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Nintendo has finally released a firm launch date and North American price for its upcoming console, the Wii. Those of us in the United States or Canada can look forward to doling out $249.99 (USD) on November 19 and walking away with quite a package.

The console will ship with one Wii remote, the nunchuck attachment to the remote, a console stand, and a sensor bar with stand, along with the necessary cords and cables. This package will also include a Wii Sports sampler to show off the usage of the new controller.

Information regarding the Virtual Console has also been released. 30 classic titles from other systems will be available for purchase by the end of the year, and games will cost between $5 and $10 each.

New Wii games published by Nintendo will retail at $49.99.

All in all, this sounds like a great package. Nintendo really seems set to take the market by storm.

Source: IGN via Elessar (maybe he should just be a newsposter)

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Veni, vidi, dormivi.

I was actually dissapointed by this info. I was seing this coming out late october, not late november. And $250 seems a little steep considering what it's offering. Wii sports bundled in is nice, but does that warrant what seems to be an extra $50 to what the standalone console would be. Maybe if they bundled 2 wiimotes or a classic controller I wouldn't be so bitter, but I think I can handle it. The worst piece of news was MP3 being delayed until 2007. Oh well, it might not feel rushed this way.

The VC prices seem really good, maybe the SNES ones are a bit to high but I'm fine with $8.00.

Overall it's nice to finally know something, even if it isn't ideal info.

This post has been edited by FallingHeart on 15th September 2006 01:04

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"We're not tools of the government or anyone else. Fighting... fighting was the only thing I was ever good at, but at least I always fought for what I believed in." - Frank Yeager (a.k.a. Grey Fox)

So they set a launch date, I have to say i'm not that excited. But it does sounds like a good deal, what with all the classics it sounds like it'll be quite successful.

Still i'm not sure about the wii-mote.

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"You know that feeling you get when you're on a merry go 'round, and you want to jump off to make the spinning stop, but you know it'll suck when you land? I feel like that all the time"- Keno

"I stab my girl until I fall down"
-Yukari
Do you like Horny Bunnies?

Excellent! Thanks for the info Ellesar/karasuman!

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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

Quote (FallingHeart @ 14th September 2006 20:04)

Wii sports bundled in is nice, but does that warrant what seems to be an extra $50 to what the standalone console would be.

Well... Given that Nintendo-published stand-alone games go for $50, I'd say it exactly warrants it. I don't really get what you're driving at.

I'm probably not going to buy a Wii until I can either buy the console alone or bundled with a game that I actually want, but I'm excited about the news just the same. It's looking more and more like Nintendo is poised to reclaim the market, and a successful console is good to its owners in terms of a greater game library and longer shelf life.

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Veni, vidi, dormivi.

I initially believed that I would be supporting the 360 with my dollars and business.

The 360 came out and a buddy of mine got it.... and though I did like some of the things it offers, I was overall not impressed with what you get proportionate to what you pay.

The PS3 is absolutely out of the question for me. Many factors contributed to my decision on this.

I've been watching the Wii for news like this, so thank you very much for sharing it Kara. I believe the Wii, ridiculously named as it is, will be my next foray into the console wars.

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

Quote

I initially believed that I would be supporting the 360 with my dollars and business.

The 360 came out and a buddy of mine got it.... and though I did like some of the things it offers, I was overall not impressed with what you get proportionate to what you pay.

The PS3 is absolutely out of the question for me. Many factors contributed to my decision on this.

I've been watching the Wii for news like this, so thank you very much for sharing it Kara. I believe the Wii, ridiculously named as it is, will be my next foray into the console wars.

I couldn't agree more.

although I'm still not going to rush down to the store and buy a wii the month it comes out, even though nintendo is not known for this, the first consoles off the assembly line are normally buggy and live a shorter life than the consoles that come later.
Also there may be a price drop, or christmas sales by the tmie I get it.
I'm really looking forward to next-gen Zelda.

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"Have you ever seen a baby do that before?"

Ah, the Zelda series.

You will be my replacement..... my solution to sating my Final Fantasy fix.....

I haven't played a Zelda game in forever. From what I've seen/heard/read about them, they jsut keep getting better and better.

Plus, Nintendo is starting to shake that "kiddie" image it's been branded with for so long now.

At 250 bucks, the Wii is primed for what we NFL followers call a "Breakout Season".

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

Quote (Cloud_Strife510 @ 15th September 2006 08:41)

Quote

I initially believed that I would be supporting the 360 with my dollars and business.

The 360 came out and a buddy of mine got it.... and though I did like some of the things it offers, I was overall not impressed with what you get proportionate to what you pay.

The PS3 is absolutely out of the question for me. Many factors contributed to my decision on this.

I've been watching the Wii for news like this, so thank you very much for sharing it Kara. I believe the Wii, ridiculously named as it is, will be my next foray into the console wars.

I couldn't agree more.

although I'm still not going to rush down to the store and buy a wii the month it comes out, even though nintendo is not known for this, the first consoles off the assembly line are normally buggy and live a shorter life than the consoles that come later.
Also there may be a price drop, or christmas sales by the tmie I get it.
I'm really looking forward to next-gen Zelda.

I also plan to see how the consoles do with hardware, plus I want to raise a lttle money to get games. But I see a Wii in my future. Thanks for the info karasuman.

Zelda
SSBB
Wario Ware
Virtule Console
So much more

What else could you want

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Dead Winter. A nice comic.

