Price of Wii?

[quote name='schuerm26']If it does come in at $299, well that's not good, but it wouldn't be from completely out of nowhere. [/QUOTE]

I disagree, a $299.99 price tag comes completely out of left field (7/11 "news" aside). It would be a PR nightmare for Nintendo if the Wii costs $299.99. They pubically came out and said the system wouldn't be more then $249.99. Most of us think the Wii will cost $200 because every previously released home console at launch by Nintendo cost $200. Furthermore, at $299.99 the new generation system is the same price as a next generation system. It doesn't matter how spectacular the games are at that point.

The Wii is an underpowered system compared to the 360 and the PS3, it doesn't come with a comparable hard drvie, and the system relies on what has to be proven as not a gimmick. At $299, Nintendo prices themselves right into the handheld market because the Wii would not and will not sell at that price. Most of us think $249 in a non-bundle since that's a Wii and a game away from being a Core 360.

Nintendo is banking on two things this generation. They think gamers will pick innovative gameplay over better graphics, and they think gamers will trust them. Half of that equation falls apart if Mario takes out his fire flower dildo and proceeds to rape that trust in the ass for 1ups.
 
[quote name='furyk']I disagree, a $299.99 price tag comes completely out of left field (7/11 "news" aside). It would be a PR nightmare for Nintendo if the Wii costs $299.99. They pubically came out and said the system wouldn't be more then $249.99. Most of us think the Wii will cost $200 because every previously released home console at launch by Nintendo cost $200. Furthermore, at $299.99 the new generation system is the same price as a next generation system. It doesn't matter how spectacular the games are at that point.

The Wii is an underpowered system compared to the 360 and the PS3, it doesn't come with a comparable hard drvie, and the system relies on what has to be proven as not a gimmick. At $299, Nintendo prices themselves right into the handheld market because the Wii would not and will not sell at that price. Most of us think $249 in a non-bundle since that's a Wii and a game away from being a Core 360.

Nintendo is banking on two things this generation. They think gamers will pick innovative gameplay over better graphics, and they think gamers will trust them. Half of that equation falls apart if Mario takes out his fire flower dildo and proceeds to rape that trust in the ass for 1ups.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, because we have not see other companies do this and be successful. Oh wait, Apple was doing this same tactic for years. Selling hardware that was way below PC spec for twice as much as a equally equipped PC would cost.

Why you ask?

Because people will by what works for them, what is interesting and different, and what they have grown used too. Nintendo wants to be the Apple of the Gaming world. Hell, the redesign of the DS is essentially a Mac Book.
There is alot more to the expereince then just raw computing power and if you just looking for that, why not just go out and by a CORE DUO Extreme, 4 GIGs of Ram, a SLi Capable MoBo, and 2 Nividia 7950s. It will do everything you want.

P.S. Fantavision did not sell terribly, because it was one of a few games out for the PS2. You want an impressive, there are 7 titles confirmed for the Wii launch, that is almost 2.5 times how many games launched with the PS2
 
What's wrong with speculation? I personally find this whole ordeal kinda fun :)

$229.99 is a little more than what I expected ($199.99 like everyone else), but if it encludes wii sports and/or some VC downloads I'll be happy. Honestly I was hoping for a $249.99 bundle that included the following:

-Wii
-Wii Wand
-VC Controller
-Wii Sports
-Duck Hunt (new version)
-VC download of Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt (together)

I would have no problem shelling out $249.99+tx. if that was the deal.
 
[quote name='dwhelan']Yeah, because we have not see other companies do this and be successful. Oh wait, Apple was doing this same tactic for years. Selling hardware that was way below PC spec for twice as much as a equally equipped PC would cost.

Why you ask?

Because people will by what works for them, what is interesting and different, and what they have grown used too. Nintendo wants to be the Apple of the Gaming world. Hell, the redesign of the DS is essentially a Mac Book.
There is alot more to the expereince then just raw computing power and if you just looking for that, why not just go out and by a CORE DUO Extreme, 4 GIGs of Ram, a SLi Capable MoBo, and 2 Nividia 7950s. It will do everything you want.

P.S. Fantavision did not sell terribly, because it was one of a few games out for the PS2. You want an impressive, there are 7 titles confirmed for the Wii launch, that is almost 2.5 times how many games launched with the PS2[/QUOTE]

I think you mean 27 titles, not 7. Regardless, the recent explosion in growth from Apple came from two things. They ditched the ancient code that they had constantly been building on since the inception of Apple for OSX and the iPod which allowed you to download your songs from either a Mac or a Windows machine. The simple fact of the matter is that you can be ahead of the game and cool for so long. Furthermore, who used to buy Apple computers back in the day? As far as I know, the vast majority of Macs were bought as educational tools, an outlet that Nintendo obviously cannot enter into unless there is a major cultural swing towards video games.

Eventually you have to place yourself back into the market and not ignore what most consumers want. Nintendo, believe it or not, wants to win this generation. Apple has resigned itself to second place, third if you count Linux, and is simply ok with trying to win converts. Personally, I love my Powerbook, but once I left film school, there was very little I wanted to do with it. Following the Apple business model is a way to send Nintendo to designing games for the other big 2 while still floating out Pokemon games for their handheld.
 
Apple has traditionally been sold to two markets--education and creative professionals. In the past ten years or so PCs finally started making big strides into both markets, luckily about the time Jobs came back to Apple and has set them on a better course. Apple is still the preferred format of most creative professionals.
 
Back OT about the price of the wii....Call me a conspiracy freak, but I keep thinking that the 229 price is true. I always take rumors in with a grain of salt, but when suspicious stuff happens because of a rumor, I take it more seriously. And there is alot of suspicious stuff happening with this one. Just take a look at 1UP's page about it: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3152727 Now the part that got cut out was fairly obvious, but if you read thru the different versions, you will see many other changes to make it sound more generic, 5 million from 5.5 million...november 2nd instead of tuesday november 2nd. So you tell me, why all these changes? I can't see IGN or an editor going back and changing a small rumor article unless there is a reason outside of their control.

Anyways besides all that it is highly believable-under $250 like they promised and still leaving room for a little price drop that wont kill profits if sales slow. So I am pretty much counting on 229. I just wish what is coming inside the box would get leaked too...it is killing me not knowing what all I am gonna get for my wii savings fund.


Oh, and another thing I am now speculating is that there will be no bundle...if this is in fact the price, I think it pretty much kills hopes of a 199 system and 250 bundle deal. Plus I am not totally sure, but I don't remember Nintendo ever launching several different skus on launch day of console. Seems like they always release one package until much later in the console's life, when they start bundling it. If I am wrong about this though, feel free to correct me.
 
A stand-alone price of $229 and a release date of November 12th are seeming more and more likely in that they are respectively more expensive and later than I'd like them to be. And I figure I'm a lock to be disappointed by something to do with the release.

I'm going to reserve my bitching and moaning (e.g. "$230 for a grown-up GC???! OMGWTF") until after the late August thing in Germany. Maybe this 12 Nov/$229 thing is just one last misinformation "leak" to set us up for a happy surprise. [/optimism] Because I'll be damned if mid-October and $199 wouldn't make me giddy.
 
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