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September 14, 2009 by The News Team
Filed Under: Wii
It's kind of hard for Nintendo to deny this one, even though when presented with the image and information above, Nintendo gave their old 'rumors and speculation' statement. This ad is set for September 27th, which means that we will almost assuredly be seeing a nation-wide price drop by the end of this month. And yes, the system still comes with Wii Sports. Thanks to DSkartmasta for the heads up!
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Come on, Nintendo, burp for us!
Will Ps3 Slim carry it's momentum over for months?
Can 360's price drop go toe to toe with the Slim Ps3?
And what about the Ps3 Slim and Wii, is the market saturated of Wiis? Enough software momentum for casuals to carry over the Wii?
VERY interesting month for October NPD, no doubt.
Seriously, I was worried Nintendo would be so full of themselves and be arrogant and not drop their price.
$199 this holiday season will definitely win over many peoples hard earned money, especially when compared to the other systems' $299 price tags.
And with black Wii remotes and nunchucks coming, New Super Mario Bros Wii, and Wii Fit Plus for the soccer moms and health nuts, Nintendo can do no wrong this holiday season.
Now lower the price of the DS Lite to $99 and the DSi to $129 and we'd be all set to rock and roll.
Won't do me much good, but fantastic for those ten people who still don't have a Wii, Lol.
Let's see how the sales go, I'm betting 400-500k, maybe even more if they promote it well enough and maybe add a new shtick to it. Although, maybe it's just me, but I'm kinda getting irritated with Nintendo and their deceiving nature. I mean, I totally get that, of course, they're not going to just blurt everything out, but to bluntly deny any price cut on several occasions, I just wish they could be more, 'Maaaaaybe, maaaaybe not' with their PR guys, rather than just 'No'. Although who knows, maybe this was just a "last second" decision, what, with the HD systems lowering their own and how the sales for those have helped greatly (Especially the PS3). ;D
Fro~
Funny story this reminds me of. Watching TV on the weekend, I saw the PS3 "rumor monger" ad three times. The first two times, it was using the Nigerian millionaire joke and once it used the WW1 line. Guess Sony isn't *that* sorry for offending Nigeria.
(Frankly, I don't think they should've changed it at all.)
52 million wii's sold set the tone for this generation.
As for Pachter being right...of course he's going to be right about some things, as even a broken clock is right twice a day. But he's still not any more insightful in his analysis than your average forum dweller. I'm sure he was expecting this a lot sooner, too.
There were people outright saying that Pachter was wrong in that a Wii price drop was coming.
'course, most anyone could see this, aside from the fanboys who believe everything Nintendo says.
He was wrong, because he has been saying this for like a year. He was only right because a price drop was inevitable, even if it happens 2-3 years after he claimed. A price drop doesn't benefit Nintendo as the price isn't the issue (disinterest is), and to see one happen just doesn't make sense.
When thinking about it, this looks to just be a liquidation. I suspect a new bundle is coming to replace the old one.
I'd say that's taking things lightly. Dropping into the red ocean will see that the Wii is eaten alive by anything dwelling within.
Nintendo needs to drive itself as far away as possible from the competition - get back to their E306 mission statement before it's too late.
It may already be too late for that. While they have been doing a better job with their original goal of advancing the user interface and growing the market, that user generated content misstep with Wii Music might have done permanent damage. It even has gotten Sean riled up, as he appears to be one step away from denouncing Nintendo.
Just think about how the Wii could be with actual 3rd party support (both Core and Expanded). I can't help but to facepalm at how the industry hates expansion so much as to product sabotage the system with shoddy software, continuing bad press and even false rumors like a HD Wii.
Honestly, even Sony and Microsoft tried new bundles and colors before doing their first price drop. Either Nintendo has something brilliant planned, or they have given up hope and deserve to suffer for it.
Good point. I haven't seen Malstrom so upset as he has been lately. I wouldn't outright denounce Nintendo, but I have to admit that I'm worried about the decisions they've made lately.
It's a shame that developers are still complaining about developing for the Wii... still dragging their feet. It's sickening really. Games are about the content, not the polygons, or the "vision" of some guy we don't give a rat's butt about.
Games used to be about the content, and enjoying it. Over the last decade or so, it has shifted to trying to "mature" gaming as an art form, even at the expense of quality if need be. While we always cared about the "graphics", we treated them as a supplement to what was really important, how you interact with the game (gameplay).
