I liken this to the Wii name. we all hated it when it came out, and we may still not like it, but we've gotten over it for the most part.

this too, shall pass.

Hmm...a revision:

November 17th: Buy four PS3s for $2400.
November 18th: Sell four PS3s on Ebay for $4800.
November 19th: Buy a Wii, some accesories, several launch games, and 100,000 points.
November 20th: Call in sick to work.

I'm a bit dissappointed, but can't complain to much.

My main dissappointments are:

1. Only getting one controller in the box.
2. The controllers costing $50-60.

Wiisports is worthless without a second controller. The mario sports games are 100% useless singleplayer IMO, and these ultrasimple games which look to be about as deep as the sports mini games in super monkey ball don't seem to have any way to be fun for more than 30 minutes in single player either.

Like those games, they'd be great to play with the girlfriend. But I play with her so infrequently, and play multiplayer games in general so infrequently, that I doubt it would be worth anywhere near $60 to pick up another control.

3. The non-gaming features. Annoy the shit out of me on the competition, so have to bitch at nintendo too since they throw in all those functions that may or may not be increasing cost. Probably not though since it seems like most of them cost extra to use.


But over all, I'm still reasonably excited. For $300, which is $100 less than the tard pack 360 which is the cheapest alternative, I can get the console, a controller, Wiisports, and Zelda (the likely game of the year for me) so it's still a decent deal. I'd much prefered having the 2nd controller in there for that price, or just having it for $200-220 with no Wiisports, but it's still an ok set and price and I'll probably pick one up on launch day. Having $160 in credit at Gamestop helps, and I can probably get another $100 or so getting rid of some other crap.

Either the internal memory or an SD card.

Yeah, that one is baffling. I can only assume that's why they waited so long to finally set a price and date.. to see how things were going with the PS3. I suppose since it's kind of a mess at the moment they probably felt it was safe to launch at the sweet spot (right before Christmas). Again, I can only assume that if the PS3 launch was healthier Nintendo would've taken the October route to get a head start.

Nintendo is nickle and diming on the downloads. It's to the point where the price is getting a little too close to 360... so much for the 2 consoles theory... Nintendo's is now a big chunk of change.

Nit-pick, but the tard pack 360 is $300. Your combo is $100 less than the only 360 worth mentioning.

Huh? How is it different than Xbox Live Arcade points?

Double huh? $250 = $400? One of those comes with a game, one doesn't.

One of those also comes with HD cables and the other likely doesn't.

I like to go back to the point that it will cost at least $310 to play multiplayer Wii Sports. Not to mention that, while the game may be really cool, it's really nothing more than a tech demo type thing used to show off the Wii features and what it will be able to do in the future. I don't see that being the one and only game that people have for the system at launch. Most will just look at it a a demo of sorts and not "the game they own with their system".

Sure, it's still cheaper than a 360 or a PS3, but it's close enough in price where I can see some people deciding to go for one of the others since the graphics will be so much better (that is important to lots of people ya know), and so on. The entire "if I'm paying this much, I might as well go all the way" line of thinking.

I stated on here that it would be possible for Nintendo to sell more Wii systems than either of the other two, but now I'm not so sure about that. I don't think that it's the "for sure second system in most homes" that it was before all of this news.

That said, I'm still preordering one as soon as it's possible.

HD cables aren't required to play a system, a game kind of is.

Yeah, if anything the cost of the Wii is making the 360 look more reasonable. Especially with everything else the 360 can do.

When I start adding up the console, extra controller, component cables, etc it really isn't much different from the Premium Xbox360.

My bad. Damn you just ruined my justification.

Yes, but people that want HD cables probably couldn't give two shits about Wiisports.

They want Zelda in 480p and will have to shell out for the component cables.

Told you.

US Site has gone live.

http://www.wii.com/en_US/

Exactly. That's why I really want the second controller if it's going to cost $250. Then I just look at it as $250 for the console and 2 controllers (which is all I'll ever need, haven't played more than 2 player in over 5 years) and I'm set for the generation other than an SD card. And I'd have a free demo game on top of it.

Now it's kind of just, "Wow it's $50 more than the Gamecube and the only thing I get is a lame demo game that I can't even play multiplayer out of the box."


True indeed. With the tard pack 360 being $50 more, and the full one $150 some people on the fence may indeed just decide to spend the extra money.

