Nintendo Wii launch date, price, games announced
primesuspect
Beepin n' BoopinDetroit, MI Icrontian
Nintendo announced that the Wii will be available on November 19th in the United States for a MSRP of $249.99.
With 30 new games available on that day, as well as a download service which will allow gamers to purchase and install classic NES, SNES, and N64 titles using "Wii points", it seems that Nintendo has prepared a well thought-out product launch.
Using a service that seems identical to Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade, users will be able to purchase "Wii points". These points are then used to purchase classic games or possibly other game content.
The Wii will be fully backwards compatible with the Gamecube, making the entire existing Gamecube library available at launch.
The $249.99 package will include one "wiimote", one "Nunchuk" controller, and a bundled disc with 5 sports games on it.
Let the games begin!
Source: Nintendo
With 30 new games available on that day, as well as a download service which will allow gamers to purchase and install classic NES, SNES, and N64 titles using "Wii points", it seems that Nintendo has prepared a well thought-out product launch.
Using a service that seems identical to Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade, users will be able to purchase "Wii points". These points are then used to purchase classic games or possibly other game content.
The Wii will be fully backwards compatible with the Gamecube, making the entire existing Gamecube library available at launch.
The $249.99 package will include one "wiimote", one "Nunchuk" controller, and a bundled disc with 5 sports games on it.
Let the games begin!
Source: Nintendo
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Comments
It is binary compatible with the gamecube though.. Just consider it like putting a new graphics card and cpu in your PC
Personally, I hope both strategies succeed and give gamers a choice between console platforms with fundamentally different experiences. And that the uninspired XBox 360 sinks like a stone.
I think the answer will be a huge "yes". They are looking at it (as usual) from the enthusiast/knowledgeable geek standpoint. It's not like the 4 million "families" who go out and buy a Wii are all into the ROMZ SCENE, or even know that it exists, much less how to go about doing it. Plus, playing NES games on emulators is not nearly as fun as sitting around on the tv with a controller.
Take the xbox live arcade setup - you may think that nobody would pay $4 for a "game from the 1980s with low res graphics" like Time Pilot, Pac Man, Robotron 2084, Smash TV, Frogger, Joust, etc... But they do.. Oh they do.. In droves..
For example, according to mygamercard.net, at this moment, there are 129,558 gamers who have played a ranked match of Joust on XBLA. That means there are probably a few hundred more who have bought it, and not ranked yet.. Okay, even if there is "only" 129,558 people who have bought it, that's around a half million dollars of revenue for a game that is already developed, and is almost pure profit.
I can guarantee that there are some NES games that will sell hundreds of thousands of copies at $5 each.. Games that nintendo already bought and paid for. Pure profit.. Why on earth WOULDN'T they do this? Because the nerds at Engadget think it's "dumb"?
As it is now, people who already have ROM collections might only buy their most favorite games or games that are difficult to emulate. Last year, I drove four hours to buy a rare, non-emulator-friendly N64 game and the requisite N64 console ($30 gas, $40 game, $30 console). So if they had the Wii last year, I would have been most pleased
I think they had a really intersting point about peripheral costs, though. Sure, Sony and MS peripherals are expensive too, but it seems additional gizmo purchase will be more likely with the Wii. And seriously, $60 for a controller with the nunchuck? Hope they last longer than my DualShocks have
~Cyrix
I'd rather spend $400 for my kids to have an XBox 360 than $250 to have a glorified GameCube. What I really think would be cool is the PS3, but at $600 I just can't justify it. Actually, I can't justify the $400 for XBox 360, so my kids will just have to wait as I can't justify $250 for a GameCube++ either. All these machines are just too pricey. Looks like my family will be sticking to the PS2, XBox and GameCube for a while.
-drasnor
Now Me, I am all for new shooters and new games as they provide new stories... If they are done right they become very appealing over the old, as yes graphics are always a plus but for me it is new content, I buy these things as I want to play the new stuff not old games that I got sick of after 1 year of playing but again that is me and not everyone else.
