Nintendo: Wii news **Netflix Available (page 16)**
05-09-2006, 06:22 PM
#123
Engineer
although the graphics on PS3 blow Wii away i think nintendo is defintely going to be the system to beat... assuming the control is as intuitive as described i think people will be much more interested in this system... after seeing the red steel and zelda treasers, i wondered how long it would take for a game like Ninja Gaiden to make an appearance on this system... imagine the amount of creativity it would alow the designers and games...
also it seems that a lot of game manufacturers recognize this as the next big thing and won't adandon Nintendo by not offering many games...
i would like to see the numbers sold a year after Wii is released and a comparison with PS3 and 360... even with 360's head start i bet Nintendo will step ahead of 360, assuming they can build enough of them to keep up with demand...
also it seems that a lot of game manufacturers recognize this as the next big thing and won't adandon Nintendo by not offering many games...
i would like to see the numbers sold a year after Wii is released and a comparison with PS3 and 360... even with 360's head start i bet Nintendo will step ahead of 360, assuming they can build enough of them to keep up with demand...
05-09-2006, 08:37 PM
#125
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Originally Posted by SRK85
What 88mb of ram wtf I thought gamecube has 128mb of ram.
05-09-2006, 08:40 PM
#126
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Originally Posted by savage
although the graphics on PS3 blow Wii away i think nintendo is defintely going to be the system to beat... assuming the control is as intuitive as described i think people will be much more interested in this system... after seeing the red steel and zelda treasers, i wondered how long it would take for a game like Ninja Gaiden to make an appearance on this system... imagine the amount of creativity it would alow the designers and games...
also it seems that a lot of game manufacturers recognize this as the next big thing and won't adandon Nintendo by not offering many games...
i would like to see the numbers sold a year after Wii is released and a comparison with PS3 and 360... even with 360's head start i bet Nintendo will step ahead of 360, assuming they can build enough of them to keep up with demand...
also it seems that a lot of game manufacturers recognize this as the next big thing and won't adandon Nintendo by not offering many games...
i would like to see the numbers sold a year after Wii is released and a comparison with PS3 and 360... even with 360's head start i bet Nintendo will step ahead of 360, assuming they can build enough of them to keep up with demand...
With the insane prices of teh 360 and PS3, I have a feeling that the Wii will take hold of the holiday market.
05-09-2006, 11:01 PM
#127
Drifting
http://news.punchjump.com/article.php?id=2415
Miyamoto plays tennis on Nintendo Wii
verry slick, though thats too much running for my fat ass, though i'm betting he did that for effect, that motion is probably done by the buttons.
Miyamoto plays tennis on Nintendo Wii
verry slick, though thats too much running for my fat ass, though i'm betting he did that for effect, that motion is probably done by the buttons.
05-09-2006, 11:23 PM
#128
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^^^ that is pretty sweet. I'll for sure be picking up the sports game package at launch.
Yeah, I'm sure the movement is controled by some other method, as the character woudl start running before miyamoto even moved, so it's probably using the d pad on teh wiimote.
Yeah, I'm sure the movement is controled by some other method, as the character woudl start running before miyamoto even moved, so it's probably using the d pad on teh wiimote.
05-15-2006, 11:23 AM
#129
Senior Moderator
Interesting TIME article on the Wii...
A Game For All Ages
Nintendo gave TIME the first look at its new gadget, which it hopes will turn girls and even granddads into video gamers
By LEV GROSSMAN/KYOTO; TIME Magazine
May 15, 2006
It is cherry-blossom time in Kyoto, Japan, and I am dancing the hula for Shigeru Miyamoto. It's not easy to get into the hula spirit in a hushed conference room in a restricted area of the gleaming white global headquarters of Nintendo, with several high-ranking, business-suited Japanese executives watching my every (undulating) move. But I'm doing my best. I'm trying out an electronic device that the Nintendo brass devoutly believes, or at least fervently hopes, is the future of entertainment. Outside, drifting pink petals remind us of the impermanence of all things.
You may not have heard of Shigeru Miyamoto, but I guarantee you, you know his work. Miyamoto is probably the most successful video-game designer of all time. Maybe you've heard of a little guy named Mario? Italian plumber, likes jumping? A big angry ape by the name of ... Donkey Kong? The Legend of Zelda? All Miyamoto. To gamers, Miyamoto is like all four Beatles rolled into one jolly, twinkly-eyed, weak-chinned Japanese man. At age 53, he still makes video games, but he also serves as general manager of Nintendo's entertainment analysis and development division. It is an honor to hula for him.
But Nintendo is no longer the global leader in games that it was during Miyamoto's salad days. Not that it has fallen on hard times exactly, but in the vastly profitable home-entertainment-console market, Nintendo's GameCube sits an ignominious third, behind both Sony's PlayStation 2 and even upstart Microsoft, which entered the market for the first time with the Xbox only five years ago. Miyamoto and Nintendo president Satoru Iwata are going to try to change that. But they're going to do it in the weirdest, riskiest way you could think of.
All three machinesPlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube--are showing their age, and a new generation of game hardware is aborning. Microsoft launched its next-gen Xbox 360 in November of last year; Nintendo and Sony will launch their new machines this fall. Those changeovers, which happen every four or five years, are moments of opportunity in the gaming industry, when the guard changes and the underdog has its day. Nintendo--a company that is, for better or for worse, addicted to risk taking--will attempt to steal a march on its competitors with a bizarre wireless device that senses a player's movements and uses them to control video games. Even more bizarre is the fact that it might work.
Video games are an unusual medium in that they carry a heavy stigma among nongamers. Not everybody likes ballet, but most nonballet fans don't accuse ballet of leading to violent crime and mental backwardness. Video games aren't so lucky. There's a sharp divide between gamers and nongamers, and the result is a market that, while large and devoted--last year video-game software and hardware brought in $27 billion--is also deeply stagnant. Its borders are sharply defined, and they're not expanding.
