Nintendo Hints at Wii Price
Put your arms and legs at ease. You won't have to give them up to play with Mario.
The Xbox 360 started things off by crushing through the ceiling, pricing the premium version of the Xbox 360 at £280 ($399 in the US). Then came Sony, which while still mum on the UK pricing, has set the North American price of the PlayStation 3 at an eye-watering $600 for its fully featured model.
But what about Nintendo? Will we be reaching deep for Mario too? Apparently not - thankfully.
Nintendo said on Thursday that the Wii will not sell for more than ¥25,000 (£120) in Japan or $250 (£135) in North America. No price goal for Europe was announced but these numbers suggest a UK price of £150 or less is possible.
The DS may be selling like gangbusters around the world, but the flagging sales of the GameCube and the Game Boy Advance have hurt the company, which saw its profits dive over the last year. The Wii should change this. Nintendo expects to sell 6 million Wiis and 17 million games by the end of March.
The price isn't too much of a surprise. Nintendo's Satoru Iwata has comforted shell-shocked gamers with talk of the Wii being cheaper than it's hardware rivals for some time now.
The company is, however, not giving away all its secrets just yet and will not be doling out pricing details until closer to launch, which is scheduled for sometime this autumn.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games
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