My Wii Prediction

[Mr Spew]

Price: £129.99

No discs.

All games on SD cards, no memory cards needed since they're SD cards with space for the savegames. A demo cart in the same ilk as Metroid Prime Hunters on the DS, with Tennis, Cooking and Fishing.

Ships with two Wii controllers, white and black.

Wireless built-in so DSes can communicate with it and connect to the online service without the PC adapter or a router.

The ability to plug in three or four Wii carts (under the flap), boot the console up without having to switch carts, and just select the game you want to play.

Tennis is free with the console.

[Dandy_Sephy]

games on sd=too expensive (plus now nintendo have decided they really do need 4.38gb, it's not viable)

also, mem cards are necessary for virtual console

demo cd maybe

2 controllers is essential imo to promote their "togetherness" ideals, but they will want peripheral moneys so I doubt it will happen*

wireless for ds is already in i belive. in fact i thought they made a big deal over this as it would be idiotic not to.

price..... I'm thinking more £150-£180 for first 3-4 months then maybe £140-160

*in the west - the super famicom had 2 as standard, as did the famicom

[Mr Spew]

I mean wireless connectivity from the DS to the Wii, I guess it's a forseen thing anyway.

Nah, the GameCube hardly ever dropped, they want the same thing with the Wii (just like the DS).

Ah, I didn't think about the Virtual Console, good point.

[dan_tm]

Zero chance in the SD card theory. They wont make the same mistake they made with the N64 again.

[Dandy_Sephy]

I mean wireless connectivity from the DS to the Wii, I guess it's a forseen thing anyway.

Nah, the GameCube hardly ever dropped, they want the same thing with the Wii (just like the DS).

Ah, I didn't think about the Virtual Console, good point.

Thats what I meant. The wifi in the Wii is meant to act like a wireless router (probably specifically for DS)

I think the GC debuted at one price then dropped £20-30 or so after 6-12 months then went static until it's £80 or whatever it is. It was either £150 to £120 to £80. Or £120 - £80 - at least thats what It feels like

aha: from a google leading to bbc news:

intendo has announced a price cut for its GameCube games console in Europe almost two weeks before it is even launched.

The machine was originally expected to sell for about £150 when released to shops on 3 May but the company has set a new price of 199 euros (£129).

Console wars

Xbox

UK price: £199

4.5m sold worldwide

GameCube

UK price: £129

4m sold worldwide

PlayStation 2

UK price: £199

28m sold worldwide

This new price comes less than a week after Microsoft announced a £100 price cut for its Xbox console, to £199, just weeks after the machine launched in Europe.

The price cut takes effect from 26 April and game players who paid £299 will be offered a "thank you" package worth about £110.

[Transient Curse]

2 controllers is essential imo to promote their "togetherness" ideals, but they will want peripheral moneys so I doubt it will happen*

*in the west - the super famicom had 2 as standard, as did the famicom

My Snes came with two pads and super mario world.

I think they'll bundle a game or at least something to get people into using the controller in a variety of ways.

[Boyatsea]

Stick a monkey in a ball and you're onto a winner.

[rylee]

I can't see two controllers - unless they do a second 'upgraded' package for a few more dollars.

[Ian_S]

Your SD card theory is bonkers, Spew. Why would they include a big fat DVD drive and then ignore it for a smaller, pricier alternative?

For what it's worth my guess is £129.99, with one controller and no games to keep the base price as low as possible. Just like the GC.

[Dandy_Sephy]

My Snes came with two pads and super mario world.

I think they'll bundle a game or at least something to get people into using the controller in a variety of ways.

A bundle - most of the bundles if not all had 2 pads (cost more then a solus too - i think they were seperate packages?). The "solus" pack had one iirc

[Mr Spew]

Your SD card theory is bonkers, Spew. Why would they include a big fat DVD drive and then ignore it for a smaller, pricier alternative?

For what it's worth my guess is £129.99, with one controller and no games to keep the base price as low as possible. Just like the GC.

They may not use DVDs or discs, is what I'm saying - there's a big surprise under that flap, and carts could be it.

DS cartridges aren't the cheapest, but the proprietry Cube discs weren't either (or the drives).

I can see it being one controller, but have a feeling (thanks to Wah) that two and Tennis could be bundled in.

[Dandy_Sephy]

gc discs=mini dvds

gc drive = dvd drive with custom firmware

I suspect they cost much less then assumed.

Ds carts are also measured in megabits, compared to megabytes of optical media and sd cards. Actually games on sd could be produced for a tenth of the equivelant ds cart!(assuming ds carts can be 1gigabyte! - unlikely)

[dan_tm]

DS cartridges aren't the cheapest, but the proprietry Cube discs weren't either (or the drives).