And even within that core market, the industry is deeply troubled. Fewer innovative games are being published, and gamers are getting bored. Games have become so expensive to create that companies won't risk money on fresh ideas, and the result is a plague of sequels and movie spin-offs. "Take Tetris, for example," says Iwata, 46, a well-dressed man who radiates good-humored intelligence. "If someone were to take Tetris to a video-game publisher today, what would happen? The publisher would say, 'These graphics look kind of cheap. And this is a fun little mechanic, but you need more game modes in there. Maybe you can throw in some CG movies to make it a little bit flashier? And maybe we can tie it in with some kind of movie license?'" Voilà: a good game ruined.
What to do? Here's Microsoft's plan for the Xbox 360: faster chips and better online service. And here's Sony's plan for the Playstation 3: faster chips and better online service. But Iwata thinks that with a sufficiently innovative approach, Nintendo can reinvent gaming and in the process turn nongamers into gamers.
"The one topic we've considered and debated at Nintendo for a very long time is, Why do people who don't play video games not play them?" Iwata has been asking himself, and his employees, that question for the past five years. And what Iwata has noticed is something that most gamers have long ago forgotten: to nongamers, video games are really hard. Like hard as in homework. The standard video-game controller is a kind of Siamese-twin affair, two joysticks fused together and studded with buttons, two triggers and a four-way toggle switch called a d-pad. In a game like Halo, players have to manipulate both joysticks simultaneously while working both triggers and pounding half a dozen buttons at the same time. The learning curve is steep.
That presents a problem of what engineers call interface design: How do you make it easier for players to tell the machine what they want it to do? "During the past five years, we were always telling them we have to do something new, something very different," Miyamoto says (like Iwata, he speaks through an interpreter). "And the game interface has to be the key. Without changing the interface we could not attract nongamers."
So they changed it. Nintendo threw away the controller-as-we-know-it and replaced it with something that nobody in his right mind would recognize as video-game hardware at all: a short, stubby, wireless wand that resembles nothing so much as a TV remote control. Humble as it looks on the outside, it's packed full of gadgetry: it's part laser pointer and part motion sensor, so it knows where you're aiming it, when and how fast you move it and how far it is from the TV screen. There's a strong whiff of voodoo about it. If you want your character on the screen to swing a sword, you just swing the controller. If you want to aim your gun, you just aim the wand and pull the trigger.
Nintendo gave TIME the first look at its new controller--but before I pick it up, Miyamoto suggests that I remove my jacket. That turns out to be a good idea. The first game I try--Miyamoto walks me through it, which to a gamer is the rough equivalent of getting to trade bons mots with Jerry Seinfeld--is a Warioware title (Wario being Mario's shorter, fatter evil twin). It consists of dozens of manic five-second mini games in a row. They're geared to the Japanese gaming sensibility, which has a zany, cartoonish, game-show bent. In one hot minute, I use the controller to swat a fly, do squat-thrusts as a weight lifter, turn a key in a lock, catch a fish, drive a car, sauté some vegetables, balance a broom on my outstretched hand, color in a circle and fence with a foil. And yes, dance the hula. Since very few people outside Nintendo have seen the new hardware, the room is watching me closely.
It's a remarkable experience. Instead of passively playing the games, with the new controller you physically perform them. You act them out. It's almost like theater: the fourth wall between game and player dissolves. The sense of immersion--the illusion that you, personally, are projected into the game world--is powerful. And there's an instant party atmosphere in the room. One advantage of the new controller is that it not only is fun, it looks fun. When you play with an old-style controller, you look like a loser, a blank-eyed joystick fondler. But when you're jumping around and shaking your hulamaker, everybody's having a good time.
After Warioware, we play scenes from the upcoming Legend of Zelda title, Twilight Princess, a moody, dark (by Nintendo's Disneyesque standards) fantasy adventure. Now I'm Errol Flynn, sword fighting with the controller, then aiming a bow and arrow, then using it as a fishing rod, reeling in a stubborn virtual fish. The third game, and probably the most fun, is also the simplest: tennis. The controller becomes a racket, and I'm smacking forehands and stroking backhands. The sensors are fine enough that you can scoop under the ball to lob it, or slice it for spin. At the end, I don't so much put the controller down as have it pried from my hands.
John Schappert, a senior vice president at Electronic Arts, is overseeing a version of the venerable Madden football series for Nintendo's new hardware. He sees the controller from the auteur's perspective, as an opportunity but also a huge challenge. "Our engineers now have to decipher what the user is doing," he says. "'Is that a throw gesture? Is it a juke? A stiff arm?' Everyone knows how to make a throwing motion, but we all have our own unique way of throwing." But consider the upside: you're basically playing football in your living room. "To snap the ball, you 'snap' the remote back toward your body, which hikes the ball," Schappert says. "No buttons to press, just gesture a hiking motion, and the ball's in the hands of the QB. To pass the ball, you gesture a throwing motion. Hard, fast gestures result in bullet passes. Slower, less forceful, gestures result in loftier, slower lob passes. It truly plays like nothing you've ever experienced."
Of course, hardware is only half the picture. The other half is the games themselves. "We created a task force internally at Nintendo," Iwata says, "whose objective was to come up with games that would attract people who don't play games." Last year they set out to design a game for the elderly. Amazingly, they succeeded. Brain Age is a set of electronic puzzles (including Sudoku) that purports to keep aging minds nimble. It was released for one of Nintendo's portable platforms, the Nintendo DS, last year. So far, it has sold 2 million copies, many of them to people who had never bought a game before.
