Seattle P-I: Wii on November 19, $250; did they slip? [update 2]

Just before the Japanese press event started in earnest, an article surfaced at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that declared the Wii would launch November 19 at $250. Chat rooms and forums exploded as gamers debated the legitimacy of the story, which listed the New York Times as its source.

Since no one could find the information anywhere else -- not on Reuters, the AP, or the NYT itself, we called both the New York Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer to attempt to verify the story. Though we could not reach anyone at the NYT, we did speak with the city desk at the Seattle P-I, and they verified that the story was indeed pulled from the NYT's wire and that it was not altered by the Seattle publication. Less than an hour later, the link disappeared from the main business page -- though the article was still available via direct link and still listed as the "most read" on the RSS feed. Minutes later, even the direct link disappeared, and was replaced with the following information:

The page you have requested was not found. The link is either incorrect or the page no longer exists. If you believe there is a problem, please send a message to newmedia@seattlepi.com.

Did the Seattle P-I slip up and release the information early?

Since the article disappeared, we will be reproducing it almost in its entirety after the jump. Please note that we are not claiming credit for this article -- we are just working to bring you the most accurate news possible.


[Update 2: Apparently the article reappeared. Once the cat's out of the bag .... However, as of 2:15 Eastern, the headline has not reappeared on the business page at the Seattle paper. We are working to compare the copy to see if changes have been made. Also fixed coding error.]

(We apologize for breaking standard, but we left the original style in place -- titles are in quotes here rather than how we normally present them. We wanted to leave the article untouched except for the information we cut out, which simply rehashes the state of the gaming market and explains the different platforms.)

Nintendo gets Wii ready for holidays
Company plans to put console on market Nov. 19

By SETH SCHIESEL
THE NEW YORK TIMES

In a move that may allow Nintendo of Japan to take advantage of stumbles by its main rival, the company plans to announce today that it will release its new Wii video-game console in North and South America on Nov. 19, just as the holiday shopping season begins, and that the machine will cost $250 in the United States.

Nintendo executives said this week that the company also would announce today that more than 25 new games would be available for its video-game machine this year, a substantial portfolio from several genres that is intended to help the company broaden the appeal of its console. The company plans to ship 4 million of the Wii consoles worldwide this year.

Nintendo also will explain today a plan to expand the video-game market beyond its core of young men.

Today's announcement comes as Nintendo's main rival, Sony, has been forced to delay and scale back the introduction of its own game machine, the PlayStation 3, at least twice amid serious troubles with that company's new Blu-ray Disc technology.

....

"Our goal is to bring gaming back to the masses," Reggie Fils-Aime, president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, said in a telephone interview. "You see that in our pricing, you see that in the number of units we plan to make available this year and you see that in how we are positioning the Wii to appeal to every member of the household, including but not limited to the hard-core gamer."

The Wii's major innovation is a wireless controller that the user can tilt and point to produce action on the screen. In a sword-fighting game, for instance, the player can simply swing the controller to thrust and parry with an on-screen blade; there is no need to master the complicated combinations of buttons and triggers that make many video games so intimidating to the reflex-challenged.

Nintendo intends to announce today that every Wii will come with a game compilation called Wii Sports -- including tennis, golf, baseball and bowling -- meant to show off the machine's intuitive controls. (Most consoles, including Nintendo's GameCube, do not come with games included.)

Nintendo plans to announce that 25 to 30 top-tier games will be available for the Wii this year. The most-anticipated game comes from Nintendo itself: an installment of the long-running "Legend of Zelda" series, "Twilight Princess."

Nintendo also will deliver a driving game called "Excite Truck" this year but will likely provide a minor disappointment to gamers in saying the next version of the popular "Mario" franchise will not arrive until 2007.

Nintendo intends to charge $50 for its Wii games, $10 less than the standard price for Xbox 360 titles and the same price generally charged for GameCube games.

Top games expected to be introduced for the Wii this year from third-party publishers include a version of "Madden NFL" from Electronic Arts, the sword-fighting game "Red Steel" from Ubisoft of France, an addition to the "Sonic" action series from Sega of Japan and a "Tony Hawk" action-sports game from Activision.

While Nintendo is certainly counting on the success of top-tier games sold at retail, many gamers may be at least as excited by the Wii's Virtual Console, which will allow players to download versions of older Nintendo games from the Internet.

Nintendo plans to announce today that about 30 classic games will be available for download when the Wii is released, including ones from the "Zelda," "Mario" and "Donkey Kong" franchises. Downloadable games will cost about $5 to $10 each.

More broadly, Nintendo hopes to make the Wii a living-room centerpiece by including various media channels meant to appeal to and draw in people who do not consider themselves gamers.

There will be a photo channel that will allow users to use the Wii to display digital photographs on television.

There also will be an easy-to-use interactive news channel and weather channel.

Perhaps most intriguing, the Wii will make it possible to browse the Web on the television. Microsoft's Xbox 360 does not permit this because that could negate the need to buy a Windows PC.

"We are including all of these capabilities as part of our overall strategy to expand the gaming market," Fils-Aime said. "Broadening the market is important because it will breathe new life into this business. Otherwise, this industry is moving down a path of being more and more limited to the hard-core gamer."

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in -- we've been working to verify as much as we could.]