AfterDawn: News

Nintendo to cut $50 from Wii price in September?

A leaked Toys R Us catalog has sparked reports that Nintendo will drop the price of the Wii console in the United States to $199, a cut of $50 from the price tag. The new price is expected to take effect by September 27, according to Kotaku.

The leaked Toys R Us catalog reflects a previous alleged upcoming Wal-Mart advertisement that appeared to indicate the same price drop.



The Wii has remained at its $249.99 price tag, costing more than an Xbox 360 Arcade and now just $50 short of a PlayStation 3 (PS3) console. The Wal-Mart advertisement gave the impression that the price drop would come a bit later than the 27th, but if it is official then it won't be long before it is announced.

"Nintendo does not comment on rumors and speculation," the company said to Kotaku when asked to verify the price cut.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 16 Sep 2009 2:31

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• 6 comments

• canuckerz

  It would be long overdue from a cost of production standpoint, but I doubt they needed to bother from a sales standpoint. Why people keep buying it by the masses is beyond me.

  16.9.2009 14:16 #1

• dab0ne

  business is business, pretty soon this thing will be cheaper than the ps2. It's already cheaper than the PSP Go. Now that's just silly. I love my psp but how many Go's do Sony honestly expect to sell?

  17.9.2009 02:39 #2

• KillerBug

  Originally posted by canuckerz: It would be long overdue from a cost of production standpoint, but I doubt they needed to bother from a sales standpoint. Why people keep buying it by the masses is beyond me.There are a lot of kids under 12...their parents want something simple, cheap, and sterile. 360, PS3, and PSP all offer easy internet access...and parents do not want their kids to go online. The fact that it is cheaper than 360, PS3, and PSP also helps a lot when someone who does not care about games is the one buying.
  

  Current System: Windows 7 RC1, DFI M2RS, ATI 3870HD, Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600, Athlon 9950, 6GB Corsair DDR2, 3TB RAID 5, 750GB Raid-1, 500GB RAID-1, 640GB RAID-0 Boot, 3ware 9690SA, Adaptec 2610SA, Adaptec 1430SA, Intel Gigabit NIC (PCI), LG 20X Lightscribe DVDR, Coolmax 1200w Power Supply, Logitech G15(first edition), Logitech G5(Second Edition), modified dell poweredge 1800 server case.
  Overall configuration: Perfect chair, two 22" widescreens overhead, Logitech 5.1 Audio

  17.9.2009 04:13 #3

• Gnawnivek

  $50 is $50, but still not too much in terms of $250 two years ago (i.e. i rather pay $250 two years ago than $200 now). Of course, back then, the Wii is selling like crazy, you have to be lucky to get one at $250. As for the PSP Go, $250 is too much now with all of the console price cuttings... Well, Sony is going to at least sell one Go, i already pre-ordered one. I always wanted a white PSP, the black one is over weight, not comfortable to carry around anymore (besides, i'm a bit embarrassed to carry my black PSP 1000 around, it's just not sexy anymore, i do like it still, but not the same since I got the slim lusty red PSP). Well, God of War lusty red PSP is cool and all, but it's still not sexy as the pearly white Go. So, yeah, i got to have that too. Why do i have a feeling that i'm not talking about gaming devices?

  18.9.2009 11:57 #4

• inagasake

  A Wii price cut would appeal to me an I'm in the twenty-something male demographic (and I don't have a child). I have been considering the Wii for awhile(for next year, not this year since I just got my 360 this year and my gaming time has severely dropped since starting college again). I can't say I'm decided on whether I'd get one or not. But the way I look at it, $200 + cost of DVD-R for all the Wii games I'd ever want to play basically > $300 + the price of buying PS3 games. Especially when I'm dropping $70 CDN + 13% tax for a new release.
  
  Gaming is actually a pretty cheap entertainment solution if you go by entertainment dollars by the hour. But let's face it, who doesn't like to save money when they can? That's why people pirate. When you get a game for $70 and then you think to yourself, "with a wii price cut, that ONE game costs me 35% of what it would cost me to play any Wii game I ever want", the Wii seems much more attractive. When you think: new release PS3 video game almost $60-70 + taxes vs. No More Heroes for a total of 30 CENTS? It's hard to not be tempted by the dark side. lol. Just like Sony tempted me away from Nintendo before with their easy to mod PS1 and PS2.
  
  Even if the library isn't the greatest, there are still a lot of great games for the Wii. And it offers a different experience. Playstation and Xbox are so similar these days with only small differences in game library composition.
  
  My main concern though is whether Nintendo will ditch the Wii in the near future in favor of a Wii HD. That would make me hesitant to consider getting a Wii. The PS3 and 360 on the other hand won't see a real new gen for quite awhile. This gen seems like it's going to be long.

  18.9.2009 23:48 #5

• IguanaC64

  Keep in mind when you look at the cost of the wii...look at the cost of the controllers when you're comparing prices. You can get good deals on controllers on Amazon.com used stuff sometimes.
  
  Wiimote = $28.00
  Nunchuk = $18.00
  
  Then there's the new motion control thing that improves range of motion...I forget what it's called, but it's an extra $20/controller. I don't think PS3/XBox controllers are quite the $66 per controller (on Amazon I see a wireless Xbox360 controller new for $38). If you want to play games from older systems, there is an extra gamepad controller to buy.
  
  The only real plus is that the wiimotes are bluetooth controllers and can be used on a HTPC.
  
  My personal biggest disappointment with the Wii is that it will never play H.264 video files...which pretty much ruins it as a media player for me (IMO, they cheaped out just a LITTLE too much on the processor in this regard...from what I've read it doesn't support CPU commands necessary for useable decoding of H.264 files).
  
  PS3's are too locked down and losing features every generation...if I buy another current generation console it would be a 360.

  21.9.2009 10:04 #6