The real demographic grail for any game publisher is, of course, girls. And although females have historically been largely impervious to the charms of video gaming, Nintendo has made inroads even there, with products so offbeat that they barely qualify as games at all. In Nintendogs, the object is to raise and train a cute puppy. Electroplankton can only be described as a game about farming tiny singing microbes (surely every woman's dream?). In Animal Crossing, you take up residence in a tiny cartoon town where you plant flowers and go fishing and design shirts. You can visit other players' towns and trade shirts with them. The reaction from traditional gamers tends to be 'Fine, but who do I shoot at?' But Animal Crossing is a hit, and Nintendogs has sold 6 million copies. (Incidentally, Miyamoto points out that Animal Crossing wasn't originally designed for girls. "Many female schoolchildren are purchasing and enjoying it," he says, cracking himself up. "Also ladies in their 20s. But the fact of the matter is, this game was developed by middle-aged guys in their 30s and 40s. They just wanted to create something to play themselves.")
It has always been Nintendo's habit, maybe even its compulsion, to bet its big franchises from time to time. That's one reason it has been able to transform itself so completely over the years; it began life in the late 19th century as a playing-card manufacturer. It's also the main reason the company keeps really large reserves of cash handy, in case things go awry. Look at the disastrous Virtual Boy, a 3-D game system that was released in 1995 and retired, unmourned and largely unsold, in 1996. Look at the name they come up with for their new console. For years it was known by the predictable but perfectly serviceable code name Revolution. It has now been rechristened the Nintendo Wii, an unreadable, unintelligible (that daunting double-i!) syllable. (For the record, it's pronounced "we," and the i's are supposed to represent the new controller ... never mind.)
But the name Wii not wii-thstanding, Nintendo has grasped two important notions that have eluded its competitors. The first is, Don't listen to your customers. The hard-core gaming community is extremely vocal--they blog a lot--but if Nintendo kept listening to them, hard-core gamers would be the only audience it ever had. "[Wii] was unimaginable for them," Iwata says. "And because it was unimaginable, they could not say that they wanted it. If you are simply listening to requests from the customer, you can satisfy their needs, but you can never surprise them. Sony and Microsoft make daily-necessity kinds of things. They have to listen to the needs of the customers and try to comply with their requests. That kind of approach has been deeply ingrained in their minds."
And here's the second notion: Cutting-edge design has become more important than cutting-edge technology. There is a persistent belief among engineers that consumers want more power and more features. That is incorrect. Look at Apple's iPod, a device that didn't and doesn't do much more than the competition. It won because it's easier, and sexier, to use. In many ways, Nintendo is the Apple of the gaming world, and it's betting its future on the same wisdom. The race is not to him who hulas fastest, it's to him who looks hottest doing it.
Nintendo gave TIME the first look at its new gadget, which it hopes will turn girls and even granddads into video gamers
By LEV GROSSMAN/KYOTO; TIME Magazine
May 15, 2006
It is cherry-blossom time in Kyoto, Japan, and I am dancing the hula for Shigeru Miyamoto. It's not easy to get into the hula spirit in a hushed conference room in a restricted area of the gleaming white global headquarters of Nintendo, with several high-ranking, business-suited Japanese executives watching my every (undulating) move. But I'm doing my best. I'm trying out an electronic device that the Nintendo brass devoutly believes, or at least fervently hopes, is the future of entertainment. Outside, drifting pink petals remind us of the impermanence of all things.
You may not have heard of Shigeru Miyamoto, but I guarantee you, you know his work. Miyamoto is probably the most successful video-game designer of all time. Maybe you've heard of a little guy named Mario? Italian plumber, likes jumping? A big angry ape by the name of ... Donkey Kong? The Legend of Zelda? All Miyamoto. To gamers, Miyamoto is like all four Beatles rolled into one jolly, twinkly-eyed, weak-chinned Japanese man. At age 53, he still makes video games, but he also serves as general manager of Nintendo's entertainment analysis and development division. It is an honor to hula for him.
But Nintendo is no longer the global leader in games that it was during Miyamoto's salad days. Not that it has fallen on hard times exactly, but in the vastly profitable home-entertainment-console market, Nintendo's GameCube sits an ignominious third, behind both Sony's PlayStation 2 and even upstart Microsoft, which entered the market for the first time with the Xbox only five years ago. Miyamoto and Nintendo president Satoru Iwata are going to try to change that. But they're going to do it in the weirdest, riskiest way you could think of.
All three machinesPlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube--are showing their age, and a new generation of game hardware is aborning. Microsoft launched its next-gen Xbox 360 in November of last year; Nintendo and Sony will launch their new machines this fall. Those changeovers, which happen every four or five years, are moments of opportunity in the gaming industry, when the guard changes and the underdog has its day. Nintendo--a company that is, for better or for worse, addicted to risk taking--will attempt to steal a march on its competitors with a bizarre wireless device that senses a player's movements and uses them to control video games. Even more bizarre is the fact that it might work.
Video games are an unusual medium in that they carry a heavy stigma among nongamers. Not everybody likes ballet, but most nonballet fans don't accuse ballet of leading to violent crime and mental backwardness. Video games aren't so lucky. There's a sharp divide between gamers and nongamers, and the result is a market that, while large and devoted--last year video-game software and hardware brought in $27 billion--is also deeply stagnant. Its borders are sharply defined, and they're not expanding.
And even within that core market, the industry is deeply troubled. Fewer innovative games are being published, and gamers are getting bored. Games have become so expensive to create that companies won't risk money on fresh ideas, and the result is a plague of sequels and movie spin-offs. "Take Tetris, for example," says Iwata, 46, a well-dressed man who radiates good-humored intelligence. "If someone were to take Tetris to a video-game publisher today, what would happen? The publisher would say, 'These graphics look kind of cheap. And this is a fun little mechanic, but you need more game modes in there. Maybe you can throw in some CG movies to make it a little bit flashier? And maybe we can tie it in with some kind of movie license?'" Voilà: a good game ruined.
