Ken Cauley.com

Nintendo Wii @ $249.99 - November 19th

Posted on September 14th, 2006 by kencauley.
Categories: News.

The console will be available at retailers in North America on November 19, 2006 for $249.99 and come packed with a copy of Wii Sports – a game featuring baseball, tennis, golf, boxing and bowling – for free. Nintendo says it plans to ship 4 million Wii units worldwide this year.

The Wii package also comes with the following items: Wii console, Wii free-hand controller (with strap) nunchuck attachment, Wii AC adaptor, Wii A/V cable, Wii console stand, sensor bar, sensor bar stand and two AA batteries

Nintendo plans to charge $49.99 for Wii software, putting games on the system at a price point ten dollars lower than Xbox 360 software.

Wii also comes with Nintendo’s own retro games download service called Virtual Console. Nintendo plans to charge between $5 and $10 for each Virtual Console game. Over 30 classic games will be available through the download service at launch, including games from the Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong franchises. Nintendo plans to allow users to purchase said games using their credit card or by using a pre-purchased card with purchase points on it.

Further, Nintendo promises that ten Virtual Console titles will be released every month after the end of the year.

While Nintendo insists Wii is all about gaming, it is including several functions for Wii, hoping to expand its audience. One of these features allows consumers to share their photos using a photo channel on the console. What’s more, the system also features a simple “news” and “weather” channel. There is also a “Mii Channel” that allows users to create their own customizable avatars, which can be saved to both the Wii console and Wii-mote.

Wii also features the ability to browse the web through Opera.

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