Nintendo Wii Fanboy

The way I see it, this is ostensibly the most technologically advanced controller to date. Why is it any surprise that the Wiimote, which contains accelerometers and gyroscopes, an infrared-based pointing device, a Bluetooth radio, several LEDs, a speaker, rumble technology and... if I've heard correctly, memory enough to store your player profile, should cost all of $10 more than the Xbox 360 wireless controller (looking at Amazon's prices), Nunchuk *included*!

The reason Nintendo is making money on these things at this point is economies of scale, for the unit and the controllers. The controllers are still costing *something*, though; I'm guessing their margins are slimmer.

A "ridiculous amount of money" would be $100. This is a sting in the shins at worst. And not all games require the nunchuk.

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Guys, this is a capitalist society - PROFITS ARE NOT BAD! If you don't like it, don't buy it. I think the controller is expensive mainly because of the accelerometers, lasers, speaker, memory, rumble, and wireless components needed for the Wii experience. Remember, this is ONLY $10 more than an Xbox 360 wireless controller, and the Wii controller has WAY more functionality.

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--#1, I totally agree. The Wii-mote has so much technology shoved into it it's a wonder it's not more than $60 for the set. I think in the long run pay $60 for the ability to play with a friend or two will be well worth it.

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I swear Chris, I wrote my comment before I read yours.

Great minds....

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Heaven forbid Nintendo should want to make a little money... (rolls eyes)

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Nintendo turn a healthy profit coming in 3rd place with the gamecube. If the Wii come in third this time around nintendo will still be here 5 years from now for the next gen.

On the other hand if Sony or Microsoft come in third it automatically means they've lost millions... maybe billions of dollars. At some point they may decide to cut their losses. and abandon the console market. The Sony/microsoft business model is pretty much all or nothing, you win big or you lose everything.

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There's nothing wrong with a company making money, but I find it disappointing that the GAMERS can't benefit from Nintendo trying to subsidize hardware prices a little. I guess it's smart business on Nintendo's part, but it makes little sense to me that the system costs as much as it does, when it is a Xbox 1.5 (in terms of specs).

I knew Nintendo was going to make a killing on the controllers, but $60 for the Nunchuck set seems incredibly high as well. Microsoft's approach to hardware was to sell the 360 at a loss, but reap it all in accessories. It looks like Nintendo doesn't want to save gamers a few bucks at all. Oh well.

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ok i'm using UK prices because well it suits me :) taking the price on play.com right now:

Official Nintendo Classic Controller (White) £12.99
Official Nintendo Nunchuk (White) £12.99
Official Nintendo Remote Control (White) £24.99

While i admit i'd prefer something a little cheaper, i am reminded i paid £30 for a wavebird and all that had was wireless. why is everyone expecting new consoles to cost less than 4 years ago?

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Andrew: You seem to be under the impression that the reason Microsoft is selling the 360 at a loss is to benefit us. But they aren't. The reason they're selling it at a loss is because they don't believe they can sell a high enough volume of the consoles at a higher price. If they thought we would buy them at $600, $700 or even $1,000, they would sell it at those prices. But most people wouldn't buy them at such a steep price, thus requiring Microsoft to sell the system at a loss with the intention of recouping the cost in licensing and games. They aren't selling it at a loss out of the kindness of their hearts, to benefit us, but primarily to ensure sufficient numbers of people buy them so there is a market for the software.

Prudent manufacturers set their prices at the highest price that they believe their target market will bear. Nintendo obviously thinks people will pay $250 for an enhanced GameCube with a fancy new interface. Many people are happy with the price considering it comes with a pack-in. I would've preferred they threw in an additional controller ($60 for another controller does sting). We'll know in a couple of months whether Nintendo got the pricing right.

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The Wii is NOT an "enhanced GameCube". It's merely able to play Gamecube games.

The Wii is it's own system.

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To be fair, the Wii IS a glorified gamecube. The gearbox president essentially said, it is a supercharged gamecube, they can program exactly how they did before, but it has more power, more memory, and better graphics. So in that sense, yes, it is an upgraded gamecube. Difference being, it has a hightech input device (see post #1).

The thing you have to take into account is, when you pay $250, you can go home and immediately start playing your Wii and hook it up to the internet. That's all. No extras needed. It's that simple. Hopefully a retailer will make a bundle, have more wii-motes packed in. Heck, all that gouging last year with the 360 bundles, the Wii bundles might actually be WORTH it.

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There are three reasons why I believe controllers for Wii are too expensive.

1. The Wiimote and Nunchuck are sold separately, even though both will be needed for most games, and could be somewhat cheaper if sold together.

2. Full controller capability for each additional person will cost $80(!), not $60, because Virtual console games (and possibly games like Smash Brothers that use a more traditional control method) require the classic controller.

3. In Japan, while most games for Wii will cost the same, controllers will be significantly cheaper ($32 vs. $40 for the Wiimote, and $15 vs. $20 for the Nunchuck and Classic Controller).

A $250 Wii, plus $20 so you can play Virtual Console games, plus another $80 for a second person means that a Wii with full controller capability for two people costs just as much as an Xbox 360 Core System with an extra wireless controller. For three people, Wii actually costs $30 more, and for four, $60 more. If you want multiplayer, Wii's price advantage disappears quickly.

