That didn't stop them in New York or Tokyo, though...
Worldwide Wii Day (Sep 14/15): the official thread *Released Nov 19 for $250 (US)*
- Thread starter darkblu
- Start date
That didn't stop them in New York or Tokyo, though...
The ban on communcations doesn't stop this info coming out though. It just delays it until after the conference and the journo's go to type up their notes. If you leave that announcement until last, it'll delay the info a total of maybe 15 minutes. Why bother?
The WiFi Interference concern seems plausible to me. There's probably no risk, but Nintendo wouldn't want to take any chances with their wireless internet demonstration turning pear-shaped.
In the meantime, here's a translation of Famitsu's summary of yesterday's Q&A session with Iwata and Miyamoto, though it's only about Iwata. There's some interesting pieces about the factors affecting their price points, etc.
„We don’t participate in the game console power game“, says company president Iwata.
After the end of Wii Preview and everyone transferred to the meeting hall, a press conference was held with Satoru Iwata, head of Nintendo, and managing director Shigeru Miyamoto. In that interview, that was held in the form of an Q&A session with reporters, a few new pieces of information were revealed.
Firstly, on the shipping schedule company president Iwata stressed: “In accordance the old announcement we didn’t change the plan to ship 6million units worldwide by the end of the fiscal year and 4 million by the of this year.” Regarding the question “How many units can get ready by launch?” he didn’t answer clearly “that’s still premature”, but “we’ve already entered the mass production stage.” suggested that [they] can prepare a considerably amount of units for the launch time.
On the topic of the price of 25000 Yen tax incl., naturally questions by the reporters were plentiful. Nintendo so far said “We didn’t consider a price point the crosses the 25000 Yen mark”. It declared that among the so-called next generation consoles [Wii] is the cheapest hardware.
In this announcement, in accordance with the public commitment the price of 25000 Yen was really presented, but thoughts like “When thinking about the Nintendo’s perfect success with the Nintendo DS, found that moreover there’s a strategic price point (literally: a strategic price appears.)” were uttered by reporters and Iwata became the person to answer:
“Concerning the hardware price, naturally many things have to be considered. We really need to look at and establish the fascination of the hardware that is finally developed, the assembly costs, etc. {Comment: this one was and is difficult as there are many meaning: to hang, to arrive, to suffer I’ve settled for assembly costs}. The price of 25000 Yen is naturally not chosen to create a great deficit, but also not to create a big profit. Concerning a new game console, if software is bought, (literal: inserted) a profit is held, but if you consider that no software is bought, the beginning is a absolutely severe thing. That’s the reality. However, Concerning the thing if there’s be a deficit on the hardware components, {the first if clause is attributive to the “concerning the thing”; I didn’t want to go less literal as the meaning of Iwata’s state might have been obscured: He’s not saying that they’re making profit or taking a loss} if you take into account that we’re software makers as well, we concluded that with that price [it] can from the first year on fully contribute to the earnings “ (Iwata)
Furthermore, in this announcement “Is there another use apart from games” (about Wii channel) was explained in detail. After hearing that (literal: receiving) questions like “Is Wii intended (literal: aimed at) as a communications computer terminal?” were put forward, to which president Iwata replied:
“That cuts only to one side of today’s announcement; you shouldn’t take it that way. But, thinking like us, how do you increase the number of people that touch games, there’s no other choice. After we thought about that, about things that make [people] start to experience, there’s the internet and the weather. We hadn’t the ambition “We want to create a telecommunications computer terminal”. It’s good if people enjoy (more of: are encourage to enjoy) our interactive contents on their own“(Iwata)
Then there was a surprise during the interview. Straight from Iwata’s mouth, it was announced that events will be held where the casual gamer can experience the Wii personally. It start on Nov. 3rd with an event that is carried out in the Nagoya’s port-messe, on Nov. 12th the Intekkusu (In Techs?) Osaka, and on Nov 25th and 26th it is held in Chiba’s Makuharimesse {that’s where the TGS is held}. Don’t miss it because entrance is free.
In the interview that day president Iwata declared that Nintendo is walking down a distinctive path: “We don’t participate in the game console power game”. Wii’s codename was Revolution. On launch day (Dec. 2nd) what kind of revolution occurs in the game industry? We want to see it.
http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/2006/09/14/103,1158244090,60138,0,0.html
EDIT: There's also a far more detailled Gamewatch article with loads of nice quotes. But I was too lazy and Gamewatch is far more difficult...
„We don’t participate in the game console power game“, says company president Iwata.
After the end of Wii Preview and everyone transferred to the meeting hall, a press conference was held with Satoru Iwata, head of Nintendo, and managing director Shigeru Miyamoto. In that interview, that was held in the form of an Q&A session with reporters, a few new pieces of information were revealed.
