I think you're forgetting that each area has it's own profit gap, because Nintendo obviously must of taken into consideration where they're going to sell more consoles and where they aren't. Europe is apparently the least bit interested in the Wii, so it isn't their priority.

I wonder what the advertising will be like. Of course Nintendo here isn't Nintendo, it's fed through some garbage company for distribution (there isn't even a Nintendo of New Zealand, and this is a pretty well established country) but hopefully it won't end up like the gamecube's.

So... Low demand = High price? Right, yeah.

I'm sorry, I don't mean to be offensive but at the moment I'm just very upset. :(

I don't know when, where or who said that it could well be in the 150€ area.
Even though I got the idea somewhere in the back of my head that I'd heard it myself somewhere. Just can't put my finger on where or when or from which source. I guess it was just a speculation at some point. I didn't think it realistic anyway so I dismissed it. 250 bucks is pretty much okay. The Gamecube had a similar price tag when it launched.
What I find a bit strange though is the lack of DVDPlayer capabilities in the Wii. Not that I'd miss it... Just a bit... strange.

Noone specifically stated that it would cost about €150. It's just the "affordable for anyone" comment in conjunction with the reports about the Wii production price of roughly €130.
As I said before, €200 would have been okay but €250 is a slap in the face. Europe gets the Wii last and has to pay most.

I really don't see what the problem is, besides the excessive cost of the Wiimote+Nunchuck combo, everything else looks fine to me. A $250 at launch might be a few dollars expensive, but that hardly justifies 3 pages of argument of the justification of the price. Come on, this is business, you want to get as much of a profit as you can without betraying the consumer's trust. Nintendo's only other argument was the "No more than $250" and it has stuck by that. Affordability to everyone has a slightly different meaning for different people. So using that as argument against the $250 price point is useless.

As for the Wiimote+Nunchuck, I agree, that is a bit excessive on the price. $50 as said before would make a better price point. The $60 would also be justifiable if the Wii console comes with 2 controllers. Most people would own 2 controllers regardless of the console they have, since it seems to be the sweet spot for most gamers, who occasionally have a buddy to play with and don't have extravagant parties.

You all are aware the the Wii is 179 Pounds and 249 Euros right? Just wanted to make sure that was clarified.

NOA hasn't listed the MSX as being available as a VC option in the US. Has Nintendo said anything about VC games being available across all regions? Will I be able to get MSX games even though I'm in the US, assuming they're at a reasonable price?

By the way... if you haven't already, check out the Wii Boxing clip on IGN:

http://media.wii.ign.com/media/826/826987/vids_1.html

There's definately some "next gen juice" flowing in that portion of Wii Sports. The motion blur "flicker" on your transparent boxer man, and the woosh of the gloves looks really spectacular. If the rest of the Wii Sports titles get that kind of polish before launch, I'll be muchly pleased.

Yeah, you can thank the EU taxes for this. Nintendo will probably be gaining the same amount of profit pr. console.
Damn, I can't even remember when I've bought a game in Europe last. It's just cheaper from the US, adding shipping costs and all =/

Yeah, anyone else think that the Nunchuck attachment is going to become the Wii's equivalent of the Xbox 360 harddrive? Developers can't even guarantee that everyone would have the attachement for multiplayer games, so they might forgo using it altogether. I'm really starting to get worried that "pointer-only games" will become as common on the Wii as stylus-controlled games on the DS: they'll start using that feature exclsively simply because it's THERE, not because it works better that way. The fact that developers can't count on every playing having the analog stick attachement just makes that all the more likely.

THAT'S where they moved Duck Hunt to? Ugh, I thought it was supposed to be part of Wii Sports. It was the only game in the pack that even would've even been worthwhile playing. And...when does that game come to America? Might as well just pick it up since the controllers are just as expensive as it anyway. Actually, here's a dumb question...if the game+controller costs as much as a controller...why wouldn't you just buy the game/controller combo and sell the game instead of buying a full controller separately?

Also, to clairify: The Wii is not region-free. Nintendo's first party games for the console are region free (at least to start), but the console itself still has region locking. It seems there's been a bit of confusion on this:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=19686

Unfortunately no. Shipping taxes and toll to Germany for electronic products are roughly 20%.

Initial price €167 (Yen 25000)
+ taxes and toll € 33 (20%)
============================
Reasonable price €200 (= $250)

Nintendo's greed is responsible for this shit.
Who needs Wii Sports? It's just a lame excuse for the overpriced console. If they released a few bundles with other games it would have been a different story, though.