I can only shake my head in disbelief everytime I see hype surrounding the game be about its tech instead of the actual content. I don't care about soft shadowing, or how many polygons per second it pushes, or even how dangerously close to the uncanny valley it is, I only want to know about the game and its music.
Why so much hate for a videogame company ? Do you want a cookie to calm down ?
I honestly dont know why he constantly comes to a nintendo site. Gets old real quick when all you hear is negatives from a person.
You and I share the same line of thought. The whole shift has just soured my opinion on a ton of games and entire studios.
I guess that's why I've fallen for the Wii as much as I have - we've really seen a ton of content-focused games. I'm an admitted child of the early '80s, grew up with a 2600. I'm fortunate to remember when games were built around a fun experience - they were an addictive, but also strangely social affair (my parents even loved the Atari!). I'm definitely liking the attempt to shift back to content-focused games, where they don't have to have the shiniest visuals, or a "sweeping, movie-quality (HAH!) storyline." They just had to offer a good time.
Of course, I am an RPG nerd, and I'll admit that I do like the occasional "vision" game. However, I feel that it's become far too disturbing of a force in the market, turning the entire landscape into Uroboros.
The fact that studios are abandoning the idea of quality content entirely really sickens me. It's soured me on a number of studios, and really made me see what is to come for us, as gamers.
Of course, I have a rather unique opinion in that sense that, I'll be blunt: Hideo Kojima was possibly the absolute worst thing to happen to video games. Take that as you may.
If you guys can't stand him that much, just add him to your "foes" list. I ended up doing that with one user (not terryxlr). I thought I was just avoiding an argument, but I soon found the overall feel of this site became better for me.
@rpguy_ad
Not to be a douche, but you do realize the irony of having NMH referenced in your avatar?
Anyway, I basically share your line of thought as well. I miss the focus on "richly textured worlds" (as Sean once put it). We rarely even see adventure games on consoles anymore. It's fallen to mostly linear action games and FPS variants as far as fiction-based games go. I don't need a super amazing story, but I'd really like some more interesting worlds, with interesting characters, villains, and interesting lore behind it. I think that's what people are really asking for when they say they want Nintendo to make new IPs.
In this particular case, I didn't like how a bunch of people kept saying that Nintendo shouldn't lower the price of the Wii just because they didn't have to, as if screwing over consumers is perfectly fine and dandy. And I feel that the Wii and all it's peripherals are way expensive. Nintendo has been a little stinky lately, and the only bones they've thrown out is this price drop, and Metroid Prime Trilogy, which is just a compilation of three old games at a surprisingly fair price.
We don't know anything about this. It could be a price drop, a temporary sale, a liquidation of this bundle, who knows. The only thing we can do is wait and see what happens.
It's foolish for Nintendo to not even exhaust their other options (they only did a new color in one region), so for us to believe they're doing a price drop in North America before anything else is unbelievable.
If the console's still selling, then consumers clearly are seeing some sort of decent value in the Wii. They decide for themselves if something is worth the money, and if it's not, they simply won't buy it. It's not a matter of Nintendo "screwing them over".
Wii Remote = $40.
PS3 and 360 controllers = $50.
I somewhat share terryxlr idea in that I would've like to see what would happen to Wii sales numbers if the price stayed the same now that the PS3Slim is out and NSMB is coming.. Not that I want Nintendo to fail as a company, it was something I was curious about.
But I guess that being curious at the expense of more people still paying 250US$ for a Wii when I already bought mine at launch is not right.
Also, I think that Nintendo is way past the point where a price drop could've meant a significant difference in sales (which probably means that they still got away with theirs).
+ Nunchuck = $20 + WM+ = $20 which makes $40, so add the Wiimote and you have $80 spent on one fully functioning remote.
So yeah.
360 & PS3 are still cheaper.
Wiimote + nuncuck = $60
Add in Motion+ and it's $80. I'm just being technical here.
EDIT: Looks like Invalid Robot beat me to it.
@InvalidRobot
Actually $280 is cheaper than $350, is it not? I know math's not my best subject (I'm in AP Calculus right now [don't know how...] and I'm completely lost with the current lesson) but I'm pretty sure of which one is the smaller number.
