Nintendo finally confirms new $199 Wii price
By Paul Miller 
posted Sep 23rd 2009 10:25PM
posted Sep 23rd 2009 10:25PM
Update: The Wii will fall to ¥20,000 in Japan, which represents a 20 percent drop.
Update 2: Looks like those of you getting paid in Euros will be asked to shell out €199.99.
[Via Joystiq]
Last!
in terms of console price drops
They had no choise, PS3 slim was stealing all the sales
PS3 Slim sold over 1 million within 2 weeks only according to the news we got an hour ago from TGS.
I think Nintendo problems were the software not the price, Sony problem was the high price.
Sony Fixed The price problem and they got many first and third party games coming while nintendo got pretty much nothing compared to the PS3/XBOX360.
Nintendo should focus more on the software because price cuts wont help them, Game cube didn't sell anything even when its price got dropped to 99$
Oh the irony.
I predict PS3 will be the big winner this christmas. Xbox360 and wii has already sold to everyone who rushed to buy one while PS3 was too expensive. Now the PS3 is a good deal. Still, the only way to win is to buy all 3 systems anyway.
@Zac
wait till NPD sep results and you will see it yourself
The price cut will help the PS3 but it wont help the wii
Wii 250$+Free game is a mainstream price
PS3 400$+No free game = not mainstream price
lets be realistic, how many times have you heard people say "We want a PS3 but it's expensive" versus "We want a wii but it's expensive"
pssshh $200 is still way overpriced for what you get. lower it another $100 and then we're talking.
Funny what you say about Sony stealing all the sales, since both the other consoles have gone to a couple price drops since their release, isn't it the other way and Nintendo is just leveling up the game again?
Don't confuse Sony, or they just raise the price the next time, like they are doing with the new PSP...
Yet still first in terms of whos making most cash per console sale.
In fact...what's the ps3 make for profit for sony these days? Oh taht's right...3 years later and they''re still losing money
finally
I'll be picking one up for sure.
i hope you were being sarcastic
i hope so to. honest.
Why don't you just become a cop and play for free?
Like I said, it's now the launch price of a GCN, which is sad considering the Wii is an overclocked GCN.
cheesecake tastes pretty good
Eat your heart out, sony : ]
holy shit, shiggy is link??!!
this was revealed way back in E3
don't tell me you don't know who mario is either
Twas a joke buddy
don't call me buddy, pal!
Already have one.
Personally, I think the $50 mail-in-rebate on Xbox 360 Elite's is more enticing than this, especially since they just lowered the normal price to $300.
Yayz!... though I don't care.
Zelda, Mario, Fire Emblem, and Metroid, best games evah!
zzzzzzzzz its still a terrible console.
My thoughts exactly, nothing about the Wii justify a $200 price tag when the 360 and PS3 are much more capable gaming machines, Netflix on one, DVD and HD Video and Gaming on both, Blu-Ray on the other, the wii should be $149.99 at most, to me it should be $99.99
@Junemas: Gotta agree with you there. It SHOULD always be cheaper than the other two simply because it just isn't as powerful and versatile of a console.
And honestly, it's a shitty device for "gamers". No (or very few) really (visually and gameplay-wise) engaging games on it that aren't a simple diversion.
It has a market: casual 'gamers'. And for that reason it should be priced to buy almost impulsively, so anyone who even thinks they won't play it that much won't feel like it's a huge purchase.
Also, profit margins. Nintendo has been raking in the cash from their hardware units unlike Microsoft and especially Sony.
Oh boy. And Wii's still arnt that fun. Havn't played mine for for about a month. Probably have only turned it on about 15 times since I bought it in early June.
Call me when Nintendo learns what an HDTV is.
it's interesting that you are the only one who requested that. Although, I couldn't agree more.. how many years Wii is around? And still no HD? Common!
Unfortunately, 480i is "good enough" for most people.
It might actually be a good marketing decision to make a new SKU that has HD output and renders the same games in a higher resolution. The lifecycle for a refresh is just about time. Just need software support for all previous titles, beefier innards and some more VRAM. Price it at the older (higher) Wii price and you have yourself a winner. Call it the Wii+ or Wii HD; call it a day.
