Nintendo Surprises with $250 Wii

US and Japan details and packaging revealed.

The last week or so has seen a lot of speculation on the price of Nintendo's new console, the Wii, due later this year. Perhaps driven by a wave of positive buzz, the estimates were generally around the $200 range. It won't be quite that cheap.

Iwata at this morning's conference in Tokyo. Wearing a blue tie. Not wearing a pink tie at a conference in June. (huh?)

Starting Thursday, the company finally began giving out launch information for the new console, confirming specifics for both Japan and the US. Nintendo is holding a press briefing in London on Friday to give our European price and release date.

Like the DS, the Wii will launch first in the US. It will be out on 19 November and cost $250. This will give you the console, including the motion sensor, and a Wii remote with Nunchuck attachment. Nintendo is also going retro, in a manner of speaking, by packing in Wii Sports - a compilation game that includes versions of tennis, baseball, golf, boxing and bowling.

Attractive packaging for Wii was revealed

In Japan, the Wii will cost ¥25,000, though this is without a copy of Wii Sports. The console is due in DS-dominated Japan on 2 December. Nintendo has confirmed it will have 16 games ready for the console's debut, including Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Made In Wario, Red Steel and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz.

One of the new feature unveiled today is the Wii Channels menu, which lets you go online, get news and weather forecasts, design custom game avatars and even view and edit photos.

Between launch and the end of the year, Nintendo is promising the Wii will have around three-dozen games. And that doesn't include the games for older systems that will be made available through the Virtual Console.

Nintendo hasn't yet revealed how much Europeans will be paying for the Wii (the company shot down report of it costing £150), but going by previous comments by the company, it seems likely that it will sell for €250 on the continent and around £170 in the UK. We'll know for sure on Friday, when Nintendo holds its UK Wii launch event.

Expect the only video coverage that matters, direct from the event.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games