Oh wait unless you mean the Arcade model for the 360 then yeah it's cheaper... if you never plan on getting a hard drive.
"Games used to be about the content, and enjoying it."
Believe it or not, games across all platforms are STILL about that, for the most part. Only people I know who dispute that are those who would rather not actually come to know what all three of the consoles this gen can contribute to gaming.
I found that to be hilarious too
Oh wait, sorry, didn't realize you meant the controllers ALONE. I thought you meant getting a system and extra controllers. My bad.
happens in every single article like this. I hear people spouting 'Blue ocean! Blue ocean!' as if consumers aren't at all whatsoever aware that there are multiple consoles on the market or as though the other two companies aren't giving a real effort to illustrate to the standard consumer the value behind their consoles. All I hear are crazy conspiracy theories, notions that the Wii has absolutely no competition whatsoever, entire articles being purposely misconstrued so as to give some sort of backing to strange claims, etc.
No, gaming is not all about the content anymore, or about expanding. Too many treat it as a way to either advance technology, or mutate gaming to mimic another industry (movies, art).
@WhatCD
Sean Malstrom made a blog entry about people like you. I think you should read it.
http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2009/ ... y-abounds/
More like:
Wii Remote = $40,
nunchuck = $20
wii plus = $20
rechargeable batteries = $10
Even if you don't factor in the wii plus you're still looking at an average of $70 for a wii/nunchuck combo.
"No, gaming is not all about the content anymore, or about expanding."
As the proud owner of all this generation has to offer (except for the PSP), I could not disagree more. Hey, maybe you have to be in my position to understand what I'm saying. While the advancement of technology has been talked about quite a bit this generation, I've seen said advancement add plenty to the games I've played over the last three years. Hear that? It's adding to the games I play, and I know that because I've actually played them. I'm not an observer - I'm experiencing the technological change myself, and while I will agree that far too much of a focus was placed on it this generation, I will in no way shape or form agree with the idea that games aren't about being games anymore. Some of em are different kinds of games, but what frustrates me is when people come in acting as though any sort of cinematic or technological change devalues the gameplay when it can, in fact, be seen as something to enrich the entire experience.
@Inneverate
'People like you'? You're starting to sound waaaay too much like Kirbylol, bro.
Anyway, I understand the idea behind a blue ocean strategy. Understand that. Also understand that I'm not entirely convinced that the Wii and the other two systems are being looked at by consumers as being targeted towards two seperate demographics anymore. I think Nintendo actually has some competition now, and while I'm not sure a price drop was necessary, I'm sure that at some point down the road, it would have been.
Many sequels this gen on the 360 and PS3 have been inferior to games from last gen. Too much focus is being put on higher resolution and irrelevant tech instead of refining the gameplay. Gaming from a core perspective is declining, which is no surprise seeing as the core market is shrinking.
@WhatCD
And there you go again with that accusation. I just pointed out that you are showing ignorance of the strategy, and isntead of educating yourself you seek to disprove it out of anger.
And you can continue to disagree about games not trying to be games all you want, it won't change the fact that it's true. Sure some developers attempt to keep games being games, but most don't.
"Many sequels this gen on the 360 and PS3 have been inferior to games from last gen. Too much focus is being put on higher resolution and irrelevant tech instead of refining the gameplay."
Based on what, now? I can see someone coming to that conclusion if they haven't actually played the game (and I've played a few that would indeed fit your assessment) but as someone who's played most of these games, I will reiterate - that is not the case, or at least for the most part.
There are games these days that are decidedly different than what we've come to know as gaming over the years - if you don't like 'em, they aren't for you. It's as easy as that, and as I said earlier, there aren't as many of those as you think there are. Most of the games that end up being lumped into that category are games that are pretty strong gameplay-wise yet end up being generalized for also bothering to put some effort forth when it comes to visuals or cinematic value.
@Inneverate
"I just pointed out that you are showing ignorance of the strategy, and isntead of educating yourself you seek to disprove it out of anger."
Out of anger? How'd you come to that conclusion?
