Further Wii info trickles out

THE US LAUNCH details of the Nintendo Wii have been leaked prior to the Nintendo US press conference today, and shortly after the Japanese pricing and launch date was confirmed by Nintendo, at a Tokyo based press conference yesterday.

Seth Schiesel of the New York Times has insider sources who have stated that Nintendo plan to announce today that it will release the Wii in the United States on November the 19th, and that the machine will cost $250. The Seattle Post-Intelligence confirmed to Nintendo Wii Fanboy that the article was posted in the NYT wire but quickly pulled. It was also pulled and then republished on PI's website, but now remains in its original published form. You can read his article here. It seems odd they're launching on a Sunday, so this information is still open to scrutiny.

It seems a shame Nintendo haven't taken greater advantage of Sony's recent plight. The Playstation 3 is expected in Japan on the 11th of November, and on the 17th of Novemember in the US. It seems surprising that Nintendo, who have been languishing in third place within the console market for some time, are allowing Sony to once again steal a launch date lead, albeit a small one. The difference in dates may seem trivial, but anyone who's forked out the cash for a PS3 is unlikely to have much left for a Wii several days later...

Further details of the availability of games and product on Wii's launch were unveiled in Japan yesterday. Here's a quick run-down.

• The Wii box in Japan will include: Wii, remote with strap, nunchuck attachment, power cord, AV cable, stand, sensor bar and stand, and batteries.
• Apparently Japanese gamers will not get a pack-in game, but the US pack is expected to have Wii Sports bundled.
• Wii Sports will sell for the knock-down price of ¥4800, and include Baseball, Tennis, Golf, Bowling, and Boxing.
• Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess will sell for ¥6800 Yen and will be a launch title.
• Ten companies will be providing software at launch, and the Wii will launch with 16 titles in Japan. Full launch list here, and a nice movie preview here.
• 24 companies have signed on to provide games for the Virtual Console, including Sega, Hudson Soft, Tecmo, Atlus, Capcom, Bandai Namco, and Square Enix.
• 30 downloadable virtual console games are expected on launch.
• Famicom virtual console titles will retail for 500 yen ($4.25), Super Famicom titles for 800 yen ($6.81) and Nintendo 64 titles for 1000 yen ($8.51).
• Standard Wii software will retail for between ¥4800 ($40) to ¥6800 ($58).
• Consumers will be able to buy prepaid cards with Wii points on them (or just use their regular credit cards), those points will be used to purchase the virtual console games, very similar to Xbox Live's points system.
• The nunchuck and the classic controller attachment will both sell for ¥1800, but there will also be a bundle with the classic controller and 5000 Wii Points for ¥5000.
• The version of Opera for the Wii will be much more advanced than the DS Version, and will support popular technologies such as Flash.

Reports also confirm that the much anticipated Super Mario Galaxy will not ship until next year and will not make the Wii launch as many had hoped.

Nintendo have made much of the presentation available for everyone to view here, along with a look at the console's 3D custom avatar creator here. You can also check out the console's other various weather and news options and photo applications.

No word yet on the European territory's launch details, but if Nintendo manage a near-simultaneous global release the earlier Wii launch may put them favourably ahead of Sony in European/PAL consumer minds who are still reeling from news of the PS3's delay in their respective territories. µ

See also
Wii splashes out at ¥25,000
First Wii CPus shipped
Sony PS3 delayed in Europe
Microsoft working on a portable XBox