Firstly, on the shipping schedule company president Iwata stressed: “In accordance the old announcement we didn’t change the plan to ship 6million units worldwide by the end of the fiscal year and 4 million by the of this year.” Regarding the question “How many units can get ready by launch?” he didn’t answer clearly “that’s still premature”, but “we’ve already entered the mass production stage.” suggested that [they] can prepare a considerably amount of units for the launch time.
On the topic of the price of 25000 Yen tax incl., naturally questions by the reporters were plentiful. Nintendo so far said “We didn’t consider a price point the crosses the 25000 Yen mark”. It declared that among the so-called next generation consoles [Wii] is the cheapest hardware.
In this announcement, in accordance with the public commitment the price of 25000 Yen was really presented, but thoughts like “When thinking about the Nintendo’s perfect success with the Nintendo DS, found that moreover there’s a strategic price point (literally: a strategic price appears.)” were uttered by reporters and Iwata became the person to answer:
“Concerning the hardware price, naturally many things have to be considered. We really need to look at and establish the fascination of the hardware that is finally developed, the assembly costs, etc. {Comment: this one was and is difficult as there are many meaning: to hang, to arrive, to suffer I’ve settled for assembly costs}. The price of 25000 Yen is naturally not chosen to create a great deficit, but also not to create a big profit. Concerning a new game console, if software is bought, (literal: inserted) a profit is held, but if you consider that no software is bought, the beginning is a absolutely severe thing. That’s the reality. However, Concerning the thing if there’s be a deficit on the hardware components, {the first if clause is attributive to the “concerning the thing”; I didn’t want to go less literal as the meaning of Iwata’s state might have been obscured: He’s not saying that they’re making profit or taking a loss} if you take into account that we’re software makers as well, we concluded that with that price [it] can from the first year on fully contribute to the earnings “ (Iwata)
Furthermore, in this announcement “Is there another use apart from games” (about Wii channel) was explained in detail. After hearing that (literal: receiving) questions like “Is Wii intended (literal: aimed at) as a communications computer terminal?” were put forward, to which president Iwata replied:
“That cuts only to one side of today’s announcement; you shouldn’t take it that way. But, thinking like us, how do you increase the number of people that touch games, there’s no other choice. After we thought about that, about things that make [people] start to experience, there’s the internet and the weather. We hadn’t the ambition “We want to create a telecommunications computer terminal”. It’s good if people enjoy (more of: are encourage to enjoy) our interactive contents on their own“(Iwata)
Then there was a surprise during the interview. Straight from Iwata’s mouth, it was announced that events will be held where the casual gamer can experience the Wii personally. It start on Nov. 3rd with an event that is carried out in the Nagoya’s port-messe, on Nov. 12th the Intekkusu (In Techs?) Osaka, and on Nov 25th and 26th it is held in Chiba’s Makuharimesse {that’s where the TGS is held}. Don’t miss it because entrance is free.
In the interview that day president Iwata declared that Nintendo is walking down a distinctive path: “We don’t participate in the game console power game”. Wii’s codename was Revolution. On launch day (Dec. 2nd) what kind of revolution occurs in the game industry? We want to see it.
http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/2006/09/14/103,1158244090,60138,0,0.html
EDIT: There's also a far more detailled Gamewatch article with loads of nice quotes. But I was too lazy and Gamewatch is far more difficult...
Last edited by a moderator:
Third-party: around 15-20 games from launch. Red Steel. Rayman. Need for Speed Carbon. Tony Hawk. Super Monkey Ball.
Date: 2006.
December 8th 2006.
EUR 249 / GBP 179
Bundles is white console, one Wii remote, one Nunchuck, Wii Sports.
Between 49 and 59 Euros for software. 34 for 39 pounds.
EDIT: Wii.com Europe is up as well.
The "Iwata ask" interviews have been translated as well for the site...
Date: 2006.
December 8th 2006.
EUR 249 / GBP 179
Bundles is white console, one Wii remote, one Nunchuck, Wii Sports.
Between 49 and 59 Euros for software. 34 for 39 pounds.
EDIT: Wii.com Europe is up as well.
The "Iwata ask" interviews have been translated as well for the site...
Last edited by a moderator:
Good for them (and us) to make the EU in time for Christmas! Now it's a matter of how many they can build (and sell). I think they stand a fair chance of doing well.
At the same time, however much I love their presentation and the fact that their marketing team is doing a great job so far, my interest appears to stop there. I guess it will be a while before its appeal will beat the stuff I already have: GunCon2 x2, DDRMax Dance Mat, Driving Force Pro wheel and pedals, Singstar microphones, EyeToy (my least favorite).