There's a big difference between a couple of pence and a few pounds per unit going from disk to solid state. It would equate to millions in lost revenue, all for the sake of shorter load times and a lack of memory card sales income.

Put simply: Never. Gonna. Happen.

[Mr Spew]

It doesn't cost a few pounds per DS cartridge or GBA cartridge - ever seen how many pirate copies are about being sold for a pound a time in some cases?

[dan_tm]

It doesn't cost a few pounds per DS cartridge or GBA cartridge - ever seen how many pirate copies are about being sold for a pound a time in some cases?

I'd like to see you get a 5gb Wii game on one...

[Mr Spew]

I'd like you to name a 5GB game on any Nintendo console so far. Then bear in mind it'll have graphics similar to that of an Xbox (roughly the same speed) - so why would the games be any bigger?

[Bluetooth]

Current storage space on flash memory is too expensive for console games - note how it's relatively cheap up to 1GB, then prices get steeper. 4GB flash drives have only just surfaced (ipod nano), and Apple have made an exclusivity deal with Samsung to buy out all their supplies.

Besides, Nintendo have just moved away from flash media; discs will always be a cheaper alternative, and they'll use that.

[dan_tm]

I'd like you to name a 5GB game on any Nintendo console so far. Then bear in mind it'll have graphics similar to that of an Xbox (roughly the same speed) - so why would the games be any bigger?

The Xbox uses 4.8GB disks, I would be surprised if you told me that the DS' cartridges were any bigger than 512MB.

[Transient Curse]

A bundle - most of the bundles if not all had 2 pads (cost more then a solus too - i think they were seperate packages?). The "solus" pack had one iirc

I don't think it's particularly relevant with regard to what they'll do with this launch but they've done different things before.

[Mr Spew]

The Xbox uses 4.8GB disks, I would be surprised if you told me that the DS' cartridges were any bigger than 512MB.

And how many have filled them? Even San Andreas is two or three gig. Most GameCube games fit on mini-DVD-Rs, less than 1GB each, the Wii isn't likely to be any different.

I'd be surprised if the DS carts were bigger too, they don't pack nearly as much info as a console game would require.

[dan_tm]

I'd be surprised if the DS carts were bigger too, they don't pack nearly as much info as a console game would require.

Exactly, that's why your comparison with the DS carts being cheap was meaningless.

P.S. Never. Gonna. Happen.

[Mr Spew]

They're different types of cartridge - SD carts cater for 1GB+.

P.S. It's a prediction thread, stop trying to point score.

[Meh]

I'd like you to name a 5GB game on any Nintendo console so far. Then bear in mind it'll have graphics similar to that of an Xbox (roughly the same speed) - so why would the games be any bigger?

Better quality FMV, for one thing.

[Mr Spew]

Nintendo are synonymous with loads of FMV. Rollingeyez! That's the complete opposite message they're trying to portray with the Wii, it's all about the games, not flashy intros and cut-scenes.

[Meh]

Nintendo are synonymous with loads of FMV. Rollingeyez! That's the complete opposite message they're trying to portray with the Wii, it's all about the games, not flashy intros and cut-scenes.

Why not use the extra space to throw some nice intro onto? I'm sure 3rd-party devs will be all too happy to do so. Hell, even Nintendo might fancy a bash at a game with a fair-few CGI cut-scenes.

[Rayn]

I'd like you to name a 5GB game on any Nintendo console so far. Then bear in mind it'll have graphics similar to that of an Xbox (roughly the same speed) - so why would the games be any bigger?

Several GC games, like RE4 and ToS, came out on two GC discs. With the Wii being a more powerful machine it's expected that stuff like textures and other ingame images used to make the final graphics to grow in size. The less discswapping the better!

[Mr Spew]

The games so far don't look anymore impressive. RE4 was 2.72GB on the GameCube, half a DVD.

[hobo]

Nintendo will announce straight out of the box intergration with your TV. The Wii will allowing manipulation of the TV controls, video and audio feed in real time with the Wii controller.

[Paradigm]

I think it's more likely the flap will take carts that are for add-ons of existing games. Like, if you wanted more content you could download stuff onto a cart from a pod in GAME (or wherever) like systems they've used in the Far East before. Much cheaper than buying a new DVD-sized disc, and would be a really easy way of adding new content to games, or patching, or anything.

[Mr Spew]

The pod thing just doesn't work, no one has the DS demo units out anymore since there's no room or they're smashed up, so the downloading of demos is pointless when you can't get them.

It'd be nice for new demos and stuff, but only if they were downloadable and they didn't have to have a big demo pod set up, as it'd be put in the back room after a month.