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i have always seen the wiimote to be a better version of the glorious powerglove. damn even the sensors are better. and it won't feel like your wearing a rolled up sleeping bag over your hand. 60 bucks aus roughly for the remote? not too bad. the only probably i can see with a price like that is that kids will be outa pocketmoney for a long while and those working casual might struggle to feed this currently nonexistant hobby/obsession. so all in all. bring it on. as long as i don't have to buy frikken exension cords and the remotes (hopefully) have a lifetime above 8 hours (but with luck not 8.5 hours... damnit nintendo) i'm happy.

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Well,
wasn´t the SNES a glorified Nes?
The only thing that was better were the graphics and the sound. the new controller was neat too.

The point is that if the Wii hardware is based on enhanced gamecube architecture, why should people complain?

Every other generation has been the same way!

But Wii is much, much more than an overclocked gamecube with a fancy controller

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every system is a glorified other system.

seriously guys.
sony spells it out for you
ps2 - 3

its just a glorifired(expensified) ps2.
xbox - 360 its just a bigger xbox.

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I guess in a sense Xbox 360 and PS3 are glorified versions of their predecessors, but the similarities between Wii's hardware and Gamecube's are much stronger.

Specifically, both of these systems have at least ten times more raw power than their predecessors, 512 Megabytes of RAM, full HD compliance, and advanced architectures capable of new effects like HDR lighting and Parallax Mapping that their predecessors aren't. From quite a few developer comments I've read, Wii's hardware architecture is extremely similar to Gamecube's. I've also read multiple reports that it's about twice as powerful and has somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 Megs of RAM.

If you want to refer to next-generation systems as enhanced versions of current ones, okay, but Wii is still a special case.

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To back up my statements in the previous post, here's part of a post from Joystiq:


The October issue of EGM features a candid interview with Gearbox founder and president, Randy Pitchford, regarding his thoughts on all three next-gen platforms. The game developer is primarily known for Brothers In Arms, Half-Life, and several PC ports including Halo and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. Here are some of the most notable comments from the interview:

(There were a few more quotes, but these are the pertinent ones)

On comparing the PS3 to Wii: "From a computing power point of view, the PS3 is a generational leap. The Wii is not."

On Wii development: "The Wii is like a supercharged GameCube! We can do things exactly like we did them in the last generation, except we have faster processors and lots of extra RAM for us to make everything look better and run faster."

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The profit is on the system itself. They may just be breaking even on the Wiimote, but they are making a significant profit on the Wii console.

As we keep hearing, it's just slightly more advanced than the original XBox...

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I can even believe that that remote will not be sold for much of a profit at $40. However, there is no way that they can convince me that a nunchuck costs close to $20 to produce. Also, it stings that the Japanese versions cost so much less.

Believe it or not, the high controller cost will actually stop me from buying the console at launch. An additional $180 just to get my system fully functional (I own all the previous Nintendo systems, and do not consider them complete without all four controllers) is just too much for me to spend right now.

As for the person who says that it cost $80 to get a new set of controllers per person: Are you really going to be playing retro games for 4 players? If you are, you can't add that to the base cost of covering an extra person, it is an added future. That's like adding the price for the wireless add-on for the 360 (to enable wireless Live and thus multi-player) as well as the price of the subscription for Live. See how that logic adds up? Doesn't seem cheaper anymore, does it?

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I forgot to mention in the last comment : I think that Nintendo will probably let you use GameCube controllers for playing retro games as well. I would certainly be surprised if they don't allow you to use GC controllers for Super Smash Brothers.

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It may not be that common for people to purchase four classic controllers, but a lot of N64 games supported that many players. My main point was that for two people to be able to play all the games, you will have to pay $350, the same price as an Xbox 360 and two controllers.

As far as using GC controllers for VC games or titles like Smash Bros., It's a good idea, but who knows whether it'll happen or not? Nintendo certainly didn't mention it at the conference.

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*SethwantshisWii: "The Wii-mote has so much technology shoved into it it's a wonder it's not more than $60 for the set."

You don't really know anything about manufacturing, do you?

I bet you also think the omission of an Ethernet port saves Nintendo $5-$10 per console. No, I will never forgive Nintendo for that. That's just damn cheap.

Profit is not a dirty word, but there is something to be said about customers who encourage profit elaboration while not understanding real-world manufacturing practices. This is a growing trend in the electronics industry, and it's pretty sad when end-users go out of their way to justify "black boxes."

The only reason why the system is so expensive is because they have good press, and they charge the highest price people will tolerate. Manufacturing costs have nothing to do with it.

But, that's the casual market, for you.

For the money, it'd be nice if the controller came with a high-capacity rechargable battery. I wonder how many people are adding the cost of NiMH batteries and a charger when they determine their budget? Yes, I can already hear you yelling that they don't cost much. So what? How many other "little" things do you have to buy? What do they cost altogether?

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i think some of you guys are being retarded. No one is making you buy 4 Complete sets of controllers right from the get go. Sure its almost forced that you will have to get 1 more wiimote cuz some games require 2 ( that drum game), but i think the cost isn't that bad considering how much stuff the wiimote can do. Go see how much some tv remotes cost.
as for total cost of the system and comparing the 360 with wii you just gotta ask yourself: Do you wanna play something different and something that actually seems fun, or the same fps's and rehash sports games over and over.

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