Wii Announcement Imminent

[vic.tz]

Nintendo's having some press conference tomorrow (Sept 14, technically today I guess). Lots of rumors going around about what info is getting released. My guess is that they'll announce a $249.99 price tag and an early November release, along with showing off a couple major titles that'll be out on release. But what I really want to see is a $199.99 price tag and a mid October release, but I'm not gonna get my hopes up. Who knnooowwws?

Gamespot will have coverage of the US event:
http://www.gamespot.com/events/wiilaunch/live.html?tag=topslot;action;2

and some other info:
http://sickr.wordpress.com/2006/09/02/nintendo-announce-japanese-press-event/

UPDATE: Cat's out of the bag, lol. Wii-lease info in link below

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6157572.html?tag=topslot;action;1

(last edit: changed "Wii release" to "Wii-lease")

[wihadmin]

+rep for bringing us the news!

[aC.50|B>]

just to help contribute... On another forum I'm a member of, I was maintaining a progressive thread from around noon yesterday that has already hit 319 replies and 9k views lol. this is the consensus of the current first post I keep updating (can you tell I want a Wii? lol)

http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2006/09/wiiboxusa.jpg

Confirmed North America Information

Price:
US $250.00

Box Contents:
The Wii will come with a Wii-mote (nunchuck and strap), AC adaptor, stand for console, A/V cable, sensor bar, stand for sensor bar and two AA batteries. Additionally the NA release gets a copy of Wii Sports in the box, making up for the difference in console cost

Release Date:
November 19th

Games:
Games will retail for $49, $10 less than 360 Titles.

There are 30 titles projected in the release window, with about half (16) on day one.

There are 104 games in development currently showing a strong amount of 3rd party support.

www.Wii.com (http://www.Wii.com) has been updated to include North America as well as Japan, some videos are there to show things like Wii-Channels.

Peripherals:
The Wii-mote is sold in two parts, the remote and the nunchuk. The remote portion will retail for $39.99, the Nunchuk is an additional $19.99, totalling $60 for an extra full controller. This seems steep until you compare it to the $50 360 controller and consider that its very likely much more complex and expensive to manufacture.

Virtual Console Costs:
Wii points will be used to purchase Virtual Console titles. 100 Wii Points equals a dollar, NES titles cost 500 points ($5), SNES titles 800 points ($8) and Nintendo 64 titles cost 1000 points ($10).

More updates to come.

Japanese Release Information
Price:
25,000 yen (US $ 212.50)

Release Date:
Monday, December 2nd

Box Contents:
The Wii will come with a Wii-mote (nunchuck and strap), AC adaptor, stand for console, A/V cable, sensor bar, stand for sensor bar and two AA batteries.

Release Titles:
Trauma Center (Atlus)
Elebits (Konami)
Machikuru Domino (Success)
Necro-Nesia (Spike)
Super Monkey Ball Uki-Uki Party Shuugoh (Sega)
Swing Golf Panya (Tecmo)
Wing Island (Hudson)
Kororinpa (Hudson)
SD Gundam REVOLUTION (Bandai Namco)
Ennichi no Tatsujin (Bandai Namco)
Tamagotchi no Pika Pika Daito-ryo-! (Bandai Namco)
Red Steel (Ubisoft)
Wii Sports (Nintendo)
Odoru Made In Wario (Nintendo)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo)
Hajimete no Wii (Nintendo)

[Vapour]

just to add some other info from games industry
Matt Martin 11:00 14/09/2006

30 games available to download on day one

The Nintendo Wii will launch in the US November 19th, priced just under US$ 250 (197 euros / GBP 133) and will come bundled with a copy of the game Wii Sports.

Japanese consumers will have to wait an extra two weeks for the launch on December 2nd, but the console will retail slightly cheaper, at 25,000 Yen (167 euros / GBP 113), without a copy of Wii Sports.

Japan will see 16 titles at launch and will range in price from 4800 Yen (32 euro / GBP 22) to 6800 Yen (46 euro / GBP 31). 25 titles are purported to be available at launch in the US, priced around US$ 50 (39 euro / GBP 27)

At a press event, Nintendo of Japan president Satoru Iwata also revealed the pricing structure for downloadable games via the WiiConnect24 service.

NES games will sell for 500 Yen (3 euro / GBP 2), SNES titles will cost 800 Yen (5 euro / GBP 4) and N64 games will retail for 1000 Yen (7 euro / GBP 5).

Consumers will be able to purchase downloadable titles with either a credit card or pre-paid points cards.

Around 30 games will initially be available to download from the Virtual Console service, including titles from the Mario, Zelda, R-Type and Donkey Kong franchises.

Nintendo hopes to increase the number of titles available via Virtual Console by ten games a month, quickly establishing a library of content for consumers to download.

The console itself will come with the motion-sensitive remote controller and 'nunchaku' thumb-stick attachment, with additional controllers costing 3800 Yen (24 euro / GBP 17) and 1800 Yen (12 euro / GBP 8) respectively.

The classic controller, primarily designed for use with NES and SNES titles, will retail in Japan for 1800 Yen, although a limited offer will see it bundled for free with a 5000 point pre-paid card.

Highly anticipated title The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess will be a launch title for Japan and will makes its way to US shores before the end of 2006.

The Wii's online service will also include a range of media functions, including access to news and weather channels, web browsing and digital photos.

Nintendo is due to host a press event tomorrow in the UK, releasing full details of the Wii launch, including games available from day one and new titles for the European region.

[DigitalBacon]

Cool, some kids in my english class were talking about this behind me this morning and kept cracking stupid Wii jokes...I wanted to punch one in the eyeball :D

[StevenNevets]

Wow, I've been away from Consoles for awhile.

What the hell is this?

A console that checks the weather... what, why?

You can play Mario from Super nintendo.... you download it? how big is the hard drive?

Games are played with 2 controllers at once now:wallbash:

Insane

[Leadfoot]

Its a console that uses internet to download basically any game from any previous console that Nintendo has made. It uses motion sensing controllers that look like remotes, which are supposed to completely change the way we play, from FPS's to Rpg's.

[GorroXXII]

Wii will support Adobe Flash! This console gets even more interesting!

http://jayisgames.com/archives/2006/09/wii_to_support_flash.php

saw this too...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jPLTE7wXt9U

[GorroXXII]

Some more links I found...

Wii Specs
http://boards.sega.com/sega/viewtopic.php?t=65115

http://www.chaos-realms.com/news.php?id=535
http://blog.wired.com/games/index.blog?entry_id=1556591

THis links kewl!
http://wii.ign.com/articles/732/732745p1.html

and I also read somewhere that the Opera Web browser will be free until June of '07, says 06 in this link.

[StevenNevets]

It uses motion sensing controllers that look like remotesHow many callories will I burn

[StevenNevets]

Gahh I'm thinking of getting one of these over an upgrade:dunno:

Thing looks great for the price, bump