I find the comment on Wii being innovative a bit false also. As they really haven't done anything new to their console but add a new controller and upgrade its insides a bit. Or in short it is an upgraded GameCube. The main question I ask is, why buy the Wii if all the games coming out for it will be out for GameCube also? It’s like buying a $250.00 controller. I think the only reason a Wii would end up in my house is because my wife is an old school game lover... but she is content with her Logitech gaming pad hooked to her PC with all the emulated versions of the games.
This is just not true. A few games will be available for both platforms during the transition, but I'll go out on a limb and say that by Christmas '07 there will be no more gamecube games being made. Really, the only game that I've heard of that will be dual-release will be Twilight Princess. The GC version will be coming out in December, while the Wii version will be a launch title.
Innovative games?
Odama
Pikmin
Yoshi Touch and Go
Kirby Canvas Curse
Luigi's Mansion
Nintendogs
Animal Crossing
There are lots more - these are games that don't even remotely fit into a genre. There are no other games like them (at least, there weren't when they came out) You can't say nintendo hasn't innovated over the years. Color Handheld Game Console? That was pretty innovative
As for shooters and their stories - you know that I am a hardcore PC gamer as well, so I'm not arguing the platform or the genre, but seriously... Even prey (which is a great game) or FEAR - they are ALL THE SAME. They are all doom clones, each one adding just one or two new things, new weapons, better graphics, etc... But you can sit down in front of the very latest high tech shooter (like prey) and just start playing immediately because you've done it a million times before. That's tiring after a while. I burned out after HL2. The HL2 story is so good and the world so immersive that nothing compares. I demoed FEAR and Prey and Quake IV and I just don't care anymore. The stories are all somewhat similar - YOU ARE ALONE AGAINST MASSIVE EVIL BAD GUYS AND YOU HAVE LOTS OF BIG GUNS...
The Turbo Express Portable and Sega Game Gear were both color a decade before the Gameboy Advance came out; oh, and they also had optional TV tuners, that was a bit more "innovative" than the adding of a color display, which IMO is a bit more "evolutionary," not "revolutionary."
Just because all shooters have many things in common doesn't mean that there won't be innovation in the genre. Perhaps, aside from better visuals, we'll get visuals that have more depth and more objects that can be manipulated. Better AI . . . maybe adaptive AI. The GameCube++ can only do so much. At least the XBox 360 and the PS3 have a chance at improving AI enough to make games much more interesting. With more memory and more processing capabilities they allow for more true-to-life physics and object manipulation.
Where is my Holodeck?
I enjoy Super Mario and old school games as much as I enjoy all my other old school toys. However, my old school Slinky costs two orders of magnitude less than a Wii, takes zero time to start playing, can be used in a variety of fun manners, and when combined with friends and physical surroundings can achieve a variety of entertaining multiplayer modes. When I feel the need to scratch my old school itch it's much easier for me to reach for my Slinky and find a staircase than it is to reach for my pocketbook and shell out upwards of $300 on video games I've already played and still have working originals for.
-drasnor
Most of Nintendo's innovative ideas have a uniquely quirky "Nintendoness" to them that turns me off. The anolog joystick was a good idea on the N64 controller, but the Playstation analog controller was a big step forward in usability. I would also argue that there are more logical (less quirky) ways of employing motion-sensing technology than a wand that looks like the love child of an iPod and a TV remote control. Motion-sensing technology might be here to stay, and we may have Nintendo to thank for that, yet the Wiimote itself will probably be forgettable.
If you want to be able to play with friends (one of the best parts), you'll need to shell out another $60 per.
My point was than nintendo was marketing this as a console that you play with others, and one of the main draws was the price point, having to spend another $60 is a kick in the pants.
Fortunately, I've solved this problem by having no friends
Also not innovative. I remember thoroughly enjoying myself playing Tachyon the Fringe through a year or two back with my Saitek P2000 Tilt control pad (yeah, not 'exactly' the same but close enough). DOWN! UP!, LEFT, RIGHT! Heh, must have looked crazy to other people. But anyways, I also dislike Consoles for a reason more than anything else, the whole "exclusive to blah!" crap. I'm not, and will never buy a console for whatever game. Their loss if they don't want anyone else buying/playing it.
QFT, finding it difficult to even give a crap about this console.