What to do? Here's Microsoft's plan for the Xbox 360: faster chips and better online service. And here's Sony's plan for the Playstation 3: faster chips and better online service. But Iwata thinks that with a sufficiently innovative approach, Nintendo can reinvent gaming and in the process turn nongamers into gamers.
"The one topic we've considered and debated at Nintendo for a very long time is, Why do people who don't play video games not play them?" Iwata has been asking himself, and his employees, that question for the past five years. And what Iwata has noticed is something that most gamers have long ago forgotten: to nongamers, video games are really hard. Like hard as in homework. The standard video-game controller is a kind of Siamese-twin affair, two joysticks fused together and studded with buttons, two triggers and a four-way toggle switch called a d-pad. In a game like Halo, players have to manipulate both joysticks simultaneously while working both triggers and pounding half a dozen buttons at the same time. The learning curve is steep.
That presents a problem of what engineers call interface design: How do you make it easier for players to tell the machine what they want it to do? "During the past five years, we were always telling them we have to do something new, something very different," Miyamoto says (like Iwata, he speaks through an interpreter). "And the game interface has to be the key. Without changing the interface we could not attract nongamers."
So they changed it. Nintendo threw away the controller-as-we-know-it and replaced it with something that nobody in his right mind would recognize as video-game hardware at all: a short, stubby, wireless wand that resembles nothing so much as a TV remote control. Humble as it looks on the outside, it's packed full of gadgetry: it's part laser pointer and part motion sensor, so it knows where you're aiming it, when and how fast you move it and how far it is from the TV screen. There's a strong whiff of voodoo about it. If you want your character on the screen to swing a sword, you just swing the controller. If you want to aim your gun, you just aim the wand and pull the trigger.
Nintendo gave TIME the first look at its new controller--but before I pick it up, Miyamoto suggests that I remove my jacket. That turns out to be a good idea. The first game I try--Miyamoto walks me through it, which to a gamer is the rough equivalent of getting to trade bons mots with Jerry Seinfeld--is a Warioware title (Wario being Mario's shorter, fatter evil twin). It consists of dozens of manic five-second mini games in a row. They're geared to the Japanese gaming sensibility, which has a zany, cartoonish, game-show bent. In one hot minute, I use the controller to swat a fly, do squat-thrusts as a weight lifter, turn a key in a lock, catch a fish, drive a car, sauté some vegetables, balance a broom on my outstretched hand, color in a circle and fence with a foil. And yes, dance the hula. Since very few people outside Nintendo have seen the new hardware, the room is watching me closely.
It's a remarkable experience. Instead of passively playing the games, with the new controller you physically perform them. You act them out. It's almost like theater: the fourth wall between game and player dissolves. The sense of immersion--the illusion that you, personally, are projected into the game world--is powerful. And there's an instant party atmosphere in the room. One advantage of the new controller is that it not only is fun, it looks fun. When you play with an old-style controller, you look like a loser, a blank-eyed joystick fondler. But when you're jumping around and shaking your hulamaker, everybody's having a good time.
After Warioware, we play scenes from the upcoming Legend of Zelda title, Twilight Princess, a moody, dark (by Nintendo's Disneyesque standards) fantasy adventure. Now I'm Errol Flynn, sword fighting with the controller, then aiming a bow and arrow, then using it as a fishing rod, reeling in a stubborn virtual fish. The third game, and probably the most fun, is also the simplest: tennis. The controller becomes a racket, and I'm smacking forehands and stroking backhands. The sensors are fine enough that you can scoop under the ball to lob it, or slice it for spin. At the end, I don't so much put the controller down as have it pried from my hands.
John Schappert, a senior vice president at Electronic Arts, is overseeing a version of the venerable Madden football series for Nintendo's new hardware. He sees the controller from the auteur's perspective, as an opportunity but also a huge challenge. "Our engineers now have to decipher what the user is doing," he says. "'Is that a throw gesture? Is it a juke? A stiff arm?' Everyone knows how to make a throwing motion, but we all have our own unique way of throwing." But consider the upside: you're basically playing football in your living room. "To snap the ball, you 'snap' the remote back toward your body, which hikes the ball," Schappert says. "No buttons to press, just gesture a hiking motion, and the ball's in the hands of the QB. To pass the ball, you gesture a throwing motion. Hard, fast gestures result in bullet passes. Slower, less forceful, gestures result in loftier, slower lob passes. It truly plays like nothing you've ever experienced."
Of course, hardware is only half the picture. The other half is the games themselves. "We created a task force internally at Nintendo," Iwata says, "whose objective was to come up with games that would attract people who don't play games." Last year they set out to design a game for the elderly. Amazingly, they succeeded. Brain Age is a set of electronic puzzles (including Sudoku) that purports to keep aging minds nimble. It was released for one of Nintendo's portable platforms, the Nintendo DS, last year. So far, it has sold 2 million copies, many of them to people who had never bought a game before.
The real demographic grail for any game publisher is, of course, girls. And although females have historically been largely impervious to the charms of video gaming, Nintendo has made inroads even there, with products so offbeat that they barely qualify as games at all. In Nintendogs, the object is to raise and train a cute puppy. Electroplankton can only be described as a game about farming tiny singing microbes (surely every woman's dream?). In Animal Crossing, you take up residence in a tiny cartoon town where you plant flowers and go fishing and design shirts. You can visit other players' towns and trade shirts with them. The reaction from traditional gamers tends to be 'Fine, but who do I shoot at?' But Animal Crossing is a hit, and Nintendogs has sold 6 million copies. (Incidentally, Miyamoto points out that Animal Crossing wasn't originally designed for girls. "Many female schoolchildren are purchasing and enjoying it," he says, cracking himself up. "Also ladies in their 20s. But the fact of the matter is, this game was developed by middle-aged guys in their 30s and 40s. They just wanted to create something to play themselves.")