@Andreiv
what's also really funny is that Wii games are natively rendered in 720p. have you ever seen smash bros emulated on the pc? it's looks beautiful. if nintendo was smart, they'd introduce a wiiHD that had a stronger gpu and cpu and native HD outputs and built in motionplus on the wiimotes and sell it for 250 and the regular wii could slowly be phased out at 199. it cannot cost much more to produce
also, let's be honest. it's only been 3 years. the Wii will be here for atleast another 3. microsoft might be cooking something up for the xbox line (i think the royally screwed up the marketing by calling it 360 p.s.) but it won't be out before 2012 at the earliest. they still make tons of money and the same with ps3, the refresh came earlier but at a much needed time and it will be around till 2012 too
V Langs: You fail at understanding emulation. Wii games are not rendered natively at 720p.. Just because a PC emulator can interpret the 3D geometry and render at a higher resolution, doesn't mean that the game was originally made that way.
Call me when you learn that gaming isn't all about looks. It must have really sucked to miss out on the past few decades of great games simply because the graphics weren't ultra real.
@High: no, the graphics weren't HD at the time, but nothing was. At the moment nintendo's console is the only one lagging behind in that department. Either in this generation of consoles or the next you know that their next move is to add HD output. It's really the only gaming-centric feature missing from the console.
Am I the only one that feels like this is still too much for a game cu....er...Wii...
?
Nope. The Wii is a waste of money, unless you're a hopeless Japanophile who simply MUST play every Mario, Zelda, and Metroid game that Nintendo vomits forth.
Nintendo pretty much lost all appeal to me in the 90s... The last time they actually did anything worthwhile.
YESH! Finally the Wii is the price it should have been all along! Seriously though, why did it ever retail at 249? I mean I bought one on launch day and everything, but it definately should have been 199 all along.
Because they were still selling them as fast as they could make them. Welcome to the land of supply and demand,
$200 is hard to pass up especially since the wii can be hacked without opeing the console in under 5 minutes using the banner bomb. Everybody and their grandma can get a spare just to hack.
I think I've seen that guy before.
Nintendo might have a problem when I have friends putting together original N64/GameCube get togethers every weekend.
Just what I needed!
Great news for those who still don't have a Wii.
Btw, speaking of a Wii...I am selling my 2.5 month old Wii w/modchip installed, b/c I don't have time to play it anymore. My Wii comes with a few extras as well, so if anyone is interested, just let me know.
I will fire up MAME and play a round of Donkey Kong to celebrate; see if I can beat my high score.
Aaaannnnnd.... I STILL don't want one.
When Nintendo offers to pay ME to play their tired, warmed-over franchises, I'll subject myself to them again. Until then, Nintendo can f*ck off. They played the "Oh! It's Soooo rare and hard to get" card with the Wii for too long, and then they turn the console into the drop-off point for the worst shovelware in the industry; All of it centered around waving a stick.
No thanks. I'm not interested in EVER playing another Zelda, Mario, or Metroid game. FIND SOME NEW MATERIAL Nintendo!
They're like the Carrot Top of videogame consoles.
no..just..no....
Don't like it, don't buy it. Simple.
Oh and don't worry you'll still be able to play GT5, GTA4, RE5 and FFXIII (don't get me wrong these games are amazing). But anybody who's played Mario Galaxy, Metroid and Zelda knows that they are a notch above the rest.
Im glad they confirmed it. I can rest easy now.
if it's going to be $199, then it should have sports, wii play and sports resort (on one DVD) with a motionplus. sport, play and resort are nothing more than glorified fluff disks.
could it be that nintendo is emptying their shelves for wii HD?
Too bad that the price drop came too late.....Very likely Microsoft and Nintendo will announce new systems early next year and release them by the 2010 holiday. As a consequence people will probably just forget about the PS3 and just get the new shiny consoles. Sony really screwed it up this generation.
The Wii is going to fly @ that price - it's aimed at families with younger kids after all. The market for PS3 and Xbox is 20 and up so really Nintendo should kill it this Christmas. Besides the Nintendo customer isn't nearly as jaded as the hard core gamer seems to be.
That dude in the pic thinks he is link in Legend of zelda mwuhuhuahuahuahuahuhauhauha ahuhauhauhauhauhua LOL!
"That dude in that pic" MADE Link from Legend of Zelda (as well as Mario).
(Hint: It's Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo's top creative talent).
I'm surprised they can afford to do this, since the Dollar vs.Yen has plummeted in the past year
This really makes me mad. When will companies learn that $1 ≠ €1 ≠ £1?
€199.99 is $293 at the current exchange rates!
I don't know how they can get away with that either. They must certainly know the true exchange rates!
I don't know how they can get away with that either. They must certainly know the true exchange rates!
Sorry for the duplicate, the comment system is messed up.
Is this how you treat early adopters, Nintendo? Really? REALLY? *slams door*