BTW: You can beat up women in Wii Boxing! Cool, misogynist festival! :D

The pricing is pretty much what I came to expect. The $199 many were hoping for is way too optimistic regardless of what is bundled with the console, although it's too bad Nintendo won't offer a couple tiers for consumers to choose among. I would rather purchase the Wii with the bare necessities for a cheaper price and let me choose my own games to take home. Wii sports will get shelved the moment I take it out the box, it's just not my type of game.

Virtual Console. I don't mind that it's there but I have zero intentions of taking advantage of it. I can currently play any classic game on my PC for free and choose not to. Suddenly having to spend money to do so and, well you guessed it, ain't happening.

I'm a little surprised Nintendo is throwing in some mutlifunctional uses with the Wii. I thought the console was orginally borne to be solely a gaming machine. I find the built-in weather station thingy an odd inclusion considering you can simply access sites such as http://www.weathernetwork.ca/ with the browser. I really can't see myself taking advantage of these or the digital photo viewer and video/DVD add-on playback features. But I suppose that's besides the point because what I will take advantage of is being able to play some kick ass games.

I wonder if this could spawn a new type of interactivity. For example, could a game's weather environment be based off a feed from the web (since all consoles have 'net connectivity now) in real-time? I could see a few interesting possibilities here linked to other things...

Anyhow, I've never purchased a sports game in my life (unless you count racing, which I count as a completely separate genre) yet I think I would enjoy playing the Wii sports games with the Wii-mote.

Actually I just thought of something: does anyone else think it's ironic that the Wii is the only system this generation that COULD have benefitted from multiple pacakages to choose from, yet it's the only one that DOESN'T offer that? I mean really, the Xbox 360's core/premium pack screwed up developers since they can't count on everyone having a harddrive, the PS3's low priced pack probably can't be upgraded to the HDMI port (leaving early adopters screwed out of HD blu-ray playback later on), yet with the Wii...they could've EASILY made a "Wii core pack" with just the console and controller for $200, and a "starter pack" for $260 or thereabouts that include an extra controller and Wii Sports. It's like the only package the US is getting is the "high end" one without an option to buy a lower end one. Then again, Europe is just getting screwed, so I guess we should be at least a little thankful.

Wii gives the developers the right to choose if their game is region free.

I'm not sure what to believe on the Region-Locking. Nintendo of America's word vs Nintendo UK's. I'm inclined to believe NOA, but only because I'd rather that be true.

But see, if the console itself has region locking, then it would seem as if old Gamecube games that were region locked would not be able to be played on it.

The way it seems to me is this:

Region free games can be played on any region system.
Region games can only be played on their corresponding regoin's system.

So it seems no Japanese gamecube imports on your NA Wii.

But that's how every region locked disc-based system has been. Developers could choose if they wanted Xbox and I think PS2/Gamecube games to be region locked, it's just that most of them didn't. The Wii is no different, but like the Xbox 360 quite a few developers seem to be making their games region-free.

But with that, it means that the chance of Gamecube games not being region locked on the Wii is extremely minimal.

Is that so?

Hmm... I'm not sure what to think about this.

Not like its going to really matter for me. I've never imported a game and have no plans to.

Guys, the economics of this isn't just a straight exchange rate. It also matters the likelihood that someone in the region will buy something at a set price.

You can have a higher price versus an exchange rate if a price is not viewed as higher. What Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony are saying (in part) is that $250 holds the same value in the US when considering electronic entertainment as <however much it is> in Europe, Australia, or Japan.

There are also other differences in shipping and marketing that are factored in. Don't just look at an exchange rate.

I mean, the last I checked, "won't exceed $250" means "won't exceed $250"...I must have missed a couple days in English class that you made it to.

I'm totally confused. Apparently they announced in europe that the Wiis there aren't region free, yet the ones in america are. That makes no sense because everyone from europe would just import them from america.

So which is it? I missed the european conference, since eurogamer wasn't loading worth shit and I don't think there'll be anything of it on gamespot.

Ahahaha! The guys over at the official Nintendo forums are quite amusing. =)

Wii: A Modest Proposal - Wii - Nintendo NSider Forums

I can't believe I used that much effort but when you start mixing in quality posting in there it just equals comedy gold. Too hard to resist. ='D

We need X-LEM to come here for discussions. I love this guy!

Haha, that was quite something. Although, it took a few posts to get to the funny stuff.

:tpg:

Then we have this little number...

I don't know how you can tolerate even responding to this guy, AcerBandit. You certainly have a lot of patience.

Heh, he even posts about having a "real disscussion."