thinking/trolling the Wii as 'overpriced' when people thought it was going to be $200, I can see why there's surprise and some people are positively rejoicing in what they 'think' is a Nintendo gaffe.

Nintendo avoided a major landmine at the $150 price, leaving them no room for price drops and making the Wii look like a cheap product. Everyone's entitled to their own opinions of course but this is the (?) time GAF consensus has been wrong. No surprise in that respect.
 
I kinda expected it to go closer to the $300 mark. My point is that I don't think everyone has really thought about this too well. Although a lot are saying how old the tech is, I feel some of us are exaggerating. I mean its still more gonna produce good graphics it just won't be in HD. Another thing is it has nothing to do with old tech and new tech. Its more like supply and demand. At the moment Nintendo made a contract with ATI and they have to provide x amount of chips. There is a cost of production to that chip. However that cost isn't so different from the other cconsole chips. Although it is difficult to physically make a Cell. I think it will be difficult to make the Wii (Broadway or Hollywood, whatever it is). This is because of its backwards compatibility. It isn't run of the mill parts. Its going to be entirely custom made, so that it can play over 4 different consoles games.

Another aspect is something I feel overlooked is the drive. I have never heard of a drive that can take GC discs and DVD discs. And to top it off it is slot loading. This must have been made specially for Nintendo, and maybe even designed by them. These little intricacies are adding up. Off course the PS3 has one too, but that blue ray drive is likely to be used for many other products other than PS3. If sony intend to push it to the common medium their intention is to mass produce BR drives not just for the PS3 but maybe for all their other products and other companies products too. This increases demand for the parts that make the drive and in turn sony are bulk buying or producing in even larger quatity to reduce the production cost. Hence they are giving a larger supply of goods.
 
open_mouth_ said:
Nintendo doesn't owe anybody anything. $250 is a good pricepoint with Wii sports packed in, imo. They'll pretty much sell out, regardless, and then they can drop the price by the summer of '07 to reboost demand, if they have to.
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Do you really expect a price drop in the first year?
 
Bah. The price is way too high if they plan on getting Wii out to people who aren't interested in games right now. I just can't see that people with no gaming interest will spend $250 on a gaming machine. And no second Wii-mote?? What's the point in having a game like Wii Sports as a bundle if the you only sell the console with one Wii-mote? Wii Tennis seems like a blast to play with friends and family, but how fun is it as a singel player game?
 
I'm confused about a couple things...

1. It sounds like they are launching in the US first. My how things have changed in a generation... but how is ignoring Japan and Europe taking advantage of Sony's stumble? Do we have launch dates for these regions yet?

2. Nintendo games will be $49. This is not actually any cheaper than Microsoft published games. Rumors have Sony games at $59, but that is still speculative at this point and it would not suprise me to see them at $49 either. Third party games may very well be cheaper, but the first party Nintendo games sure don't look like much of a bargain.

3. In Japan, the launch price for the Wii will probably be the same price as a 360 core. In the US you can find deals for the 360 core at $250ish fairly easily. Do people seriously see Nintendo winning the casual market with these kinds of comparisons?
 
$250 is not what is what 15 years ago. Given the demand picture and the positioning of the competition, Nintendo can outsell its rivals easily in every territory except the US at this price point. In the US, 360 and Wii will probably be 1 or 2 or 2 and 1 depending on how many MS can ship. PS3 is 3rd place already for the forseeable future. Nintendo knows this but I guess GAF doesnt.

And unlike the PS3 or even 360 where there's lots of barriers to get the console to its first price drop, expect a price drop within 6-9 months for the Wii, immediately right after sale slow down after launch.
 
"..as reported, an Internet channel will enable Web browsing through the console, although it seems that consumers will need to purchase the Opera Web browser with Wii points."

Ok, that's ****ing lame.

"During the presentation, Nintendo also revealed that the GameCube version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess won't release until December 11, and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption will be a 2007 title. Twilight Princess for Wii, however, was confirmed as a Wii launch titile."

Oh, that sucks too. It's not a launch?

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3812&Itemid=2
 
So let me get this straight. $250 gets you the following:

-A ramped up Gamecube (a/k/a, Gamecube Turbo)
-A wireless, 3D-motion-detecting controller with its "nunchuk" accessory
-512MB of built-in flash storage for saves and ROM downloads
-SD card slots for future storage options
-WiFi
-USB
-A free set of games
-Free online play
-Backwards compatibility with the GameCube controllers and software library (which, jokes aside, does have some legitimate gems.)

Yes, friends, all of this bitching, moaning and kvetching is completely warranted. Built-in flash memory grows on trees, Nintendo secretly had perfected 3D-motion hardware back in 1992 and can produce each controller for $.01, the systems are shipped on camelback by Oompa Loompas, and the online service is run by elves who make it all work on networked TRS-80s. The system will be advertised by a global network of volunteers wearing nothing but Miyamoto masks and sandwich boards that read "Play with my Wii, only $250."

God.

I'm convinced some of you won't be happy until you get each system for free accompanied by a handjob from their respective company CEOs.

I can't wait to be branded an N-Bot. I'll put that one on my mantel right next to the "Sony-Bot" and "X-Bot" plaques.
 
MS must have moles within Nintnedo and Sony sabotaging things, I see no other reason my Sony and nintendo are helping out MS so much with theior moronic decisions

$250 for a machine with xbox-esqe power, iffy online, and a love it or hate it control scheme? No thanks
 
Upon hearing the news of the Wii's price, gamers across the world rose up in protest, and then sat immediately back down, panting heavily.
 
$250? I'm sure it will sell out of it's initial shipment, but I'm suprised they priced it so high. I was expecting $200 at the highest. At $250, the Xbox 360 is only $50 more with a ton of expandability if someone decides to get an HDTV later on. Xbox 360 has also been out a year already, so they could drop the price pretty quickly and match Nintendo. It's not that $250 is too much, it's just too close to the competition and for what they're offering, I think gamers will be more inclined to pass it up in favor of the 360. It's not the mass market price I was expecting.
 
it's not that $250 is a horrible price in and of itself, but I guess I just expected Nintendo to really shake things up price wise. This still seems pretty standard (and possibly worse if you're not interested in Wii Sports). I suppose that they're still targeting the current prices at early adopters, and the big "non-gamer" push won't occur until next year and beyond.

And I thought CliffyB's dream of standard $20 games was about to become a reality on the Wii :lol
 
I can't imagine being pissed off about the Wii's price -- jesus, you've already demonstrated your willingness to line-up for last-gen hardware with 64 MB RAM and an inaccurate, glitchy "3D' controller. $250 is probably the tamest thrust Nintendo's taken into your gamer colon yet.
 
Inflation?
It's probably too cheap?
It's a great value?
I'll buy it anyway because it has the games I like?
Look at all the completely unrelated to gaming features, that makes it worth it to me?



Did I accidentaly click on the E3 2006 Sony conference thread from May?
 
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