Nintendo's BACK! Nintendo... Wii? (Update: Aussie price and launch date!)
September 14th 2006 16:27
Category: Happenings
After the Nintendo Wii (pronounced 'Wee') became a media darling in the world of videogames Nintendo has now finally revealed the last bit's and pieces of information about their plan's with their new console. You might not have heard of it, but now you have.
The Nintendo Wii is a different kind of console than an Xbox 360 or the upcoming Playstation 3. It is in fact different to any other kind of games console out to date because it control scheme is completely different to anything we have seen. It is shaped like a TV remote and has motion sensing capabilities (nicknamed the wii-mote). Case in point it’s a 3D mouse, to see it in action click here. The wii-mote can have different kinds of attachments, the most hyped being the nunchucka attachment.
I should also point out that there will be no fighting over this remote. Just because it looks like a television remote doesn't mean it is one.
Nintendo has opted to develop this technology instead of bigger and better graphics for the Wii. Fair bet? Well in a way, yes. It will retail at $250 USD in the United States with one nunchucka controller, which means we can expect a price of $500 AUD* when it hits our pristine shores November 19th provided it is on par with the United States launch. The console will come with a collection of mini games dubbed wiisports which includes baseball, boxing, tennis, golf and bowling all designed to showcase the controller’s motion sensing abilities.
*Price and release update: The Nintendo Wii is coming to Australia December 7th for $399.
Nintendo is also upping the ante with classic games from the good old days that can be downloaded from Nintendo’s online service, including games from every Nintendo console (other than handhelds), the Sega Genesis, Turbo grafx among others. It will also come fully backwards compatible with GameCube games if you are so inclined.
Many devout Nintendo fans are disappointed with the price and release date which is about a month behind what most where speculating. The problem is with the price of the controllers, being $40 USD for the wii-mote and a further $20 for the nunchucka attachment which will probably be required for most games. So to that end we effectively pay $60 USD for a controller. However Nintendo is also marketing a ‘classic controller’ for a far lower price of $20, the catch? Yep, it needs to be connected to a wii-mote to run.
There is also annoyance at the fact it will not run DVD's as promised originally. I find it absurd as perhaps at most only 0.001% of the market will be in need of such a feature in the Nintendo Wii, and it most certainly will not justify a price hike for the rest of us. This is just the mindless rantings of fanboy's.
I hope though these minor technicalities don’t run against Nintendo’s proven success with the Nintendo DS, and the Wii is in fact still cheaper than the Xbox 360 and the coming Playstation 3 even if the price gaps is a little smaller than what was originally speculated. Nintendo is also starting out with some of the most anticipated games ever, including “Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess”, the spiritual successor to the highest rated game of all time, “Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time”. As mentioned there will also be several classic games ready for purchase and download at launch which is of course a very good thing for us hoping to get a quick nostalgic booster shot.
All in all I see good things for Nintendo’s future, and here’s hoping it will take back it’s place on top of the console world, the world they helped create.
The Nintendo Wii
Nunchucka (left) connected to a Wii-Mote (right)
Nintendo has opted to develop this technology instead of bigger and better graphics for the Wii. Fair bet? Well in a way, yes. It will retail at $250 USD in the United States with one nunchucka controller, which means we can expect a price of $500 AUD* when it hits our pristine shores November 19th provided it is on par with the United States launch. The console will come with a collection of mini games dubbed wiisports which includes baseball, boxing, tennis, golf and bowling all designed to showcase the controller’s motion sensing abilities.
*Price and release update: The Nintendo Wii is coming to Australia December 7th for $399.
Nintendo is also upping the ante with classic games from the good old days that can be downloaded from Nintendo’s online service, including games from every Nintendo console (other than handhelds), the Sega Genesis, Turbo grafx among others. It will also come fully backwards compatible with GameCube games if you are so inclined.
Many devout Nintendo fans are disappointed with the price and release date which is about a month behind what most where speculating. The problem is with the price of the controllers, being $40 USD for the wii-mote and a further $20 for the nunchucka attachment which will probably be required for most games. So to that end we effectively pay $60 USD for a controller. However Nintendo is also marketing a ‘classic controller’ for a far lower price of $20, the catch? Yep, it needs to be connected to a wii-mote to run.
There is also annoyance at the fact it will not run DVD's as promised originally. I find it absurd as perhaps at most only 0.001% of the market will be in need of such a feature in the Nintendo Wii, and it most certainly will not justify a price hike for the rest of us. This is just the mindless rantings of fanboy's.
Succeeding perfection, can it be done?
All in all I see good things for Nintendo’s future, and here’s hoping it will take back it’s place on top of the console world, the world they helped create.
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jkund17
Comment by Joy
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Lots of internet geeks though are angry abot that...
Comment by Cibbuano
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So what if the PS3 has incredible hardware? If the games are going to be the same football, racing and fighting games, I'm not that enthusiastic.
