You can’t walk around the gaming blogoverse without falling over the release news for the Nintendo Wii. A few details from the New York Times and few thoughts:
- A release date of November 19
- Retail price is going to be 250 dollars
- Shipping with Wii Sports
- 25-30 launch titles, including Zelda Twilight Princess
- Games will still retail at 50$
- Retro game downloads between 5-10 dollars (30 games initially available)
The 250 dollar price tag is very reasonable but it’s a first for Nintendo. Coming out just before the holiday season is going to making getting your hands on a Wii difficult, no matter how much inventory they ship. Launching with 25 games will be nice, but I hope there are more than 30 games available for download.
Having just bought an Xbox 360, I wonder how Mrs. Buttonmasher will take to yet another video machine going under the TV. She’ll just have to learn what it’s like living with a gamer (and confessed Nintendo fan-boy). And I’ll have to figure out a way to justify a $250 purchase on top of possibly getting a new TV around Christmas time.
And in closing, I’d like to quote a Forbes.com article, reporting on the Nintendo news conference in Japan, with a quote from Satoru Iwata that is wrong on numerous levels:
‘With these new features, I believe that anybody, regardless of age or gender, will be urged to touch our Wii at least once,’ Iwata said.
Right…