Nintendo Announces $99 Wii Mini For US Release

Zothecula writes "Nintendo recently announced that it was ceasing all production of its original Wii video game console. It seemed as if it had run its course, and Nintendo was shifting 100 percent of its focus to the floundering Wii U. Turns out, the Japanese company had other plans, announcing that its previously Canada-exclusive $99 Wii Mini is making its way to the U.S. 'The $99 price has been neglected in this product generation, but in the past, it has been a very successful price for game consoles. More than half of the volume of machines in the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 generations sold at the $99 or under price."

Re: What's the point?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because they can make this one cheaper, duh. Why do companies ever do anything?

So don't hook up the wi-fi!

[mrchaotica]

Just because a regular Wii has the ability to connect to the Internet, doesn't mean you have to use that ability.

It's also about $50 cheaper than the full size Wii which is the price of a Mario game.

I have a very hard time believing that the wi-fi chip is so expensive that by removing it Nintendo can charge $50 less and maintain a similar profit margin. They might as well have just left it in and priced it at $109 or something.

Re:What's the point?

[blackraven14250]

What? Pokemon saved the N64? What console are you talking about? You know the only Pokemon games for N64 were Pokemon Stadium 1+2, Puzzle League and Pokemon Snap, right? All games that were released well after most of the the N64 killer games, Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Mario Kart, Goldeneye, Smash Bros...hell, the best selling of the Pokemon games, Pokemon Stadium 1, didn't even beat Diddy Kong Racing in sales.

Re:What's the point?

[_merlin]

Oh come on. N64 had Golden Eye, Turok, various Star Wars games, Mario 64, a decent Star Fox game, some good Zeldas, and even Pokemon Snap was a unique rails shooter.

Re:What's the point?

[JonBoy47]

Wii U (and previous Wii) owner here (I know, the lengths we dads go to so our kids can play Super Smash Bros. Brawl...) Anyhow...

Nintendo is doing a crap-tacular job of marketing the Wii U. The Gamepad isn't so much a tablet as a controller with a screen and camera in it. Thus far it's enabled four different usage modes:

1. DS-ifiy home console games. Display secondary info on the Gamepad screen, as is common on the DS. Wind Waker HD, for example, allows accessing the map and inventory screen on the Gamepad without pausing the game. Sonic All-Stars Transformed Racing shows a track map in single player. In multi-player, Player 1 plays on the Gamepad
2. Asymmetrical game play. The player with the Gamepad sees things the players looking at the TV do not. Nintendo Land is perhaps the archetype, with it's Hide and Seek game.
3. Streaming video to the Gamepad. The Wii U can stream Wii U and Wii game play and streaming video to the Gamepad. Thus freeing up the TV while the Wii U is in use. As I type this, one kid is playing Wind Waker while the others are watching Spongebob on the TV the Wii U is connected to.
4. TVii. Provides a more slick interface to my cable TV subscription than Comcast's set-top box. The Gamepad's IR blaster lets me turn on the TV and switch the input without finding the TV or cable remote.