Wii game system rolls out on Nov. 19

September 14th, 2006, 17:22 Posted By: wraggster

Heres a shot of the packaging:



The final pieces of this fall's video game battle fall into position today as Nintendo announces that its new Wii home system will sell for $250 — half the price of Sony's cheapest PlayStation 3 — and launch Nov. 19, two days after the PS3.
The two next-generation systems face Microsoft's Xbox 360, which will have had a year's head start; the anticipated 360 game Gears of War, out Nov. 7, is expected to boost sales.

But Nintendo is deploying a different approach than the others. The cutting-edge 360 ($300-$400) and PS3 ($500-$600) support HD video — and the PS3 uses the just-out Blu-ray HD disc format — while Wii (pronounced "we") depends on more conventional technology.

But Wii's unique wireless motion-sensitive controller has captured the attention of game designers and players. "We think all the other initiatives in the home console space have been much too hardcore-gamer-focused. We want consumers to be able to pick up (the Wii controller) and play," says Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime.

Nintendo plans to have 4 million systems shipped worldwide by year's end, he says. Sony recently reduced from 4 million to 2 million the number of PS3s likely to reach the USA and Japan this year. Analysts expect U.S. retailers to have about 400,000 PS3s and about 1 million Wii systems at launch.

Included with Wii is the Wii Sports game (with tennis, golf, basketball and bowling), the controller and a "nunchuck" attachment. Other details:

• Wii owners can download and play games from Nintendo's older NES, Super NES and Nintendo 64 systems and NEC's TurboGrafx. Initially, about 30 games (usually $5 to $10) will be available, including The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario 64. Games are saved on SD memory cards, which can also be used to import digital pictures.

• Built-in high-speed Net connectivity (including WiFi) lets Wii gather news and weather updates, plus messages from other Wii owners.

In the game-system battle, Wii "is a wild card," says DFC Intelligence analyst David Cole. "Is it going to be so unique that people are going to really rush and buy it — or be leery?"

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