$249.99 November 19th. Source New York Times. More news around 12-2. If you didn't read the freakish big font. I reposted it in the main post too.
4 million units will be shipped worldwide, far exceeding the shipments of Sony's PlayStation 3.
25-30 games will be available for the Wii this year. As many speculated, Wii Sports will be packed in with every system. Super Mario Galaxy, as many also speculated, will not be available until 2007.
Nintendo will make about 30 classic games available for download via Virtual Console when the Wii is released, including games from the Zelda, Mario, and Donkey Kong franchises. Downloadable games will cost about $5 to $10 each. Nintendo is ripping off Microsoft here, you use a Wii points card or a credit card to pay for them. Many developers are going to support the VC:
The price of retail Wii games will be $50, $10 less than Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games.
"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."
A surprise from Nintendo is that they will be including "channels," which are meant to appeal to casuals who don't consider themselves gamers. A photo channel allows users to use the Wii to display photos on their TV. There will also be an interactive news channel and a weather channel.
Also the console will save a customizable character to use in games like WiiSports and WiiMusic. It's dashboard will have all the channels and access to use a game or Opera, a built-in web browser. Think the DS's dashboard but like 10X bigger.
"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."
Lots of Wii news from the Times. The official announcements will come Thursday at an event in New York City. Prior to that (not long now) will be a Japanese event.
Nintendo confirmed that Twilight Princess will be launching with Wii, but GameCube version is December 11th. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is delayed to 2007.Wii games will be $49.99, 10 cheaper than other next gens. Controllers will be $39.99 for only the Wiimote and $19.99 for a nunchuk attachment
What you get:
1 Wii system
1 Wii remote
1 Nunchuk controller
1 AC adaptor
1 AV cable
1 stand
1 support plate (?)
1 sensor bar
1 sensor bar stand
2 batteries (AA)
1 WiiSports
Also, I dunno what's Super Paper Mario's future, I saw at work(GameStop) that Paper Mario was dated for 1/1/07 now, so something is up with the game.
At the same time the news blew here, Nintendo is doing their Japanese launch announcement:
Japan doesn't get WiiSports with the bundle. Japanese launch is Dec 2nd for 25,000 yen($215). Zelda is confirmed for launch there with Pokemon, Warioware and WiiSports(First party only, third party titles announced later). 3 MSX games also for VC download.
Movie from Japanese Conf w/ , more Fire Emblem and Zelda gameplay.
www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/topics/wii_preview/movie/lineup.htmlVideo shows:
# Wii Sports [Bowling, Boxing, Golf, Baseball, Tennis] (Nintendo)
# Forever Blue [working title] (Nintendo)
# Mario Strikers Charged (Nintendo)
# ExciteTruck (Nintendo)
# Dragon Quest Sword (Square Enix)
# Samurai Warriors Wave (Koei)
# Red Steel (Ubisoft)
# Fire Emblem (Nintendo)
# Super Swing Golf Pangya (Tecmo)
# Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo)
# Necro-Nesia (Spike)
# Trauma Center: Second Opinion (Atlus)
# Sonic (SEGA)
# Wing Island (Hudson)
# Pokemon Battle Revolution (Nintendo)
# Bleach Wii (SEGA)
# One Piece Unlimited Adventure (Bandai Namco)
# Dragon Ball Z Sparking NEO (Bandai Namco)
# SD Gundam Revolution (Bandai Namco)
# Crayon Shin-Chan (Banpresto)
# Tamagotchi (Bandai Namco)
# Hajimete no Wii [Shooting, table tennis, air hockey, pool, fishing] (Nintendo)
# Elebits (Konami)
# Rayman Raving Rabbids (Ubisoft)
# Super Monkey Ball (SEGA)
# Tsuri Master [Fishing] Hudson
# Variety Game (Bandai Namco)
# Variety Game (Taito)
# Harvest Moon Wii (Marvelous)
# Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo)
# Kororinpa (Hudson)
# Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Nintendo)
# Wario Ware: Smooth Moves (Nintendo)
# Battalion Wars II (Nintendo)
# Bomberman Land (Hudson)
# The Dog Island (Yukes)
# Wii Music (Nintendo)
# Wii Big Brain Academy (Nintendo)
# Machi Kuru Domino (Success)
# Compile Puzzle (Compile)
# Cooking Mama (Taito)
# Project H.A.M.M.E.R. (Nintendo)
# Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles (Capcom)
While some of these titles shown at US and European conventions, the list includes some notable surprises, such as the underwater diving game Forever Blue, the action pinball-like Kororinpa, Taito's Wii version of Cooking Mama, and a few puzzle and variety games from major Japanese publishers.
(IGN had that list)
Nice little tidbit here: Link is right handed in this shot. If you don't know why that's important, play Zelda more.