It has always been Nintendo's habit, maybe even its compulsion, to bet its big franchises from time to time. That's one reason it has been able to transform itself so completely over the years; it began life in the late 19th century as a playing-card manufacturer. It's also the main reason the company keeps really large reserves of cash handy, in case things go awry. Look at the disastrous Virtual Boy, a 3-D game system that was released in 1995 and retired, unmourned and largely unsold, in 1996. Look at the name they come up with for their new console. For years it was known by the predictable but perfectly serviceable code name Revolution. It has now been rechristened the Nintendo Wii, an unreadable, unintelligible (that daunting double-i!) syllable. (For the record, it's pronounced "we," and the i's are supposed to represent the new controller ... never mind.)
But the name Wii not wii-thstanding, Nintendo has grasped two important notions that have eluded its competitors. The first is, Don't listen to your customers. The hard-core gaming community is extremely vocal--they blog a lot--but if Nintendo kept listening to them, hard-core gamers would be the only audience it ever had. "[Wii] was unimaginable for them," Iwata says. "And because it was unimaginable, they could not say that they wanted it. If you are simply listening to requests from the customer, you can satisfy their needs, but you can never surprise them. Sony and Microsoft make daily-necessity kinds of things. They have to listen to the needs of the customers and try to comply with their requests. That kind of approach has been deeply ingrained in their minds."
And here's the second notion: Cutting-edge design has become more important than cutting-edge technology. There is a persistent belief among engineers that consumers want more power and more features. That is incorrect. Look at Apple's iPod, a device that didn't and doesn't do much more than the competition. It won because it's easier, and sexier, to use. In many ways, Nintendo is the Apple of the gaming world, and it's betting its future on the same wisdom. The race is not to him who hulas fastest, it's to him who looks hottest doing it.
05-15-2006, 01:55 PM
#130
Senior Moderator
Hmmm, wouldn't it be better to pick up a real racket and play real tennis rather than swing around a remote control? I don't get it. 
09-14-2006, 10:45 AM
#131
Senior Moderator
US Wii Price, Launch Date Revealed
For the record: I'm SO buying one.
And a PS3 too. So, you Sony haters can plant a big juicy one on my robot-worshipping @$$ .
http://wii.ign.com/articles/732/732669p1.html
And a PS3 too. So, you Sony haters can plant a big juicy one on my robot-worshipping @$$ .
September 13, 2006 - Nintendo fans finally have a price and release date for the company's new generation console, Wii. The Big N is set to officially announce that the system will hit retail in North and South America for $250 on November 19. The New York Times published with the story and seems, in fact, to have beaten Nintendo Co. Ltd with the news.
Nintendo's Wii console will come packaged with one Wii remote, one nunchuck attachment, an AC adapter, an audio/video cable, a sensor bar, sensor bard stand, a Wii console stand and two batteries. The US package will also come bundled with a copy of Wii Sports, a compilation sports game that best shows off the mechanics of the system's unique controller. Wii Sports features tennis, baseball, golf and previously unannounced bowling and boxing games.
Nintendo said it would provide Wii owners with more than 25 unique games this year.
Wii's much talked-about Virtual Console download service, which enables gamers to purchase classic games, will offer a library of some 30 titles when the system launches. Titles will include entries from the Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong franchises, Nintendo said. Virtual Console games will cost between $5 and $10 each. Specifically, Nintendo Co. Ltd. announced that Virtual Console games would cost 500 yen ($5), 800 yen ($8) or 1,000 yen ($10); we're presuming these prices are for NES, SNES and N64 games respectively.
The Big N confirmed that it would charge $50 for its new Wii games, which is $10 cheaper than the cost of typical Xbox 360 titles. (Please note that this is First-Party games, prices have not been announced for Third-Part Wii games -- publishers are free to set their own prices on Wii titles.)
Nintendo Co. Ltd. revealed that Wii's various controllers would be available to buy separately at launch. The Wii remote will cost 3800 yen or about $40; the nunchuck 1800 yen or about $20 and the classic controller 1800 yen or about $20.
In a surprise announcement, Nintendo said that it wanted to make Wii a living room centerpiece by shipping the system with features outside of the videogame realm. Wii will include a photo channel, enabling users to display their digital photos through the console. It will also boast regularly updated news and weather channels. In addition, the system will ship with the Opera Web browser, enabling users to connect online.
One of the channels available on Wii is called the "Mii Channel." Here, players can customize avatars by selecting from a variety of face shapes, hair styles, color schemes, and so on. The hook is that these avatars can not only be stored on the console itself, they can also be transfered to the Wii remote itself -- presumably so players can easily access their personalized characters and take them with them when playing against friends.
Sony recently announced that it would ready 400,000 PS3s in North America and another 100,000 in Japan for the system's launch. Nintendo said it plans to ship 4 million Wii units worldwide by the end of the year.
Nintendo will launch Wii in Japan on December 2 of this year for 25,000 yen, it revealed. North America will get the system first.
Nintendo of Japan has added an amazing breakdown of the Wii's various interfaces to its overseas website. Everything is in Japanese, but the videos speak for themselves. Readers can click right here for a 14-page walkthrough of the system's ambitious features. Included in the list of options are demonstrations of the forecast, Mii, and photo channels. The forecast launches a virtual globe that can be spun in any direction. In the photo channel, users can load hundreds of their favorite photos and edit them in real-time. It's possible to message friends with Mii character profiles and to send pictures in messages. And the videos demonstrate surfing the Web with Wii's Opera browser. These are absolute must-see videos.
Nintendo's Wii console will come packaged with one Wii remote, one nunchuck attachment, an AC adapter, an audio/video cable, a sensor bar, sensor bard stand, a Wii console stand and two batteries. The US package will also come bundled with a copy of Wii Sports, a compilation sports game that best shows off the mechanics of the system's unique controller. Wii Sports features tennis, baseball, golf and previously unannounced bowling and boxing games.