Anyway, I fail to see how I'm 'showing ignorance' of the strategy - and I'm not attempting to disprove it, either. Why not explain why I'm wrong to me instead of simply going 'you're wrong, it's the truth no matter what you think, concede'? (and believe me, I'd bet money that I'm more open minded than you think me to be)
Maybe I worded what I said earlier badly. I mean to say that I believe Microsoft and Sony are starting to home in on what made the Wii unique to itself in the first place, and while I don't think they can hope to secure the entirety of the audience that found themselves purchasing the Wii, I do think that the measures they're taking can paint the systems differently and put them in a different position in the industry. You know what I'm saying?
I was just looking at the controller part, but you caught on.
Wouldn't the Wii still be more expensive though? It's more of a "party/friend" system. Unlike the 360 & PS3 where you can get away with just 1-2 controllers due to heavy online service. With the Wii most owners are going to need/want all the remotes plus all the extras (I know I did, and I sadly wish I didn't).
I guess it all depends on how many people you plan on having play with you. I have a family which is why I bought all the wiimotes + nunchucks.
Lowering the price $50 isn't going to help at all...I hope they're planning to bundle NSMB with Wiis for $230 or something. That's the only way I see a sales explosion resulting from this price drop. But hey, I'll eat my words if the Wii does something much higher like 900k in a month.
Of course I see the irony.
With ballooning budgets and shrinking profits, it's about time that someone stepped back and said "Wow... where did we screw up?"
Also, Both gamestop and my Gamecrazy hasnt stated anything, Nintendo is still ignoring it, it COULD just be a Toys R Us sale. Costco does it all the time. Either way not really a bad thing, its bad when the games stops flowing.
And in terms of poor quality in games im gonna say this. "I own every system from every generation and Ive played and own every game known to man, You can not deter my ideas because I spent (or acquired) so much of this media that I am GOD!! HAHAAA"
Still its just your opinion and MY opinion is the same, Games suck compared to last gen or the gen before. Sure there are a buncha good titles but nothing really awe inspiring. Physics, Cinematics, Character development, AI advancements dont make a game better to me.
Again, its just a game, Same league as Chess or Checkers. Sadly, Gameplay hasnt changed to much over the past few years or so and yeah, I know what im talking about.
Get defensive and try to rebuttal but your just telling someone to think otherwise about a GAME. I HATE Final Fantasy 7 and think its of poor quality, man I love personal opinions
Really, I dont hate FF7, i do think 6 was vastly better but FF7 is cool, and so is FF8, for the record. Also, I know you love me, I want to roll you up into my life.
Lets lump up to make, a single star in the sky!!
TTTTOOOOOO YYYYOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!
Interesting how offering a personal opinion becomes 'getting defensive' when someone else is doing it.
I understand opinions. How come opinions suddenly aren't kosher when they're contrary to someone else's established opinion?
I'm not gonna try to change your or anyone else's opinion of any given set of games, but if I disagree with ones assessment of the industry and whether or not gaming is 'losing its focus' or whatever, I'll make it known. After all, that's my opinion, ya know what I'm saying? :]
And yeah, I base what I say off of what I've observed. I'm not trying to say I suddenly become the only credible person in a disagreement because I have experience with a certain set of games, but as far as I'm concerned, it's kind of unfair to claim gameplay is going this or that way without having, you know, played the game beforehand. Looking at the way some of y'all look at the other consoles, I'm able to figure out pretty quickly who has actually played the games and who hasn't. Or at least I think I am, heh heh
I agree with ya about FF7, btw (though I think VI is a bit overrated - I'd take IX over it any day of the week).
My post was sort of a nerfing to anyone who would tell me im wrong about gameplay innovations this generations, jist of it?
I feel not many games are good this generation that would be an improvement on gameplay (sure, better graphics and sound is cool But . . . ) and should anyone reply in defense of their own opinion on the state of gameplay features this generation it would fall on deaf ears. Cause I DONT GIVE A s***.
Ive played many of the games you might throw at me and I wasnt impressed, just like someone here might have played a random Mario game and felt that it was a waste of time because of one thing or another. Wonderful, fantastic, keep your views, thats amazing, but dont bastardize anyone else for not thinking like you.
I mean, I guess you can, but then your just coming off a mean person ya know? LEave them alone with their views, they are leaving you alone i hope, ya? Cant we all just get along?
