Wii Spot Podcast from WiiSpot.com

[Note: This is a re-blog of an article posted by a long time staff member, Jakanden, over at his personal blog. It's a good read, and may be a little different then what you would find at a general Nintendo Fan site. You can look for similar posts coming from the staff as the new info begins to sink in.]

So let the fury begin! Long time readers of this blog know that I tend to stay out of “current news” in the gaming world due to the general ineptitude of gaming blogs and the virulent spreading of misinformation that accompanies it. This particular story though is related to something I am actually interested in (unlike the PS3 or XBox 360) and has been picked up by the major gaming sites.

It all started with this article from Seth Schiesel of the NYTimes stating:

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.

The article was then taken down, and came back up shortly after leading people to wonder if it is a breaking of the embargo, sloppy journalism, or bandwidth overload.

The story has since been picked up by 1up, Gamespot, Next-Gen, IGN, and every gaming blog out there, all pointing to the same NYTimes source.

Other notable mentions include the following:

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.

So the big question is, do we believe it or not? Well, the official site has this to say:

2006 December 2nd, 25,000 Yen
Because the Nintendo Co. corporation December 2nd this year (Saturday), (consumption including tax desired retail price) with the country 25,000 Yen new amusement machines which create the electronic amusement experience inside completely new home to sell, we inform. This Wii which we sell (pronounces [ui]) or less is included in substance set.

*Wii itself
*Wii remote control strap attachment
* [nunchiyakukontorora]
*Wii private AC adapter
*Wii private AV cable
*Wii itself private stand
*Wii itself private auxiliary plate
*Wii private sensor bar
* Plug server stand
* Single three dry cell batteries

Furthermore, overseas, it is the schedule which in the next few days is announced from the respective local subsidiary company in regard to sale schedule and price.

GamersReports posts the same as above with a bit more additional information:

The Virtual Console prices have been revealed, VC prices: Famicom 500 yen, Super Famicom 800 yen, Nintendo 64 1000 yen, this is about 4.25, 6.80, 8.50, USD respectively. You can pay via credit card or a “Wii points card,” similar to MS marketplace points. You can use either a credit card or a pre-paid card to use Wii points. Line-up by the end of the year will be up to 60 titles, including the software of Mega drive and the PC engine. After that, 10 titles are added per month.

There will be 16 launch titles with prices ranging from 4800 Yen to 6800 yen. Zelda and Wii Sports will both be present at launch. The Wii sports titles will be on the low end, around $40USD.

The Wii sports titles are as follows:

- Baseball
- Tennis
- Golf
- Bowling
- Boxing

Now we know that the Japanese launch information is factual and confirmed. The only thing left to wonder is if the US Launch will be accurate. The Gamecube did debut in Japan at $25,000 Yen but was $200 here so it is quite possible that the launch may be $200 as opposed to $250, but more than likely not.

Simply put, everything the NYTimes posted is indeed in the realm of feasiblity and more than likely accurate.

For me personally, I find this to be a bit too expensive for what is essentially a tweaked Gamecube with a spiffy controller. I was hoping more for the $200 range considering I am not impressed thus far with many of the launch window titles. Additioanlly, the prices of the Virtual Console games are far too high considering I can buy a PS2/GC compliation for $15 to $20 that has 7-10 (or more) games. Why the hell would I pay $5 to $10 for one game?

Am I alone in this train of thought? Let me know what you think.

Update: 1up confirms the NYTimes information via a live update and also has some additional information regarding the Virtual Console and online service.