Nintendo Wii launch details "announced"

Im fairly sure Wii will be less than $200 when it ships.

I have read a few financial reports online, and it seems that given the hardware in the Wii, it should cost Nintendo no more than $150 to build and ship a Wii. If this is right, and they charge $249.99, that would be a profit margin of 60% which is unheard of in consumer electronics, much less video game hardware which is either sold at a paper thin margin, or at a loss to get it into homes so they can start selling software, which is where the real money is at. That being said, Nintendo normaly does not sell hardware at a loss, so if I were to guess $199 would be a more likely strategy. Though if that aprox $150 figure is true, it could be even less, maybe $179 by time they ship, I seriously doubt it will be as much as $249 given what I have read. I just dont think Nintendo is ready to show their full set of cards to Microsoft and Sony just yet.

by CliffnMichelle (See profile) - June 1, 2006 12:05 PM PDT

The XBox and PS3 fanboys have to realize that they are not the market Nintendo is going after. I'm a former hard core gamer that unfortunately grew up and got busy with the usual job and responsibility issues. My time for gaming became limited. The idea of shelling out the money that the next gen machines go for is simply to much to justify buying them for me. The lower price point and ability to play a lot of the games I grew up on are what will make me buy the system on the date of release. You also have to remember that the system with the best graphics isn't automatically the sales leader. The Atari 2600 was the crudest of the consoles of its era and trounced the competition. The current DS and GBA are dominant despite the fact the PSP has much more horsepower. In short it isn't only horsepower that counts but the playability.

by andrewrm (See profile) - May 26, 2006 8:01 AM PDT

This is awesome news for Microsoft. $50 more and you can step up big time to a high definition and more adult oriented console. Awesome job Nintendo. This should sink ya.

by sonysmells (See profile) - May 26, 2006 1:28 AM PDT

They have always said it will not exceed the $250 price point. That DOES NOT mean it will be $250! And again, they said that its coming in 4th quarter of this year at E3. This is pretty terrible reporting, guys.

And why again is this front page news???

by peestandingup (See profile) - May 25, 2006 11:00 PM PDT

$250 is not a bad price, considering motion sensor technology could be very expensive. Plus the taxes nintendo has to pay and recover from advertisements and all other investments

by Ace587 (See profile) - May 25, 2006 8:49 PM PDT

Wow, a gamecube goes for under $100 and the graphics are about the same as this pathetic wii. So you justify the cost of the console simply because it's nintendo and it has a $150 accessory, the dumb wand joystick? ROFLMAO.

Why not buy the original xbox instead? You will have better graphics and more games.

Graphics aren't everything? So say the fanboys of the console with the worst graphics. LOL!!!! I guess if you like playin 8bit nes and snes then THIS CONSOLE IS FOR YOU!!!!!!!!11eleven.

Hopefuly Microsoft will buy Nintendo, or Nintendo will become a software company. Losing to Microsoft on their first try is just pathetic.

by sonysmells (See profile) - May 25, 2006 3:14 PM PDT

$250 is a fabulous price for a system like this. Motion sensitive controllers, online play, full backward compatibility, Virtual Console, sleek design, strong third party support, nice price tag... not to mention it's launching with Zelda and Metroid which already guarantees one of the strongest launches of the decade. Very exciting stuff.

by jgzeidan (See profile) - May 25, 2006 2:02 PM PDT

Since the graphics (so far) have not been much more impressive than the cube, they can't justify a price hike. Their reasonably priced system will make it more marketable and the new style of gameplay (despite learning curves) will make it a strong consumer and family oriented system.
I played the Wii at E3 and it's Nintendo's best (and possibly last) shot at winning significant market share in the US. It will be the first system I feel the need to reserve and get my hands on asafp. $250 is a good deal.

by bac187 (See profile) - May 25, 2006 8:29 AM PDT