Nintendo said it would provide Wii owners with more than 25 unique games this year.
Wii's much talked-about Virtual Console download service, which enables gamers to purchase classic games, will offer a library of some 30 titles when the system launches. Titles will include entries from the Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong franchises, Nintendo said. Virtual Console games will cost between $5 and $10 each. Specifically, Nintendo Co. Ltd. announced that Virtual Console games would cost 500 yen ($5), 800 yen ($8) or 1,000 yen ($10); we're presuming these prices are for NES, SNES and N64 games respectively.
The Big N confirmed that it would charge $50 for its new Wii games, which is $10 cheaper than the cost of typical Xbox 360 titles. (Please note that this is First-Party games, prices have not been announced for Third-Part Wii games -- publishers are free to set their own prices on Wii titles.)
Nintendo Co. Ltd. revealed that Wii's various controllers would be available to buy separately at launch. The Wii remote will cost 3800 yen or about $40; the nunchuck 1800 yen or about $20 and the classic controller 1800 yen or about $20.
In a surprise announcement, Nintendo said that it wanted to make Wii a living room centerpiece by shipping the system with features outside of the videogame realm. Wii will include a photo channel, enabling users to display their digital photos through the console. It will also boast regularly updated news and weather channels. In addition, the system will ship with the Opera Web browser, enabling users to connect online.
One of the channels available on Wii is called the "Mii Channel." Here, players can customize avatars by selecting from a variety of face shapes, hair styles, color schemes, and so on. The hook is that these avatars can not only be stored on the console itself, they can also be transfered to the Wii remote itself -- presumably so players can easily access their personalized characters and take them with them when playing against friends.
Sony recently announced that it would ready 400,000 PS3s in North America and another 100,000 in Japan for the system's launch. Nintendo said it plans to ship 4 million Wii units worldwide by the end of the year.
Nintendo will launch Wii in Japan on December 2 of this year for 25,000 yen, it revealed. North America will get the system first.
Nintendo of Japan has added an amazing breakdown of the Wii's various interfaces to its overseas website. Everything is in Japanese, but the videos speak for themselves. Readers can click right here for a 14-page walkthrough of the system's ambitious features. Included in the list of options are demonstrations of the forecast, Mii, and photo channels. The forecast launches a virtual globe that can be spun in any direction. In the photo channel, users can load hundreds of their favorite photos and edit them in real-time. It's possible to message friends with Mii character profiles and to send pictures in messages. And the videos demonstrate surfing the Web with Wii's Opera browser. These are absolute must-see videos.
09-14-2006, 12:15 PM
#132
Engineer
woo hoo, just in time for thanksgiving... i might as well just take that whole week off now...
09-14-2006, 12:17 PM
#133
Engineer
so...
$250 - System
$40 - Wii remote 2
$20 - nunchuck 2
$100 - for a pair of games to start
$410 bucks, not bad... i wonder if costco or any online stores will have some nice bundles...
$250 - System
$40 - Wii remote 2
$20 - nunchuck 2
$100 - for a pair of games to start
$410 bucks, not bad... i wonder if costco or any online stores will have some nice bundles...
09-14-2006, 12:19 PM
#134
The sizzle in the Steak
Nice pricing move by Nintendo.
09-14-2006, 12:33 PM
#136
Senior Moderator
:ibghost_masterCLproclaimingNobelPrizeforNintendo:
09-14-2006, 01:47 PM
#138
it blows my mind that this thing doesn't support HD. my gamecube looks like total crap on my new 37in LCD.
Maybe its just me but i'm not buying a system that's going to look crappy on my TV
Maybe its just me but i'm not buying a system that's going to look crappy on my TV
09-14-2006, 02:25 PM
#139
^ 
That's one of the big reasons I'm staying far away from it. Previews of games that appear on the Wii and the 360 compare the Wii version to the Gamecube. So basically, Nintendo's idea of next-gen is a gimmicky controller?? What a rip. If I was a Nintendo fan I'd be pissed. Why not just sell the motion controller as an add-on to the Gamecube and build a real next-gen system?
Thanks but no thanks. If I ever get the Nintendo itch I'll save a bunch and buy a pre-owned Gamecube for much less then the Wii. Video games for me, relax me. If I have an hour free time or so I sit back and play my favorite game. If I want to play a sport, I go and play it in real life. No way I'd sit in my house and pretend to play tennis or football with a controller like that. I'd rather be outside really doing it... and if I was to stay inside and play Madden or something, I'd rather button mash then look like an idiot dancing around the room after spending $450 or so total to do so...
That's one of the big reasons I'm staying far away from it. Previews of games that appear on the Wii and the 360 compare the Wii version to the Gamecube. So basically, Nintendo's idea of next-gen is a gimmicky controller?? What a rip. If I was a Nintendo fan I'd be pissed. Why not just sell the motion controller as an add-on to the Gamecube and build a real next-gen system?
Thanks but no thanks. If I ever get the Nintendo itch I'll save a bunch and buy a pre-owned Gamecube for much less then the Wii. Video games for me, relax me. If I have an hour free time or so I sit back and play my favorite game. If I want to play a sport, I go and play it in real life. No way I'd sit in my house and pretend to play tennis or football with a controller like that. I'd rather be outside really doing it... and if I was to stay inside and play Madden or something, I'd rather button mash then look like an idiot dancing around the room after spending $450 or so total to do so...
Last edited by juniorbean; 09-14-2006 at 02:27 PM.
09-14-2006, 03:01 PM
#140
Suzuka Master
Originally Posted by juniorbean
^
That's one of the big reasons I'm staying far away from it. Previews of games that appear on the Wii and the 360 compare the Wii version to the Gamecube. So basically, Nintendo's idea of next-gen is a gimmicky controller?? What a rip. If I was a Nintendo fan I'd be pissed. Why not just sell the motion controller as an add-on to the Gamecube and build a real next-gen system?
