Nintendo has just announced the price for its upcoming console Wii, and as expected, it's exceptionally cheaper than the competition. According to Nintendo, Wii "will not exceed $250 in America or 25,000 yen in Japan," and a similar low price will follow in Europe.
It's long been suspected that Wii, with its relatively weak graphics and super-compact size, would launch at a significantly lower price than the $600 PlayStation 3 or $400 Xbox 360. Andwith Nintendo promising nothing over $250, history suggests Wii will hit shelves at around$249.99. So you could grab a Wii and an Xbox 360 for slightly more than just one PS3... this will be an interesting shopping season.
Nintendo also plans to ship six million Wii units between the end of this year and March 31, 2007 - along with 17 million video games sold for the same platform and an increase in overall profitability.Speculation is thatNintendo plans to then plate itself in solid gold and become a self-contained business that is, literally, made of money.
Details on software pricing, the Wii launch lineup and the Virtual Console are coming soon.
May 25, 2005
