Critiquing Nintendo's Wii launch details

***wraggster*** · September 14th, 2006, 22:29

Skeptical Gaming has compiled their list of reasons why Nintendo's Wii launch announcements today were less than perfect. Here's a rundown of some of their main points:

$250 price: "A $250 system becomes less of an impulse buy, and more of an investment. At $199, the systems would cater quite nicely to the EveryMan."
Cost of controllers: "Holy cow, Nintendo. $40 for the Wiimote, and $20 more for the Nunchuck? You're charging more for the two main accessories (needed for a lot of games) than you are for the games!"
Virtual Console pricing: "Most NES games aren't worth $5. Although I don't support the practice since it's illegal and all (wink wink), it's damned easy to find ZIP files with every single NES ROM included in them."
Photo system: "Sorry guys... it's hard to sell me on a Photo manipulation/storage idea when the system holds less than a gig of storage space."
Nov 19 launch: "Launching it two days after the PlayStation 3 means that, whether they like it or not, Nintendo is now competing with Sony for exposure."
How would you critique Wii's launch details? What are your biggest gripes?

**ninja9393** · September 14th, 2006, 22:46

i love the price and the fact it comes with wii sports

no dvd playback is retarded though

**stotheamuel** · September 14th, 2006, 22:53

i agree with the costs of controllers and nunchuck and definatly the virtual console games since i own a lot all ready...

and i think it is barely worth 250 since it is less powerful than an orig. xbox (which came out 4-5 years ago)

but i think its all pretty cool still

**SSaxdude** · September 14th, 2006, 23:02

Well I bet the motion sensors are pretty expensive.

**Graxer0419** · September 14th, 2006, 23:16

Originally Posted by wraggster

Nov 19 launch: "Launching it two days after the PlayStation 3 means that, whether they like it or not, Nintendo is now competing with Sony for exposure."

I thought the Playstation 3 was delayed until next May???!!! It is in Britain!

**stotheamuel** · September 14th, 2006, 23:28

Originally Posted by SSaxdude

Well I bet the motion sensors are pretty expensive.

and they cant lose money on them because??

**kcajblue** · September 14th, 2006, 23:34

Originally Posted by GBATemp.net

-Iwata reveals Virtual Console Prices, (converted from Yen) NES - US$4.25, SNES - US$6.80, N64 - US$8.50

$8.50 is a good price for some N64 games. $4.25 and $6.80 is too much for NES and SNES

**bsg** · September 14th, 2006, 23:59

No DVD playback was a big mistake. Nintendo wanted the Wii to become a living room entertainment system, but the Wii isn't an
all-rounder. Also for $250 I would expect DVD playback right out the box.

Originally Posted by stotheamuel

... and i think it is barely worth 250 since it is less powerful than an orig. xbox (which came out 4-5 years ago)

No one knows right now what is really under the hood of the Wii. Developers said that the Wii is more powerful then the original xbox. I really hope that one day the final specs of the Wii will be revealed or leaked out.

**Hevyduty** · September 15th, 2006, 00:47

Here are my gripes with today's press announcement.

The price of the console sucks ($50 too much).
The release date sucks.
The price of the downloadable games suck.
The price of the extra controllers suck.
The color (lame iPod white) sucks.

In other words, I didn't hear a single thing today that I liked. And you're not talking to a Nintendo hater. I can very honestly say that I have two Wii systems pre-ordered with $50 down on each. But after today, that's going to change. I'm definitely cancelling one immediately. And I might cancel the other if Nintendo doesn't throw us early adopters a bone in the next two months, like an extra free wiimote or something.

I hope Nintendo recognizes that they need to do some very serious damage control. Today's press conference was a f**kup of Sony proportions.