Thanks but no thanks. If I ever get the Nintendo itch I'll save a bunch and buy a pre-owned Gamecube for much less then the Wii. Video games for me, relax me. If I have an hour free time or so I sit back and play my favorite game. If I want to play a sport, I go and play it in real life. No way I'd sit in my house and pretend to play tennis or football with a controller like that. I'd rather be outside really doing it... and if I was to stay inside and play Madden or something, I'd rather button mash then look like an idiot dancing around the room after spending $450 or so total to do so...
That's one of the big reasons I'm staying far away from it. Previews of games that appear on the Wii and the 360 compare the Wii version to the Gamecube. So basically, Nintendo's idea of next-gen is a gimmicky controller?? What a rip. If I was a Nintendo fan I'd be pissed. Why not just sell the motion controller as an add-on to the Gamecube and build a real next-gen system?
Thanks but no thanks. If I ever get the Nintendo itch I'll save a bunch and buy a pre-owned Gamecube for much less then the Wii. Video games for me, relax me. If I have an hour free time or so I sit back and play my favorite game. If I want to play a sport, I go and play it in real life. No way I'd sit in my house and pretend to play tennis or football with a controller like that. I'd rather be outside really doing it... and if I was to stay inside and play Madden or something, I'd rather button mash then look like an idiot dancing around the room after spending $450 or so total to do so...
Exactly. Like I said before, Nintendo is taking a different approach to next-gen gaming, and it just happens to be an approach I personally am not excited about. Their first-party games are going to be good, (I may snatch one up just for Zelda), but I don't see it having much 3rd party support, especially if the graphics dept. isn't up to snuff with 360/PS3.
09-14-2006, 03:45 PM
#141
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Originally Posted by juniorbean
^
That's one of the big reasons I'm staying far away from it. Previews of games that appear on the Wii and the 360 compare the Wii version to the Gamecube. So basically, Nintendo's idea of next-gen is a gimmicky controller?? What a rip. If I was a Nintendo fan I'd be pissed. Why not just sell the motion controller as an add-on to the Gamecube and build a real next-gen system?
Thanks but no thanks. If I ever get the Nintendo itch I'll save a bunch and buy a pre-owned Gamecube for much less then the Wii. Video games for me, relax me. If I have an hour free time or so I sit back and play my favorite game. If I want to play a sport, I go and play it in real life. No way I'd sit in my house and pretend to play tennis or football with a controller like that. I'd rather be outside really doing it... and if I was to stay inside and play Madden or something, I'd rather button mash then look like an idiot dancing around the room after spending $450 or so total to do so...
That's one of the big reasons I'm staying far away from it. Previews of games that appear on the Wii and the 360 compare the Wii version to the Gamecube. So basically, Nintendo's idea of next-gen is a gimmicky controller?? What a rip. If I was a Nintendo fan I'd be pissed. Why not just sell the motion controller as an add-on to the Gamecube and build a real next-gen system?
Thanks but no thanks. If I ever get the Nintendo itch I'll save a bunch and buy a pre-owned Gamecube for much less then the Wii. Video games for me, relax me. If I have an hour free time or so I sit back and play my favorite game. If I want to play a sport, I go and play it in real life. No way I'd sit in my house and pretend to play tennis or football with a controller like that. I'd rather be outside really doing it... and if I was to stay inside and play Madden or something, I'd rather button mash then look like an idiot dancing around the room after spending $450 or so total to do so...
Zelda, Super Smash, FF, and Metroid.
But yeah, to game on my 1080P Plasma... I think I'll have to go with a PS3... though I really have a gut feeling that Blue-Ray is going to bomb and HD-DVD will come out victorious....
BTW. There's been chatter about when fibre gets larger and most people have broadband we can start streaming HD movies so that could be a new path home videos might be taking.
Last edited by PixelHarmony; 09-14-2006 at 03:48 PM.
09-14-2006, 04:13 PM
#142
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^^Really? I have been thinking about that I think that Mircosoft should upgrade the harddrives on XBOX360 and offer video downloads in true hd. That would kick ass.
09-14-2006, 06:00 PM
#143
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Originally Posted by ViperrepiV
it blows my mind that this thing doesn't support HD. my gamecube looks like total crap on my new 37in LCD.
Maybe its just me but i'm not buying a system that's going to look crappy on my TV
Maybe its just me but i'm not buying a system that's going to look crappy on my TV
Component cable is the best after HDMI/DVI.
09-14-2006, 06:24 PM
#144
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Originally Posted by ViperrepiV
it blows my mind that this thing doesn't support HD. my gamecube looks like total crap on my new 37in LCD.
Maybe its just me but i'm not buying a system that's going to look crappy on my TV
Maybe its just me but i'm not buying a system that's going to look crappy on my TV
09-14-2006, 08:06 PM
#145
Originally Posted by Ikko
If it comes with component cables, that's a +. If not, for $250, I'll still get it.
Component cable is the best after HDMI/DVI.
Component cable is the best after HDMI/DVI.
just becuase its a component cable doens't mean its high def. component cables will help 480p, but its still going to be fuzzy when the TV streteches it to fit the 720 or 1080 size of the monitor. How is it supposed to be "next gen" if it doesnt even support the "next gen" of TVs?
09-14-2006, 08:09 PM
#146
Originally Posted by SRK85
What? Have you played PS2 on a lcd screen the graphics look a lot better with regular compoent cables.
i'm sure it looks muuuuch better than with regular RCA cables, but given that i'm not satisfied with regular DVDs hooked up via component, i doubt i'll be happy with non high def videogames hooked up via component. We can argule all day about how things look, but at the end of the day its subjective
I didn't buy a TV only to get a brand new system and have it look mediocore at best on the TV, especially when there are options out there that embrace the HD format
09-14-2006, 08:31 PM
#147
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Originally Posted by SRK85
What? Have you played PS2 on a lcd screen the graphics look a lot better with regular compoent cables.
