Topic: Wii: The cheapest expensive console

[Requiem]

On another thread Rhoq tip me off about something. This new technology has never been seen by the casual gamer or the loving mother. This technology, simply because it's "new" and cutting-edge, will be percieved as expensive regardless of what the specs look like.

That is great news. We were afraid that Nintendo would look like it was missing something, or because it will be priced lower than the other two, that it couldn't possible be better.

However, I believe Nintendo was very wise in holding back the info about exactly how much it will cost. Think about it. If they launch an ad campaign that simply intices the consumer with no price to be seen and with the greatest and most graphically-competent games, people will say "Wow, what the hell is that? It looks cutting-edge....blah blah blah" Then when Nintendo announces the price (a month or two before launch), people will go hysterically claiming it as a steal.

It's a great plan to be sure.

[Stimutacs Addict]

plus couldn't they be evaluating the PS3 pricepoint in order to decide how much RAM they want to put in the Wii? As in, Nintendo is holding off on pricing because they feel like upping the memory but still enter at half of the PS3 price?
just a theory..

[ThePerm]

that would be a good idea...but who knows

[OverHeat]

Actually, I think you both have very good points there.  

[Louieturkey]

Half the price of the cheap excuse for a PS3 just to sell a couple more of them.

[Rhoq]

Requiem - thanks for the nod

I think once people (ie: the general public) sees the Wii in action, the controller technology will have them thinking the console is lightyears ahead of the XBox 360 and the PS3. Graphically, the games look pretty damn good. The DS has already proved that you don't have to have the prettiest and sharpest graphics to be a winner. The technology behnd the device is what's driving sales and innovating the world of gaming.

To have the Wii priced even at $249.99 - only $50 less than the entry level XBox 360 "Core" System, it will really appear to be a steal. While we know that console itself, is really not much more than current-generation hardware, it's not going to matter to Joe Public. Once they see what the new controller brings to the gaming experience, they'll be blown away and find it hard to believe that Nintendo can deliver all of this for less than the competition.

[EasyCure]

i told my mom once about Wii randomly and she was like "are you going to buy it" with this tone in her voice as if she were worried. i told her "of course i am" and she was like "why are you going to throw away all that money" and i told her how much it would be, and told her how much the 360 was and ps3 will be and her mind was blown. she couldnt understand why it would be cheaper then the other two because she thought the technology of the controller was something so new that it HAD to be expensive.

she isnt a gamer, not at all, but she loves my brain age game and sometimes borrows my ds to play a quick sadoku puzzle. she knows nothing about gigs and HD or any of that, but the simple idea of 3d motion sensing in a video game, after she's seen me play NES, SNES, n64, and GCN; she thinks its such a step into the future that she assumed such a machine would be too expensive. So all your thoughts are correct, to joe public the price point will be a steal compared to the other two systems out there that don't even offer what nintendo is.

that and consumers are dumb. someone else (not you ceric) brought this up in another thread, that countless parents went to retailers asking for the PS9 because they saw the ad's for it, and new their kids wanted a "playstationg something or other" and thought that was the new thing. a few ads like that for Wii would make the Wii stand out in parents minds who know nothing about video games and want to buy the new "cool" thing for their kids.

the ads could have Wiimotes doing all sorts of crazy futuristic things and have some cliche slogan like "the future starts here" and show the Wiimote standing upright against a black screen, then morphing into the Wii logo. that all it would take to sell the average consumer on something and make them think its lightyears ahead of its time

[Talon]

Im glad the Wii is not too expensive.  I believe the best way to play Wii multiplayer games would be to have two consoles and hopefully they can be lanned together.  Maybe one of the reason's Nintendo didnt go down the HD route was that atm its still too expensive for the masses.