Nintendo To Drop Wii's Price and Introduce Budget Line

BreakABone · 05-02-2011, 11:53 PM

According to retail sources, Nintendo is set to lower the price of the Wii from 199.99 to 149.99 in the coming weeks. Also appears, they are gonna do a bundle game reshuffle, now including Mario Kart Wii. Some confusion as if they are dropping Wii Sports from the bundle.

Also, Nintendo is set to release "Wii Select" line of titles, which is budget release of some of their bigger games including Twilight Princess and Super Smash Bros Brawl

Quote:

Nintendo will drop the price of the Wii to $149 in North America this month, according to details forwarded to Kotaku by retail sources. That price drop, first reported in April, will also coincide with a new budget friendly line of Wii software dubbed "Wii Select."

Price lists from North American retailers indicate that the new $19.99 USD "Wii Select" line will kick off with cheaper versions of Mario Super Sluggers, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Nintendo has maintained the original price of some of those titles since their launch.

Also joining to "Wii Select" line-up, according to retailer listings, will be Wii Sports, a title bundled with Wii systems since the console's launch in North America in 2006. Those same pre-order pricing sheets indicate that Nintendo will soon bundle Mario Kart Wii with the console, selling Wii Sports separately.

That new Mario Kart Wii bundle will sell for $149, according to those retail listings, and will go into effect on May 15. Those details match up with a report last month that pegged a formal Wii price drop from $199 to $149

Nintendo officially dropped the price of two games, Wii Party and Wii Sports Resort, last month by $10. An informal price drop for the Wii went into effect that same week at most U.S. retailers.

The Wii maker has not officially announced or confirmed this latest price drop for the Wii or its software.

With Nintendo planning to reveal the Wii's successor, codenamed Project Cafe, at E3 2011 by showing a playable next-generation console, and a thinning 2011 release list, the company's best strategy may be to let the console coast at an easier to swallow price.

Nintendo of America hasn't followed its "Player's Choice" budget line strategy with the Wii, as it did in the previous cycle with the GameCube and Game Boy Advance. Nintendo of Japan created the budget friendly "Minna no Osusume Collection" early last year.

http://kotaku.com/#!5797802

Angrist · 05-03-2011, 03:00 AM

Nice. Here in the Netherlands I've already seen comparable deals (Wii + Wiisort + Mario Kart for €170).

BreakABone · 05-03-2011, 03:48 PM

Guess official, but only launching with 4 titles?

Angrist · 05-03-2011, 04:36 PM

Are 3 of those 4 games basically GameCube games? Zelda is a waggle-port, Animal Crossing has been the same since the N64, Sluggers... I'm not sure about that one. It failed to have an impact, I know that.

BreakABone · 08-16-2011, 09:56 AM

Four more games addded:

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Blix · 08-16-2011, 10:18 AM

Mario Strikers might find its way to my collection if I have some money. That paper Mario looks really good but if it is like the Thousand Year Door (on the GCN) I really don't have time for an rpg these days. I think it was a more platforming formula though.

Vampyr · 08-16-2011, 10:36 AM

Nice! I'd like all those games, except Galaxy, which I already have.

BreakABone · 08-16-2011, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blix

Mario Strikers might find its way to my collection if I have some money. That paper Mario looks really good but if it is like the Thousand Year Door (on the GCN) I really don't have time for an rpg these days. I think it was a more platforming formula though.

I wish it was like Thousand Year Door

No its more of a platform/RPG hybrid than RPG/platform hybrid.

Also... I own all of these games.