Wii U Launch Price Expected to Be $399

It seems that the Wii U will be one of the most expensive launches in Nintendo’s history, as reports indicate that the console will launch at a $399 price point.

In an interview, Nintendo of America prez Reggie Fils-Aime stated:

“If I’m the head of a household of a family of four, and my disposable income is $50,000 to $60,000, I’m going to continue to look at the Wii because of the software, and it’s a great entertainment device. For consumers who want to have the latest gadgets and have a higher disposable income, that’s for the Wii U.”

Those eyebrow raising comments have laid an expected MSRP of $399 for the Wii U and its tablet-styled controller. Let us know what you think.

0 thoughts on “Wii U Launch Price Expected to Be $399”

  1. Doesn’t matter, I’ve saved up enough money to buy anything they throw at me. If there are any awesome launch titles, I will buy it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Episode 423: Nintendo NXEpisode 423: Nintendo NX

This week revolves around Nintendo’s upcoming console. Otherwise, there isn’t much to speak of in terms of shocking news. However, there is a lot of it this time around.

The news items include:

  • Stardew Valley multiplayer, console ports confirmed
  • Nintendo NX launching March 2017, new mobile games on way
  • Oculus Rift arrives at Best Buy stores ahead of pre-orders
  • Nintendo won’t sell NX at a loss
  • Classic Sega Mega Drive ROM hacks hit Steam workshop

Question of the Week: “Ever play any console ROM hacks?”

Nielsen Ratings, PS3 Played Less Than Classic Xbox?Nielsen Ratings, PS3 Played Less Than Classic Xbox?

In a WTF moment, Neilsen Ratings shows more gamers are playing the classic Microsoft Xbox console than the PlayStation 3. While 9.7% of gamers are playing the Xbox 7.3% are playing the PlayStation 3 but Sony isn’t out of the picture by a long shot, having 31.7% of gamers playing the PlayStation 2!

Only 13.4% of gamers are playing the Wii even though it’s the hottest selling console on the market, showing the fury of the casual gamer it seems. It’s trendy to own a Wii but it’s not trendy to play it; it would be interesting to see how much of the 13.4% is Wii Sports.

We’re guessing there are more classic Xbox gamers playing their console compared to the PlayStation 3 because of the console cost. You can find a used Xbox for under $25.00 on eBay but the question remains, who wants a used Xbox? The audience for the PS3 is more hardcore, more elite and more rare compared to the cost conscious gamers in the larger game industry pie.

More than likely, in ten years, we’ll see most gamers playing the PlayStation 3 while Microsoft works to claim demographics on whatever their next console will be. However, we’re not so sure how many Wii gamers will be playing their current generation console in ten years. Probably very few given the two year old console still has a small amount of gaming public.

(Thanks, 1up)

Small Games Make Big WavesSmall Games Make Big Waves

The game industry is doing “okay” in this bad economic time compared to other industries.  Primarily, Nintendo is rocking the house with their games, hand-held’s and consoles while mobile developers are showing some great successes in the industry. Many success stories in our industry are based on small titles, downloadable games of the more “casual” style while a few larger titles are experiencing slower than expected sales trends.

wiiwareWe’ve mentioned this in the past, but the tough economy gives many smaller developers great opportunities for success. While big publishers struggle to look good in the eyes of the investor, tiny developers can produce quality titles for minimal cash investment and time to market. Ten years ago, smaller developers tried to compete with the big boys making larger titles, cloning successful titles or simply asking investors to put it on the line for their game. Today, developers can create a small iphone app, a cute WiiWare title or exploit the XNA efforts of Microsoft for Xbox Live Arcade and actually have a chance.

There are still challenges with these smaller developers when working in the WiiWare and XBLA publishing channels, your game marketing and promotion becomes highly reliant on Nintendo, Microsoft or Sony for PSN. Tom Prata, senior director of Nintendo of America talked to Gamespot about this issue:

“Finally, there’s the problem of promotion. It’s not enough to make a great game if nobody notices it. Prata specifically said Nintendo will be devoting more resources to support the promotion and development of WiiWare games in the future.” (gamespot)

Of course, in the world of smaller game titles and downloadable casual games, you’re going to be at risk of finding a lot of “shovelware” — products that are only released to make a quick dime, often based on some license or popular theme/character. The great game titles will, hopefully, rise to the top and show themselves off amongst all the wanna-be money makers.

Those smaller developers putting a huge passion into their titles actually have a chance in this new industry trend. Game makers, internationally, now have a chance to grasp a small piece of the industry and make their dreams come true. The core audience may see this as a trend of noisly low quality titles, but I believe the industry needs this change to grow a new generation of developers based on niche interests.

While many can wait for their next release of Madden the rest of us will continue to spend a little money to see what the future innovators are going to be bringing to the table.