Topic: Wii U Expected Price Revealed by Nikkei

[Patchkid15]

How much could you expect to pay for Wii U?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/30432

The Wii U's expected price was revealed to be 30,000 yen (roughly $383) by trusted Japanese newspaper Nikkei.

Nintendo has said that they had no plans of revealing the price of the console at E3, so this expected price may not be completely accurate.

The report also revealed information regarding distribution of content on the Wii U, such as a car navigator, books, and a karaoke service that will supposedly have 10,000 songs.

Currently, the 3DS roughly costs 15,000 yen (roughly $191), which is relatively close to the North American price of the 3DS, which is $170. Assuming the 30,000 yen ($383) expected price is accurate, the system could likely cost over $300 in North America.

Nikkei has previously accurately reported on both the 3DS and the Wii U before their official reveals. It's likely that they are close to accurate on this.

[Kairon]

It used to be I could look at a price of 30,000 Yen and just assume it would hit $300 in the USA, by the drastic weakening of the America dollar versus the Japanese Yen just throws a wrench in all that.

[Enner]

Looks like US$350 might be a reality. Hopefully, the system will have the tech to match. EXCITE!

[Askherserenity]

Man...I think US$350.00 might be too much. The only it'll be able to get away with this is if the tech is actually that good.  I think it'll have to have noticeable differences in graphics compared to the other systems to make anyone other than Nintendo fans actually want it.

[lenny]

I knew it! I bet it'll be $349.99 If so im getting 5 launch titles! (if those are $49.99-$54.99)

[blodtryck]

Well if americans pay 350$ for the console I suppose euro-zone europeans will have to pay 350€ (even though 350€ are like 440$…). I hope it'll launch around 300€ though.

[Ian Sane]

If I don't get the karaoke does it cost less?

I joke, but, seriously, if there is extra cost with non-gaming nonsense I don't want, it would be nice to get a discount.  We first got SKUs last gen but that approach seemed to be that the hardcore gamer would want the most expensive one.  But I don't want the non-gaming features, so it actually would make sense to have a cheap "games only" machine for someone who doesn't care about the extras.  Odds are most of the extras would be stuff you could buy online at a later time, if you wanted them, so they could be stripped out.

Prior to last gen, videogame systems were pretty lean.  You got a very basic system and the only extra features was stuff like CD or DVD playback which made sense largely because those systems already used that medium for the games.  Nowadays they throw so much extra stuff in.  I get the idea is that they want the touchscreen to be standard but it isn't really all that generic so only some games are going to use it in a meaningful way (though lots will use it in a forced way) and yet everyone buying the system HAS to pay for it.

If the choice was between $350 for a Wii U or $300 for a Wii U where the tablet controller is an optional accessory, I would get the $300 one (and if it's optional they can't force in gimmicky controls; they HAVE to support normal controls on almost every game).  The Xbox 360 has Kinect and core gamers think it's a joke so they don't have one.  That's actually a good setup.  The 720 will undoubtably come with Kinect, so core gamers will have to pay for it, but they'll never want to use it.  And then because it is now standard, MS will shoehorn it where it doesn't belong and likely ruin some otherwise good games.

[Sageprotector]

Whether it's good or bad, the amount of features fare what matter more in the cost, including the production costs of coruse.

[VickiL]

I'd pay $350, if it has the games I want.  I do hope they have more memory for downloading games, though, at that price, so I don't have to buy external memory at launch.

[KeyBilly]

I can't really afford that, but I do not mind waiting for a price drop.  Waiting means more color selection, cheap AAA games that I missed, and bundles.

[Kairon]

God I hope that Karaoke thing is true, has a deep library, and comes to the states...

[Bman87301]

I'm not taking any of the claims from this report seriously...

First off, a Car Navigator...? Wouldn't that require you to take the GamePad with you in the car? How is that going to be possible if the GamePad requires the Wii U console and can't function as standalone portable? I could see that being implemented with 3DS, but not Wii U...

As for the price, it's pretty clear that Nintendo is planning to gauge the reaction at E3 to determine a final price. If they already had a price determined, they would just make the announcement at E3 rather than waiting a week.

Besides, maybe it's just my own wishful thinking, but I believe it's still a strong possibility it'll be $250, with $300 being the absolute highest they'll go.

The facts simply don't add up, so I'm guessing this report is 100% speculation.

[BlackNMild2k1]

$349.99

That is the ceiling and the price I've been expecting.

[Mop it up]

Seems a little suspect, though $350 is what I was starting to think it'd be after hearing more about what the system can do.