Nintendo Announces Wii Price and Date

It's official. The constant rumors, debates, and general arguing can be put to rest. Nintendo has announced their next home console, the Wii, will find its way into North American and South American homes on November 19. Its retail price will be $250.
This information comes from the company's Japanese press event, which has received significant attention over the past week. This puts the company in an interesting position, going directly against rival Sony Computer Entertainment and their Playstation 3 console. The lower price point of the Wii undercuts Sony by $350 when compared to the Playstation 3's $600 model.
Nintendo states that 25 games will be ready at launch. The price of the console includes Wii Sports, a compilation of easy-to-grasp sports games. The company debuted tennis as this years E3. "Virtual Console" titles, which are downloadable games from Nintendo's history (from the NES to the N64), will range from $5 to $10.
Nintendo's goal is to draw in a non-gaming audience with the Wii, and with the lowest price point of the three new consoles, the company puts themselves in position to do so. The success of the Nintendo DS, the company's touch screen-based portable, shows there's an audience.
Nintendo has also promised 4 million units to be in worldwide stores by the end of a year, likely the benefit from less expensive and familiar hardware. While Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's Playstation 3 battle on the high end of graphic and sound chips, Nintendo's unique, downplayed approach makes them stand out for the opposite reasons.

Matt Paprocki is the reviews editor for Digital Press, a cl•••ic video game website which he called home after his fanzine (Gaming Source) published its final issue. The deep game collection which spans nearly 30 systems and 2,000 games line his walls for reasearch purposes. Really.

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