Also, the post wasnt aimed at you personally, WhatCD, the comment on the "Owning every system ever" seems to have surfaced as some sort of concrete fact that this (random person who owns everything) person should not be questioned in the realm of Video Games, because of what he/she "Owns." To me seems petty and childish that someone who spent their own time and money is trying to enforce personal views to someone who isnt on the same level. But, again, not aimed at anyone person, just making a generalization.
Was I hitting a soft spot bud? Didnt mean to sorry. Un bunch the panties I am here to make friends, not enemies. Here is the olive branch, white flag and a Pie, just dont be mad okay?
Feel free to post any opinion even thru the flames of trolls. Just saying we all have that "MAke one Opinion Free" card, and I find it silly anyone trying to change someone elses mind on something as mundane as quality in video games.
Now, I dont personally post much on my own opinions of a game or games, but I do post opinions on the state of the industry and its workings. But thats something different, and it does effect people who wish to include themselves in this genre. Mainly Opinions about the slight force to have to purchase every system or every game or every DLC just to play a game. Thats another story for another time.
Also Final Fantasy 9 was amazing, still love the soundtrack. I myself was a Phantasy Star Shining Force guy and didnt get a chance to play most FFs till recently, and I ust say Phantasy Star is the s***, and beats out Final Fantasy in most cases hahaa.
Sides, Phantasy Stars Online were much better than Final Fantasy 11. I had a robot flying Saturn helping my mob some boomas. So Fresh!
Here's the thing, though.
"dont bastardize anyone else for not thinking like you."
I didn't do that. That's why I couldn't relate to much of your post. In fact, you seem to be saying a few things that really made no sense to me, like -
"Un bunch the panties I am here to make friends, not enemies."
So am I, guy. I don't see how either you or Innervate came to the conclusion that I was angry or that my panties were bunched or what have ya.
"and I find it silly anyone trying to change someone elses mind on something as mundane as quality in video games."
As I said before, I was simply offering up my opinion in response to what someone else said - it's not so much that I want to see other peoples minds changed, I just want to see understandings coming from disagreements rather than just simple negativity. Ya know what I'm saying?
I don't think I was getting heated at all, dood
And why isn't Gamestop stating this fact as well since the CEO has been all over pushing for a price cut?
you are right though. Toys R Us has done special prices and bundles on their own in the past. wouldn't be much of a surprise to do it now. They're also doing a nationwide trade-in promotion as well.
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/10/toys- ... ssic-game/
I'd rather sit back and see where this is going than play "armchair analyst" with everyone.
And I still say that a price cut would be a step in the wrong direction.
Now, we're not going to call this true or confirmed or anything that implies we have any confidence in this image. In fact, there are a few possibilities:
1. It's real (yay!)
2. The art of faking retail ads has advanced significantly since the run-up to the PS3 Slim release, and it's a convincing fake
3. It's real, but the "price cut" term is actually referring to a Toys R Us sale (still yay, but not universally so).
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/14/rumor ... price-cut/
Now, again, this is just a rumor, and until something is officially announced by Nintendo that's all it will ever be. It's also possible that, if true, this is a separate Toys R' Us promotion, not a Nintendo one. Still, for all Nintendo has been raking in cash hand over fist with the Wii up until now, the company would be very shortsighted to not realize that one of the Wii's most attractive details - its low price tag - isn't quite so attractive with more powerful machines for just $50 more.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/vi ... Cut-to-200
Of all the fakeables in consumer electronics, the weekly newspaper ad has to be one of the easiest marks. Still, this one looks pretty legit, and if it's real it means either we're getting a much overdue Wii price cut on September 27th, or someone on the Toys R Us ad team has been severely misinformed. If it's not true and we have to wait another holiday season for the Wii to break the $200 mark, we're not getting Nintendo that Snuggie we promised it for Christmas -- everybody knows only good little boys, girls and multinational game companies get presents.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/14/wii- ... -seems-to/
Still, it could be a Toys'R Us thing, and not a worldwide one. We must wait.
Agreed.
He's talking about JUST September. Wii isn't going to have a massive explosion of people buying it in the last 4 days of the month to combat PS3.
October will be interesting though.
Honestly, considering how many people already own a Wii, I don't see how this is going to do anything.
I just want Nintendo to get hurt so they realize they can't be arrogant and pump out crap and need to start making games again. Copypasta Mario and Gamecube Zelda 4 doesn't count.
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