No one will be stunned to learn UK gamers are getting ripped off even with Wii. $320 or so it'll cost. Seventy dollars more.

£170 compared to £450 for the full blown PS3. Either way, UK gamers get around a 30% increase on price (28% with Wii I think, 33.3% with PS3, but that was announced a while back when the dollar was not dangerously close to being worth 50p)

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"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

Suck it, Euro trash. (just kidding Del)

Strange that the cost would inflate that much, when it seems shipping to Europe would be more cost effective than shipping to the US.

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

Quote (Hamedo @ 15th September 2006 13:48)

Strange that the cost would inflate that much, when it seems shipping to Europe would be more cost effective than shipping to the US.

That's actually pretty untrue. In a past life I had to do a lot of work in evaluating overseas shipping, and the odds are very high in favor of the notion that shipping container loads via boat from Japan to Long Beach and Seattle will be quite a bit cheaper than to any European port.

Air shipping is not very cost-efficient to anywhere, so I'm ASSUMING that most of the shipping will be done overwater. I'd say that the cost of ocean freight will add roughly $4.00 to the cost of a US Wii and probably double that to Europe - my knowledge of ocean shipping is at least two years out of date now.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

That's interesting, Josh. Still though, with slightly fluxuating shipping charges, that wouldn't equate to 70 dollars more per unit. What else is accounting for the bulk of the inflation, I wonder?

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

Well, UK VAT is 17.5%. Bolt on the fact the UK needs different power sockety stuff, different colour encoding system (PAL) as does France and much of eastern europe (SECAM), and general profiteering, and the rise is explained.

I think.

Either way I'm blaming the US and Japan using NTSC when most of the rest of the world* uses PAL. Also powersockets.

*More countries, more people, cos China and India use it.

This post has been edited by Del S on 15th September 2006 19:05

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"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

I wouldn't be too happy with that explaination. The transformer to convert 220 to 110 volts is dirt cheap, and the NTSC->PAL translation... well, there are TV's that sport the ability innately... commodity TV's.

Canada has long since had an issue where buying products in our dollar is more expensive than the USD, even after conversion and service fees (for said conversion). The difference is usually something like 10%.

Removing the VAT, the costs now seem equivalent. It's probably just hedging to protect against currencies going against the parent company.


Updates for you Europeans and Aussies!

Wii expected to be on sale in Europe on December 8th.

Quote (Gamespot)

Nintendo has announced that its next-generation Wii console will hit Europe on December 8 for a recommended retail price of £179/249 euros ($335.87/$314.57). The release date puts the region's launch a few weeks behind the US, where it debuts on November 19, and Japan, where it hits stores on December 2. With the recent postponement of the PlayStation 3 in Europe until March 2007, Nintendo's Wii will be the region's only console launch this Christmas.

Australia will get the Wii slightly earlier, on December 7, for AU$399.95 (approx. £160/$300.38). Both the European and Australian packages will contain the white console, one Wii-mote controller, the nunchuck attachment, and the game Wii Sports. In Europe, software will cost £34 to £39 (49 to 59 euros), and there will be 15 to 20 games available from launch. Among the confirmed launch titles are The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Need for Speed: Carbon, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, and Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz.

As for accessories, Wii owners will be able to buy extra remotes for £29 (39 euros), a nunchuck for £14 (19 euros), and the classic controller for £14 (19 euros). For more details on the worldwide release of the Wii, check out GameSpot's launch centre.

Emphasis mine. That's 33% markup, which is still above-average even after VAT. Sorry Del. Perhaps importing might actually be cheaper.

This post has been edited by Elessar on 15th September 2006 23:02

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Visions of Peace - Four Generals, One Empire, and the Returners caught in the middle.

I cannot wait for the Wii. I've been excited about it ever since I first heard about the controller. And while I won't be able to buy one for quite awhile, as soon as I can, I'm snatching one up. ^-^

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"I sat alone and I didn't care,
I sat two years in the same old chair,
I saw three roads but didn't know,
Which way to go-go-go"
My Coco, stellastarr*

Question: Will the Wii have a standard controller, or is the nunchaku(sp?) controller the only option?

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

There is also a more "normal" controller called the "classic" controller. Most games will implement either the remote or the nunchuk, though (remote is just the remote, of course, and the nunchuk combines the remote with the joystick side).

The Wii classic controller

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

Many thanks, Lasz.

While I like the remote and it's uniqueness, I think most of my future gaming on the Wii will be done with the classic controller.

BTW, while I'm replying to you.... I vote option A.

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

It would need the classic controller. While I love what I see with the nunchuck/wiimote controller, imagine playing Virtual Console games otherwise.

This post has been edited by Barrylocke on 19th September 2006 17:19

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Dead Winter. A nice comic.

So the VC games are about double what I'd think is fair for long-outdated games. Given that my Gamecube has sat untouched in my sister's closet for over a year, and I can play almost the entire FF series on my PS2, I may just sit out this round of the console war entirely. I've had at least one console from every generation since the Atari 2600, but all three big systems are leaving me cold.

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Wasabi Viniagrette: Mix 1/3 C rice vinegar, 2 Tbsp sesame oil, and 2 tsp powdered wasabi. Excellent over cold udon noodles and shiitake mushrooms for a Japanese pasta salad.

It works, but its still not going to get me to get one at launch, im going to do buy something different at the time (X-Box 360 if there is a price drop by then.)