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is the wii really too expensive?

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TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap

TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap

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You really need to step out of that reality distortion field of yours, veloS.

The PS2 is a perfectly capable system that even has some great games ahead despite its age (God of War 2 and Guitar Hero II for example).

It's the most succesful console of the last generation, has dozens of classic games (even the DS can't match that) which can be picked up for next to nothing and it can even play DVD's :(

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emps

emps

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Too expensive with respect to what? Our early expectations/hopes? Probably. To the loyal Nintendo fan base that is sizeable enough to sell-out the console at launch? No.

The problem is that Nintendo were telling us for ages that it was going to be really affordable, and everyone assumed Gamecube price range or better. Now people are saying that they were lying. The fact is the console is a bargain (even with the bizarre £10 UK-only arsefuck tax). But is it a mainstream price? That remains to be seen. I personally doubt that it is, but it ultimately depends on how they market the system, and how well their channels concept carries over to the public conscious. Are people going to switch over to Wii as a family after Eastenders is done? More to the point, will they see the Wii as being a device that they'd want to use like that?

It isn't as aggressively priced against the 360 as we were expecting, but that makes the familiar mistake of measuring cost in terms of processing capability, not to mention the differing approach with respect to hardware profit margins by the two companies.

What Nintendo should be worried about is that they've began diluting their message. The remote began being the entry point, the way to get everyone playing ("everyone understands a TV remote"), and Wii Sports was probably the most obvious and immediate example of how the controller worked. But now even it requires a nunchuk for one of the games (the boxing one) and the price of the controllers is very off-putting, considerably more-so than the console itself. It just seems that Nintendo are more confused than anything, having taken onboard the challenge of appealing to a wide and disparate group of people who, if they have any interest in the console, will want different things from it. The indications of the pricing suggests that to begin with they're favouring the gamers, perhaps expecting them to be the ones who will invest in at least one additional controller and letting the Mii Channel initiate a sense of sharing amongst family and even friends. As it stands, the controllers are too great an outlay for them to expect anywhere near a significant number to have four sets.

Having said that, the controllers are not too greatly overpriced given the precedent of past controllers. But again they have diluted the message with a primarily multiplayer game packed in with only one controller. The nunchuk would be considered standard by any publisher wanting to utilise it for a favourite genre, such as an FPS, which would not appeal to the non-gamer demographic anyway, so I don't see why Nintendo didn't choose to take out the nunchuk from the pack and put in another remote. It's a shame really, as up until now they seemed to be very exact in their words, they knew precisely what they were aiming for. It's now starting to look like a bit of a mess, not helped by their incompetence at communicating the sorts of details their most likely early adopters (us) are particularly interested in.

I don't, however, think they're trying to take advantage of early adopters. I can't see a price drop occurring very soon, unless it does really badly in its first few months. I'd bet Nintendo truly believe the prices they've set are mass-market. There aren't that many games for non-gamers to be interested in at launch though, so maybe it is just an early adopter price. Like I say, they've confused things so much now that it's difficult to figure out what they're trying to do. It's really going to be down to word of mouth and Nintendo's own ability to communicate the right message to the right people. The right price is perhaps the least of their worries. Price is always relative, and I think the biggest threat Nintendo have is from the PS2, not the 360.

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TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap

TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap

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"I need to step out of it? Who the hell brough the PS2 into the discussion anyway? YOU."

I just said the Wii is twice as expensive as a PS2, which is true.

"Translation: The Wii isn't next gen. So why buy it. You can buy a PS2 for less. And the Wii's stupid, cuz it'll only have stupid minigame-based games like fucking tennis. That's also not next gen. And people that buy the Wii are stupid, cuz they're dishing out 300 quid to play FUCKING tennis. Which isn't next gen."

I never said that.

"YOU need to step out of YOUR distorted vision of reality. The Wii IS next-gen, even in the graphics department. True, not as much as the PS3 or 360, but the Wii is absolutely cutting edge technology. "

I haven't seen anything yet that convinces me of that.

"The controller's like nothing you've ever had before."

True, that's the bit that interests me and why I'm getting one.

"You're getting backwards compatibility."

The first Nintendo homeconsole to do so in many years! About time too. And yes, the 360's backward compatibility sucks, I agree. But Sony has this nailed from the beginning.

"The ability to browse the internet."

Just like my PC, PSP, DS and phone then. But nice to have.

"A free peripheral for the controller."

Free? Nah, it's included in the price I'm sure.

"Channel Software."

Another reason why I'm interested, I like the idea of it.

"Wii Sports."

Which will need multiple tenners of extra dosh to get anything out of.

"AND it's at least TWICE as powerful as the Cube, which gave us the most beatiful looking games of the last gen."

It did? :(

"Fuck yes, it's worth it's price."

I never disputed that, I just said it was too expensive considering the massmarket appeal it's aiming for.

"You can bring old hardware and its prices into the equation as much as you want, it's not going to change that. And like I said, the PS2's five years old. It should sell for much less. Despite of its software catalogue."

Not sure about this, you can buy a proven machine with oodles of software and even future support for the same price as a unproven experiment. For gamers like you and me the choice is clear, but will it be clear to new customers as well?

