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<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="6" width="100%" align="center" bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Wii Price and Launch Date Revealed </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100%"> The line has been drawn in the sand! This morning Nintendo officially announced that the Wii console will launch in North and South America on November 19th, at a retail price of $250. Read the complete details here. The console will come with one Wii Remote (people laugh at me when I call it the "Wii-mote" , one "nunchuk" attachment (the little doohicky that adds an analog controller to the Wii Remote), as well as a copy of the game Wii Sports.

It's good to see that a game will be packed in with the system (recently console manufacturers have skimped on this in order to bring the console price down.) Wii Sports is basically a collection of mini-games that show off the controller dynamics in simplified versions of Tennis or Golf (See the GameSpy hands-on from E3). It's a great title to show off the new controller, although personally I was hoping for the little airplane game where you flew an onscreen airplane by holding your controller in the same way you would hold a model airplane. Playing with that tech demo made me feel like I was 12 again.

Nintendo is hosting press events in New York this week, so GameSpy will have more news as it's available.       -Fargo
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You've got to give Nintendo props for innovation here.  They're coming out with a very inovative system at a great price point.

Is the inovation in the right direction?  Time will tell.

I also give mad, mad props to Nintendo for the Wii. Innovation and ingenuity are always dearly needed in any industry.

Will I be picking one up? Probably not, but just because the system and games don't really fit my gaming sensiblities.

The main selling points for the system are (for those who already have a 360): the unique remote & how games are played using it as well as the first party games made by Nintendo.

As for the remote, its certainly a cool gimmick and it would probably be fun for me for a few hours but after that, I'll likely get tired of waving my hands around to play a game. Hell, I don't even play computer games because I don't like sitting up in front a computer monitor.

I bought my couch and my big HDTV for a reason: so that I can kick back and play games in a relaxed and comfortable position. The wii experience doesn't really vibe with my idea of a fun gaming experience.

Now, in a party environment, the complete opposite is true. Hopping around like an idiot (or watching others do so) sounds like a good time. I guess if the Wii is enough of a good time at a party to be worth $250 I might end up getting it. Because I certainly won't likely be playing non-party games on it.

That brings me to point #2: Nintendo's first party games. While there was a time when Nintendo games were my favorite, that time has long passed just like my love of movies where a child protaganist inexplicably saves the day by beating up adults. I used to love that crap but now it annoys me all to hell.

While Nintendo games are always fantastically designed, the reliance on their kiddy image just irks me now. I don't like their: "we make games for all ages" schtick. I'm a certain age and I want less cartoony games and more Metroid/RE4 (although both those games were not made by Nintendo, of course).


I hope the Wii succeeds and I hope it has some fantastic party games. I just know that for me, the future of video gaming does not involve waving my hands around in the air.

Of course only time will tell if I end up eating my words. . .