But I'm a spoilt die-hard gamer. The general audience, the young, the old, the inexperienced, they stand a good chance of lapping it up. The only danger the Wii faces is that the controller on the PS3 is sufficiently good to replicate a number of these features or at least offer a comparably unique featureset, and the PS3 becomes affordable enough within one or two years to pose a threat to that sub $300 demographic (not unreliastic to expect it to drop $200 in two years).
However, I'm not worried for Nintendo - they will make a profit, no matter whether their marketshare becomes 20% or 50%, and I expect them to do well. Best of all, it's going to be an exciting time for gamers!
At the same time, however much I love their presentation and the fact that their marketing team is doing a great job so far, my interest appears to stop there. I guess it will be a while before its appeal will beat the stuff I already have: GunCon2 x2, DDRMax Dance Mat, Driving Force Pro wheel and pedals, Singstar microphones, EyeToy (my least favorite).
But I'm a spoilt die-hard gamer. The general audience, the young, the old, the inexperienced, they stand a good chance of lapping it up. The only danger the Wii faces is that the controller on the PS3 is sufficiently good to replicate a number of these features or at least offer a comparably unique featureset, and the PS3 becomes affordable enough within one or two years to pose a threat to that sub $300 demographic (not unreliastic to expect it to drop $200 in two years).
However, I'm not worried for Nintendo - they will make a profit, no matter whether their marketshare becomes 20% or 50%, and I expect them to do well. Best of all, it's going to be an exciting time for gamers!
-=P3tRaN=-
Regular
overpriced hardware and overpriced software.
this seems to be the mix for nintendo this time.
with dev. costs being only about one third to a quarter compared to ps3/360 costs, the price is almost the same.
that figures why nintendo is boasting that their target market is women.
I am rather dissapointed.
this seems to be the mix for nintendo this time.
with dev. costs being only about one third to a quarter compared to ps3/360 costs, the price is almost the same.
that figures why nintendo is boasting that their target market is women.
I am rather dissapointed.
Please feel free to come up with a competing product for less, and I'll be the first to purchase it.
-=P3tRaN=-
Regular
well wii cannot compete with ps3 or 360 anyways.
it is supposed to be a fun thing!
now we find out that it is a rather expensive fun thing.
59 euros ($75) for a wii game? that sounds fun.
I think in his mind PS3 (or even X360) is way better priced ...
You know that X360 games cost up to 70 EUR arround here?
-=P3tRaN=-
Regular
since I've bought more than 20 of them, I think I know that pretty good.
this generation the other two consoles laid the technology.
wii comes along for a relative free ride.
I dont care for the 250e asking price, but I really believe all wii games should be under 40e.
i'm pretty sure eveybody here deeply appreciates your beliefs.
my advice for you is not to buy anything you believe is overpriced given you can do without it. pass over the wii, buy 20 more xbox titles instead and enjoy your life.
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-=P3tRaN=-
Regular
thank you, but I didnt write this to ask for advice on how to spend my money.
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scooby_dooby
Legend
To point out the fact that $60 Wii games, if this is indeed the case, is a dumb move by Nintendo?
I agree totally, Wii games should be ~$40.
If the cost of producing a current-gen game is such that the games retail for around $50 in the USA and EUR 50 in Europe, and Wii is more powerful than any current-gen console, why on earth would expect the cost of games to go down? At best we can expect Nintendo do everything they can to keep the costs from going up, but it's not going to suddenly, magically become cheaper to design games with kind of assets we saw on Xbox, PS2, and Gamecube. It's no surprise that Wii sports is a pack-in, but anyone who was expecting Red Steel or Prime 3 to launch for $10 or EUR 10 less than the typical launch price of PS2 games is just nuts.
A bit more expensive than I was hoping. I thought around GBP 150 would be nearer the mark. Anyway, I think I'll probably hold off buying until Super Mario Galaxy is released. What's the chances that we'll see this released around March 2007 in tandem with a small price cut? :smile:
I doubt there'll be a price cut by then. However, if they release a SMG+Wii bundle, you might save a few bucks, but not much though.
-=P3tRaN=-
Regular
thats exactly what I expected.
Ι am certain I have read in numerous places that nintendo dev. environment is not changed much. previous code can be run, even same tools can be used.
I have also read in numerous occasions that the cost of creating games for Wii is one third to one quarter when comparing to hidef consoles.
retail price of only 10eur. difference to costy HD games certainly leaves a sour taste,
and doesnt reflect the difference in costs.
(not even taking into account recent announcements declaring that all games published by m$ will be $50)
but that is just a personal opinion.