"The reason it won't sell for less? Cuz Sony can get away with it. Which is of course smart, since it is a popular machine and the games are indeed great. But the same can almost be said of the Wii."

The Wii isn't popular yet and we know little of the games and if they'll be popular with the masses.

"Nintendo know they're going to sell the thing like hotcakes, the games look great, and they will get away with it, while still selling a machine that's cheaper than the rest out there."

So you're admitting they're a bit cheeky with the price then?

"The difference is that the Wii isn't five years old."

Some would say it comes pretty close in performance, but this is also something we'll still have to see. And the controller is indeed a whole new thing.

"And speaking of great games, GameCube are also playable on the Wii, so that makes your PS2 analogy even more stupid."

You can play GBA games on the Cube and PS1 games on the PS2 and both PS1 and PS2 on the PS3, so I don't really see the point here. And I'm not making an analogy apart from comparing prices as they will look to the consumer: 130 euro's for a PS2 (with a huge backlog) or 250 euro's for a Wii (with unproven new expensive games).

"And yes, I know you hated the Cube, but that's just you."

And the other tens of millions that didn't buy one.

"The Cube a shitload of great games"

Maybe for you and some others, not for me and all the people who got a PS2 or Xbox instead.

"In other words, my point still stands. The Wii is great value for money. The PS2 should be cheaper."

I think they should both be cheaper.

"No shit! The DS is out, how long? FFS, man. Are you deliberately being a moron?"

You said it's rightfully more expensive than a PS2...

Edit - gave up on the quotes ... everything between "" is veloS' talk.

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barkbat

barkbat

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Ofcourse the wii is over-priced.

It's a streamlined gamecube with a snazzy controller.

Nintendo do what nintendo do. This is the company that didn't provide ear phone jacks for a new iteration of GBA. It loves pushing profits as far as possible.

If Sony wasn't going so stratospheric with its pricing, and Wii had some genuine challengers at its price range, then I'm sure it would be priced more competitively.

As is, its priced artifically high in the knowledge it will sell anyway.

It could provide the best games of any console ever, but that doesn't change the technology in the box and the price tag stuck to it. And as of now it is clearly not a bargain.

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Alex W.

Alex W.

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I don't think that pricing a console to make a profit is pricing it "artificially high". Selling something at a price which market conditions would not normally support, or at a price which is far above that of a similar product, is pricing something artificially high.

And as I said in another thread it's not a streamlined GameCube. It's established to be about twice as powerful as the GameCube.

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Major Britten

Major Britten

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I now have absolutely no idea what point you're trying to make now.

That the wii works out more expensive to most americans than it does for us.

Anyway for the question of this thread. Is the Wii too expensive? For the console and everything that it offers for gamers? No. Too expensive for the non-gaming public ninty want to target? Maybe. I think emporers foot summed it up perfectly and that the biggest problem for nintendo (especially in europe) will be the pricing of the controller.

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emps

emps

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And as I said in another thread it's not a streamlined GameCube. It's established to be about twice as powerful as the GameCube.

Not to mention the fact it isn't just a souped up Gamecube with a new controller. There is lot of additional hardware and software built in. If you're going to compare its price to the Gamecube's then they need to be factored in, and the difference from there is the margin Nintendo is asking us to stump up for.

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Alex W.

Alex W.

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That the wii works out more expensive to most americans than it does for us.

You figured this out by calculating their average wage from their minimum wage, and comparing it to our minimum wage, somehow. Which would be a bit of a goof. You should've used the mean wages (preferably median wages) for both nations.

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Major Britten

Major Britten

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You figured this out by calculating their average wage from their minimum wage, and comparing it to our minimum wage, somehow. Which would be a bit of a goof. You should've used the mean wages (preferably median wages) for both nations.

But surely that wouldnt have been a fair or accurate way of doing it. If you would like to prove me wrong however please be my guess :(

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emps

emps

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I think emporers foot summed it up perfectly and that the biggest problem for nintendo (especially in europe) will be the pricing of the controller.

Actually, I forgot to say that I still think £40 is too expensive for any game. About £30 should be the maximum price, not the average. The problem is that the games are intended to be frequent purchases, but frequent purchases need to be impulse buy value to reach the masses. £40 is a premium for a frequent purchase, so for most they won't be frequent, which means slow growth. The pre-owned market and a strong userbase with a growing (probably mostly debt-based) disposable income seem to be acting as a buffer for the industry's growth just now, though. But I can't help but think the DS's comparatively poor showing here relative to Europe is less a cultural thing and more shite pricing. Still, I know nothing about business or economics, I just want cheap games. Stupid capitalism :(

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Alex W.

Alex W.

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But surely that wouldnt have been a fair or accurate way of doing it. If you would like to prove me wrong however please be my guess :(

I get that you're trying to establish how much the Wii costs in each nation in terms of the purchaser's weekly wage, but I don't think the minimum wage is a good value to base that around. I think the average wage would be better. The US could have a lower minimum wage than the UK, while the "average worker" still makes the same amount of money.

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