The PS2's graphics has never been better!
09-14-2006, 08:38 PM
#148
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Originally Posted by ViperrepiV
just becuase its a component cable doens't mean its high def. component cables will help 480p, but its still going to be fuzzy when the TV streteches it to fit the 720 or 1080 size of the monitor. How is it supposed to be "next gen" if it doesnt even support the "next gen" of TVs?
My 360 is hooked up via component cables, and is set at 720p. If you call what I'm seeing, "fuzzy", then I would really love to see the graphics via HDMI/DVI.
BTW, my LCD only has a DVI input(no HDMI).
Besides, is there an HDMI/DVI cable for the 360? I've only seen component.
09-14-2006, 09:56 PM
#149
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Originally Posted by ViperrepiV
it blows my mind that this thing doesn't support HD. my gamecube looks like total crap on my new 37in LCD.
Maybe its just me but i'm not buying a system that's going to look crappy on my TV
Maybe its just me but i'm not buying a system that's going to look crappy on my TV
Originally Posted by juniorbean
^
That's one of the big reasons I'm staying far away from it. Previews of games that appear on the Wii and the 360 compare the Wii version to the Gamecube. So basically, Nintendo's idea of next-gen is a gimmicky controller?? What a rip. If I was a Nintendo fan I'd be pissed. Why not just sell the motion controller as an add-on to the Gamecube and build a real next-gen system?
That's one of the big reasons I'm staying far away from it. Previews of games that appear on the Wii and the 360 compare the Wii version to the Gamecube. So basically, Nintendo's idea of next-gen is a gimmicky controller?? What a rip. If I was a Nintendo fan I'd be pissed. Why not just sell the motion controller as an add-on to the Gamecube and build a real next-gen system?
Thanks but no thanks. If I ever get the Nintendo itch I'll save a bunch and buy a pre-owned Gamecube for much less then the Wii. Video games for me, relax me. If I have an hour free time or so I sit back and play my favorite game. If I want to play a sport, I go and play it in real life. No way I'd sit in my house and pretend to play tennis or football with a controller like that. I'd rather be outside really doing it... and if I was to stay inside and play Madden or something, I'd rather button mash then look like an idiot dancing around the room after spending $450 or so total to do so...
why get a gamecube? the Wii is backwards compatible with gamecube, and it will have N64, SNES, Genesis, NES, Turo grafx games available, not to mention original games to be downloaded. I guess you aren't an old school gamer, and only started playing when games enered 3 dimensions.
09-14-2006, 10:04 PM
#150
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stupid 5 minute edit limit...
on a side note: damn that release date, I was hoping for aone a little sooner, and myabe a tad lower price like $225. Only reason I'm getting it on the first day is for zelda and mario.
on a side note: damn that release date, I was hoping for aone a little sooner, and myabe a tad lower price like $225. Only reason I'm getting it on the first day is for zelda and mario.
09-14-2006, 10:16 PM
#151
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Originally Posted by ViperrepiV
i'm sure it looks muuuuch better than with regular RCA cables, but given that i'm not satisfied with regular DVDs hooked up via component, i doubt i'll be happy with non high def videogames hooked up via component. We can argule all day about how things look, but at the end of the day its subjective
I didn't buy a TV only to get a brand new system and have it look mediocore at best on the TV, especially when there are options out there that embrace the HD format
I didn't buy a TV only to get a brand new system and have it look mediocore at best on the TV, especially when there are options out there that embrace the HD format
09-14-2006, 10:58 PM
#153
Originally Posted by ghost_masterCL
No offense, but that's fucking stupid. That's like saying "I refuse to watch non HD tv channels on my HDTV."
Um yeah, but I don't have to pay $250 for those non high def channels. I'd get a Wii if it was free too
09-14-2006, 10:59 PM
#154
Originally Posted by Ikko
My 360 is hooked up via component cables, and is set at 720p. If you call what I'm seeing, "fuzzy", then I would really love to see the graphics via HDMI/DVI.
BTW, my LCD only has a DVI input(no HDMI).
Besides, is there an HDMI/DVI cable for the 360? I've only seen component.
BTW, my LCD only has a DVI input(no HDMI).
Besides, is there an HDMI/DVI cable for the 360? I've only seen component.
Not saying your 360 looks fuzzy at 720 p....it should look very sharp, as it is in HD.
your PS2 is in 480p. Component cables don't change that.
09-14-2006, 11:01 PM
#155
Originally Posted by SRK85
Tru but the percent that actually have high def in america is like 10% so they could care less, nintendo will still make money off wii.
Yeah that was most definitely their rationale. I won't be buying one, but that doesnt mean they won't make money.
09-14-2006, 11:32 PM
#156
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Originally Posted by ViperrepiV
Yeah that was most definitely their rationale. I won't be buying one, but that doesnt mean they won't make money.
09-15-2006, 01:08 AM
#158
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when I tried to go in a few months ago to reserve one after what happened at the 360 launch madness. The guy said to come back after they announce the release date for it because they didnt' want to go through the shit that happened with the 360 again. So I'm going in tommorow. metroid does look freakin sweet.
09-15-2006, 01:09 AM
#159
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Originally Posted by ViperrepiV
Um yeah, but I don't have to pay $250 for those non high def channels. I'd get a Wii if it was free too
Can you really tell me you haven't spent more than $250 on those non-high def channels over the course of your subcription to that cable or satelite providor?
09-15-2006, 08:45 AM
#160
Originally Posted by Ikko
If it comes with component cables, that's a +. If not, for $250, I'll still get it.
Component cable is the best after HDMI/DVI.
Component cable is the best after HDMI/DVI.