Wii price point under $250

[DFG]

Nintendo has announced the price point for its new living-room console, the Wii, which will be launched globally in Q4 2006. Although for now the pricing is not exact, it will not exceed $250 in America or 25,000 yen in Japan. No estimate was announced for the European market, but the indication given was that it would be a "similar, affordable price."

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6151827.html

Makes alot of sense. I think they will be a competitive alternative for the masses at that price.

[HairyTroll]

No estimate was announced for the European market, but the indication given was that it would be a "similar, affordable price."

That'll make it around $300 UK pounds then. Hehe.

The interesting thing about Nintendo is that they will make a profit on each Wii console they sell. Microsoft and Sony take a hit on their consoles as the hardware is so expensive they are forced to subsidize the cost to the consumer.

[arcadetown]

You know I used to think Nintendo was so far off with the GameCube and so forth until had a little girl and realised the kiddie friendly systems do have a place in the world.

[Jamie Cheng]

RE: Gamecube. The GC easily has the best party games out there, and it's also the only system where my fiancee actually asked to play with me.

That second part is a huge accomplishment ;) IMHO, calling it a kiddie system is largely underestimating what Nintendo does; even though, in terms of numbers, they were clearly 3rd place in the current generation.

[MingooX]

In my opinion Nintendo have a given knack for creating bright, immediately interesting games that say PLAY ME and have the accessabilty for you to do just that straight away. I don't feel this to be the case with the GC so much, so hopefully the Wii will hark back to the days of the N64... and if I'm really, really lucky, the SNES. :D

[Fry Crayola]

Given that the GameCube was released in the UK at a pretty much exact dollar-pound conversion (£129.99 to $199), there's plenty of optimism that we'll see this at around £149.99 if it's priced at $250.

Which would be excellent. Mind you, anything under £200 sounds like a steal and it's funny to see the PS3 will actually cost a fiver less than both "competitors" (loose term) together.

[kimkallstrom1]

thanks for the announcement.