Nintendo Announces $99 Wii Mini For US Release 147
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:OK, so what's new in it? (Score:5, Insightful)
Or, Nintendo has enough data to suggest there is room for a budget console with no internet capability.
If you have a large segment of your market which never uses the internet for gaming, they don't need internet capability.
If you want the big shiny one with an internet connection, you probably already own it. But if you have a 5 year old who just wants to play a Mario game, you may not even want internet connectivity.
Not everyone plays games on-line. I know I don't, so surely in the demographic for a Wii there's plenty of people who don't either.
Just Get a PSP (Score:0, Insightful)
PSP-3000 is $99 on Amazon. It has better graphics and more features, and it doesn't hurt that it's portable too. Like the Wii, it has a great lineup with lots of titles still on the market, and including several beloved classics (especially if you like RPG's).
I love my Wii. I got it two years ago on sale for $99 ($150 plus a free $50 gift card), and it was worth the money. Wii Mini sounds cool, but from what I read it's been butchered to hell: no SD storage, no Wifi, no Virtual Console, no GC compatibility, nothing. This is a terrible mockery of the Wii; you think you're saving a few bucks, but you lose practically all of the Wii's value. Just buy a regular Wii if you don't have one--get a used one if if you want to save money.
Just remember: No Transfers! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What's the point? (Score:4, Insightful)
You can buy a used Wii for a lot cheaper, and it doesn't come gimped.
Like the 2DS, the Wii Mini has a purpose (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:No Internet is a Plus for Parents (Score:2, Insightful)
No wii games let players communicate in a freely typed or spoken fashion. I'm pretty sure that was intentional to mitigate what you describe.
There is either no communication or a predefined set of statements that the player can pick from.
Re:No Internet is a Plus for Parents (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm a parent and I want my child to have the skills to cope with profanity and the internet and the intersection of the two. I don't see a Wii of any form having much relevance to that.
Is your child 5 or 15 ? There is a difference.
That said even the Wii classic presented a very safe environment vs xbox and ps3.
I don't see a Wii of any form having much relevance to that.
The main reason to buy a wii, wii mini, or wii-u is, was, and will remain the games. Despite all the shovelware that got released for it, there is quite a solid games library for the Wii.
Many of the must-have gamecube classics were re-released for the wii so the lack of back-compat in the latest mini isn't as big of a deal.
Meanwhile the value proposition for the U is perhaps harder to make, the core library is still a bit weak, although there's some good exclusives. The back-compat with Wii however means that if you skipped the wii, there's actually quite a lot of great stuff to play alongside the wii-u titles. The real support for HD is nice, and its Yet-another-way-to-do-netflix on your TV although its one of the better ones due to the tablet support.
The tablet controller is more comfortable than most people would expect, and its not heavy or awkward even for extended sessions. Hitting its battery life limit is a bigger problem than anything ergonomic complaints, although you can plug it in and keep playing if you want.
I do most of my gaming on the PC, and there aren't enough unique compelling exlcusives to overcome my distaste for Sony or Microsoft to buy their consoles, but for me the WiiU has been good value. But I have kids, and local multiplayer / party games are a very regular occurence.
But its certainly not the best console for everyone.
FWIW I'm very curious how the steambox turns out.
Re:What's the point? (Score:0, Insightful)
...and sometimes they want a decent car.
Re: What's the point? (Score:5, Insightful)
Selling ROMs doesn't make your retail partners happy - a $100 console at Christmas time? That's golden.
Majesco and Sega teamed up to release a $20-$30 Genesis in the late 1990s, which helped retailers clear out a ton of unsold software. It, too, lacked expansion abilities.
Atari released the 2600 for $40 in the late 1980s. It, too, let stores boast an incredible deal - even if it's not a desirable one - which allowed lower income families access to a massive library of software.
In the era of digital downloads, you've got to throw your retail partners a bone. While Nintendo rakes in massive profits at incredible margins of that digitally downloaded Pokemon X/Y (that it doesn't have to share with Best Buy), stores don't get a cut. This way, Nintendo can make Walmart happy - and sell those bargain basement bin games, too - bringing the retail circle of life forward once again.
Don't think about it as maximizing your profit - think about it as making your customers (the buyers at big box stores) happy. A Nintendo impulse buy console? This has a lot of potential to sell to the downtrodden, the uninformed, people who can't read, and your aunt who wants to buy you something from the Nintendos.