Comment by Ahmed
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Comment by Joy
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We are talking about countless ideas, the wii-mote even comes with a built in speaker, apparently nintendo is working on a game that uses just one wii-mote shared between all the players were the wii-mote 'talks' to people individually. WOuld be a great party game.
You are right that existing franchises will probably also find a new light, particularly mario party. Knowing nintendo though I don't think we'll fall into the pit of gimmickiness, that's what we thought back when the Nintendo DS was announced...
Comment by Ahmed
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Comment by Justin
I look forward to it though.
Comment by Ahmed
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As for new titles, for some reason I am completely unsure of many people think nintendo will not be furthering their library. This happens everytime a new nintendo console is brought into the foray, it happened with the super nintendo, the nintendo 64 and the gamecube.
I think what you'll find is while Nintendo did update it's existing franchises it did add plenty of new franchises to its portfolio. For instance the nintendo 64 introduced Super Smash Brothers, Mario Party among others, the gamecube introduced Pikmin.
The NIntendo Wii has project Hammer for release and wii-sports, nintendo is also adament on releasing games designed around the controller for super cheap and also there has been some rumours floating here and there that they plan on remaking gameube games for the wii controller.
In the long run I think you get a Nintendo Seal of Approval in the fun department, more so than you possibly could from Microsoft or Sony.
Comment by Ahmed
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Comment by Glen Atwell
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great article.
i was waiting for the PS3 - then of course the 'too good to be true' delay came and for once i said 'screw sony' and 'bring on nintendo'.
xbox360 was too soon, ps3 is too late, the wii is perfect.
will it be online? as in gamer vs gamer online?
Comment by Ahmed
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It lacks in graphics what it makes up in fun.
You should know though that it will be released november 19th in the united states, the ps3 is actually being released November 17th in the united states. But yeah, here in Australia, ps3, 2007. pah.
Comment by Ahmed
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It's region free meaning you can play games from anywhere in the world on it, so you might wan't to consider importing it from the united states for instance where it will be sold for $320 AUD approximately if importing it costs less than $70...
Comment by Glen Atwell
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i'm going for the wii because it is something new. something different. it's third gen after all and sony and microsoft still refuse to innovate.
forget importing, i did it with my psp and looking back was a silly move. warranty claims become a nightmare and it just feels better walking into a games shop and walking out with a console.
glen
Comment by Ahmed
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You'll find Nintendo's prducts are always of an exceptionally high build quality and they probably won't break down. Even if it did break you could call nintendos tech support, apparently they are very good at their customer service, I'v heard stories of them replacing the gamecube controllers 3 years after being sold originally.
If Nintendo's history is anything to go by I think the Wii will probably not break and if it does it will be easy to get replaced. However I think that's history and perhaps your not too interested in gambling your money.
Oh, and heres a comic from penny-arcade on the matter.
I'm so glad the writer didn't swear in this one.
Comment by Glen Atwell
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if the saving warranted the risk then i'd take it. importing from US costs about $30-$50 in shipping/insurance fees. the biggest risk is not a manufacturer defect, but the wankers who throw the parcels around during shipment.
and call me patriotic, but id prefer to keep the dosh in australia (even though 80% will go overseas). i refuse to buy dick smith vegemite though.
im hooked on wii trailers... it looks fantastic.
Comment by Ahmed
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Yeah, better buy Wii in Australia, for queen and country we shall by Nintendo products IN Australia! (Even though most of the money will go back to japan our world war 2 mortal enemies whom we now love dearly for their Nintendo stuff).
As for Dick Smith Vegemite, well I don't really like vegemite so I don't know your reasons behind that one. My little brother who was born here loves vegemite to death though.
Comment by Glen Atwell
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the ps2 has really seemed to die on its ass, non-xboxers are sitting on the sidelines and the DS is a decent handheld.
are we all waiting for 'the next gen console wars' to really begin or are handhelds actually taking over?
Comment by Ahmed
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First of all this is the first time a handheld has been truly released for the mass market (ala the nintendo ds) which is outselling the psp on an almost 5 to 1 ratio in japan. So that definately contributes to it.
Another factor which is probably contributing to it is the fact that simply many people are happy with their current consoles (be it ps2 or xbox, but oddly not gamecube
Most I think though are just waiting for all 3 to hit the market to make their choice, but I think the success of the nintendo ds might tip the market in favour of the handheld as its easier to produce and in high demand. While for sure there will be shortages of ps3's on launch day (there already are shortages now before launch!) and there already has been for the xbox 360.
Though the nitnendo wii might not get itself sold out anytime soon with 4 million read for launch...
Comment by Campbell
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Comment by Campbell
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http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2006/09/15/the-wii-isnt-region-free-after-all/
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http://wii.ign.com/articles/732/732982p1.html
"The news follows contradictory comments made by Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo of America's Vice President of Marketing and Affairs, which IGN reported on yesterda"