But at the same time the difference in game libraries may limit that. I'd probably be considering it if there was a single 360 game I want to play. But there are none out or coming soon that are anywhere near "must buys" for me so I'll just stick with the Wii or if I change my mind I'll just use my trade in credit to pick up all the killer DS games coming out this fall.

Exactly. WiiSports looks fun, but completely worthless w/o spending another $60.

At this point, I'd rather have a $200 system with no game since there is only one controller. WiiSports will be worthless w/o a second controller.

The extra costs add up quick.

Wii + Controller + Game = $360 (or $310 with the pack-in game)
Xbox 360 + Controller (or Xbox Live) + Game = $510
PS3 + Controller + Game = $710

PS3 price based on $50 controller and $60 game (assumptions).

I'm not sure why people are trying to compare the price of Wii plus extras to the base price of other systems.

Didn't say it was.

I didn't say it was the same... it's getting close to the $300 360, which means a lot in retail. People will consider the Xbox more console for just a little bit more money. I'm talking the Average consumer here.

Now, gamers will add up all the $5 NES games, costly controllers and pay-perview web content and realize that they may as well get a 360 pack, since it's goign to cost just as much.

Nintendo really shot themselves in the foot with the VC pricing. considering their main competition gives those games out for free (Emulation), playible on pretty much anything (Mac, PC, linux, Modded consoles), people aren't going to leasurely download new games to give them a try. The average consumer really has to want a game to drop $5-10. Xbox live has a pay-per-play structure similar, but the games are new and tend to include more features (online play, score posting). These are games many people already own or have played to death. Start at a buck a game and people would buy the Wii just for the Virtual Console.
$10 a game and well some hardcore fans may pick up their favorite game, but I don't see people getting games just to try them.

While it's not as easy to compare to the price of the PS3, which to me is just insane Blu Ray or not, you can do so with the 360. I mean, using your prices, there are a bunch of people who will look at it like "well hell, if I'm already going to spend almost $400 on a Wii, I might as well just forget about that and go ahead and go all the way with the 360". Let's not forget that the price of the 360 you have listed also comes with a 20gb hard drive, a solid game lineup, an online program that is fantastic, and everything else. Also, again, they'll see the 360's better graphics, and more power.

When you reach that $300 to $400 range, people can justify spending a bit more to get the "better" (in their eyes) product.

The line of thinking is people are saying, using your numbers, if it's only $150 less than the 360, some people may decide that they'd rather just spend the extra money and get the system with the kick ass graphics instead of the one labeled a "souped up gamecube."

And again, if you factor in the HD cables, then you probabl need to up your Wii price to $390, making it only $120 cheaper than the 360 in your scenario for those that require the HD cable (i.e. those with HDTVs) to enjoy their games.

I think the cheaper price will still be a selling point. But at $250 with only one controller and a glorified tech demo, it's just not a sweet as it could have been from a marketing standpoint. That price and package isn't going to lure many net fanboys of other systems to shut up and buy it as a second console etc.

It should sell like hotcakes at x-mas time though, as $250 with a game is going to look much sweeter to parents, that $300-600 for the various packages by the alternative, plus another $50-60 for a game. Though their might be a bunch of grumpy kids bitching about only getting Wiisports.

Yes but you can rob a store and get any system for free.. they're both theft so why the comparison? People can download new games for the PC, PS2 and Xbox for "free" but the companies still charge $50 for them. Apple charges money for songs you can download for "free." You have to pay for DVDs you can download for "free."

We aren't. What we're assuming is that we're paying more for the privledge of having Wii Sports packed in. We're paying $250 when Japan is paying $215ish.

That's the difference, about $35 for a pack-in. Is it a game or is it a tech demo? We really don't know at this point. What we do know is that Tennis has been the showcased game for 4 months now and I've never seen it played solo.

We're all assuming the Wii Sports will be a distraction at best for a single player. In order to use it properly you'll need to invest at the very least another $40 or have a friend bring their controller over.

To me, this pack-in isn't a bonus. They're making me pay for something that I'll never use unless I put down more money.

Exactly my sentiments. And that seems to be the buzz around the net.

The pack in is backfiring for them, at least in the hardcore gaming community.

It should be something that adds value to the package, makes people feel they are getting a better deal, etc.

Many people feel they are getting screwed both due to paying more than the Japanese for a game they have no interest in and/or being forced to shell out another $40-60 for a second controller to actually enjoy the game.

You're not going to be able to stick Wii Sports on eBay to make up the money either, since everyone with a Wii will already have the game.