Nintendo’s Wii Will Cost Less Than $200

[D_o_S]

Nintendo's Wii game console, which launch is scheduled adjacent to Sony's PlayStation 3, may become the most affordable gaming machine in years, as its pricing will be around $200, according to an executive of Sega, one of the main game publishers for Nintendo's game consoles.

Scott Steinberg, vice president of marketing for Sega, said in an interview with Forbes that Nintendo's Wii would cost less than $200, mainly because it does not feature state-of-the-art "heavy-duty" processors like those in PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. Forbes further reported that Merrill Lynch analyst Justin Post predicted Thursday that the new machine, which will be released this fall, would sell for $200, a move that could prompt software publishers to create more titles for the gaming system.

Nintendo Wii console will feature IBM's custom PowerPC architecture based microprocessor named Broadway clocked at 729MHz and code-named Hollywood chip with built-in graphics core, DSP and I/O features from ATI that will operate at 243MHz, earlier reports suggested. Nintendo revolution will use 91MB of memory in total: 23MB of "main" 1T-SRAM, 64MB of "external" 1T-SRAM and 3MB texture buffer on the GPU. Nintendo's Wii does not feature a hard disk drive, instead, it boasts with 512MB of flash memory, but the console will also have a card reader, which will allow installing more memory.

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[Satchmo]

good lord....how many heads just turned twards wii?

 

[gygabite]

I'll save money for Wii from now for sure!

 

[DaJMasta]

Cheap, more innovative comtrol system, all the features most people need, and nice graphics.


I'll pick one up, but will never call it a Wii.

 

[Keiki]

Wow, less than 200? That's pocket change

 

[killatia]

its no suprise to me, every nintendo consel except the nes starts its sell price at $200

 

[ktr]

Great for the price, nice mac bassed cpu, and i am fan for ati stuff...this is a must buy.

 

[wazzledoozle]

Wii and Xbox 360 are going to kill Sony.

 

[W2hCYK]

Sony lost before they even began. Their $600 price for their premium console is just plain outrageous. I feel that nintendo will do the best this time around due to all of their new innovations. I feel that they have brought the meaning to "Next Gen" gaming with their unique controller/functions, and the cost that it is produced with. Microsoft's Xbox360's publicity has already fizzled down quite a bit since its release in november. The xbox 360 really didnt have anything too new besides a killer graphics chip and a super stong processor set. I believe the xbox will come in 2nd, and in 3rd, the PS3. Those of you who can afford to pay the $600 will automatically think that it is the best, just by thinking "I paid $600, i MUST HAVE the best system out. They stole ideas of online gaming, and nintendo's movement responsive controller and use needless bluray drives. The bluray drives themselves cost well over $1000, i dont understand how sony plans to make enough money. Their games are estimated at a whopping $70, while nintendo's are below $40, and microsofts between $50 and $65.

I'll be picking up a Wii at launch. But I refuse to call it a Wii. I'll go into the store and ask for a revolution. I wonder what the store clerk will say, haha.

 

[wazzledoozle]

360 may be great on paper, but the games dont run that great. I played GRAW on my friend's 360, and it ran rather slowly sometimes slowing down to obviously around 15 fps, and the whole time being jaggy. And it was on a small tv too, like 13". Not to mention the 360's fans could be heard over his surround sound system turned up.

 

[Thermopylae_480]

Your kidding. $70 dollars for a game. Even $55-60 is rediculous. Makes me love my PC even more.

 

[Azn Tr14dZ]

No matter what, even if I get a PS3, X360, or Wii, PC will always reign on top.

 

[Thermopylae_480]

Heck yeah it will.

 

[gygabite]

But who wants to buy a console for $600?For that money you can get a good computer with more features and more games than the PS3.

 

[Azn Tr14dZ]

yeah, I know. You can get like 2 DVD Burners, a good case and cooling, 2x nVidia 6800GS SLI, and decent PSU and everything for $600.

 

[AMDCam]

if the PS3 is $600, uhhhhhhhhh no way. The ONLY advantage it'll have over the 360 will be the awesome motion-sensitive controller. The 360 is technically more powerful than the PS3 too. Plus, speaking of crappy graphics and games, that's just the lazy-ass designer's problems. From The Matrix Reloaded/ Revolutions to T3 to games like Halo 2, they resort everything to CRAPPY computer animation to save time and money. The 360 is capable (in my mind) of drawing a human body in 100% realistic detail and letting it move around, I mean like how Gran Turismo 3 was to car realism. Which is the main reason I didn't buy a 360 yet, because I'm not spending $300 for some lazy sob's to give me these games that could easily run on the last-gen consoles and get horrible framerates even on the 360 because of their bad engines.

But on another note, have you guys noticed this is the most diverse spread of consoles ever? Look:

Xbox 360- traditional next-gen system
PS3- Ultra-expensive, but also motion-sensitive, along with traditional next-gen technical specs
Wii- Totally innovative, motion-sensitive, cheap, but also handled by the "new" nintendo (you know, the Nintendo that rereleases it's outdated Mario/Metroid games 100 times over and makes them literally gayer every time, and THEN doesn't let other company's release good games for it's systems)

Everything has advantages this time, the 360's the most powerful, the PS3's the perfect blend of power-to-features (or the mature Wii) for way too much money, and the Wii is the budget and kid's machine with the worst games but the best features and price

 

[wazzledoozle]

Resident Evil 5 with the Wii controller would be interesting...

 

[Aevum]

sony used the Ps3 as a tool to win the HD format wars, thats the reason its so expencive, the blueray drive pushes the price up 100-150 bucks, which was a mistake, but the even bigger mistake was not including a HDCP compatible HDMI connector on the $499 version, meaning that if you want to watch movies without the fear of having the HD movies compressed to normal DVD or even worst quality, you have to buy the $600 unit,

basicly, they shot themselfs in the foot, and insted of using ps3 to put a Blueray player in every home, they converted blueray and the ps3 in to luxary items that only the rich kid in school had,

putting it in line with the minidisc, betamax, UMD movies (who the hell pays more then what a dvd costs for a movie you can only play on a psp),

i would remind them of the neogeo, or the 3DO, which were consoles which were awesome for their time, but the excessive price tag and cheaper competition killed them,

most games come in all flavors, theres very fue plataform exclusive games now a days,
and those which are, usualy when a plataform is dying or expiriancing a weak market position, is diversified to other plataforms,

if i can play the same game on a Xbox 360 for 100 bucks less, (or even more since its being slashed to $320 towars Q3 or Q4), and dont tell me any of that core BS, you know that future Xbox games will require a harddrive, its either now or later, but you have to spend the extra cash,

 

[AMDCam]

Yeah I'm thinking this is where Sony dies. Nintendo is the new Sega in my opinion, with their strict lines of games and somewhat stupid technology (Sega was always the first to release systems but the systems were obselete by the time competition came). And Sony is just like the Neogeo and the Swan or some cat thing I think was made by Radioshack (whatever that ULTRA-expensive $700 system was in the late-70's-early 80's). Looks like the least innovative but most future-friendly Xbox 360 is gonna be the winner of this. All it needs to destroy the competition is a PH-DVD drive (screw Blue Ray and HD-DVD) and a motion-sensitive controller like the PS3, then no one will hang with Microsoft, unless Nintendo gets some brains and starts releasing games for all ages, and lets their tired characters (mario, donkey kong, kirby, metroid, etc) rest for a while.