Rumor: Expect to see a $300 launch price for the Wii U

[Badger3920]

Now, the Xbox 3 and PS4 it sounds like are not going to be out until 2013, and while they may be leaps and bounds beyond the WiiU, they are not going to have a NEW system

We're arguing value (our main disagreement) and this point absolutely kills me. You concede that although it's outperformed by consoles from a previous generation, and priced higher, the Wii U still represents a good launch value at $300 because it's "NEW"? I could make a lot of jokes about putting dogshit in a box and stamping new on it, or lots of other sarcastic comments like that - but I'll spare you. Anyone can see how absurd that is

Whether you want the WiiU or not is irrelevant.

I don't claim otherwise. Remember, we're talking about value

This thing will sell like hotcakes, and $300 is a fair LAUNCH price.

It's a shitty value. Selling like hotcakes doesn't affect that equation. However, I can't compete in this discussion if we're going to get arbitrary and start assigning random intrinsic values to the Wii U because it's "new" and "look how much kids love tablets, and this thing will be hot with a new mario!" Those are all extraneous items.

If we're going to inject heavy doses of intrinsic value and rainbows into the equation, then I can't really compete. But selling a next-gen console that is outperformed by current gen consoles, but the next-gen console costs more? That's an equation for poor value.

[Blinx123]

I lol'd at this. I love the way you try to give extra credit to your point by saying the same thing twice but in different words.

"Oh you mean those people without money and jobs, or even in some cases, without work and cash?

Errm.

Shouldn't it be "Oh. You mean those people with either no money or no job or, in some cases, people lacking both?"

I think that's pretty much what he was saying.

People lacking either money (which is no pretense for lacking a job) or job (which is no pretense for lacking money. At least not in those parts of the world where benefits are pretty high) or, in some cases, both money and a job.

[Badger3920]

Sure, we can get deep into conjunctives etc. My point was that it was funny because all he's saying is the economy is bad, but we have to make it dramatic and make a couple mentions of low cash and unemployment.

In either case, it doesn't help your/his argument. We don't have to make Nintendo perfectly align with Apple. Nintendo sold gangbusters throughout the entire deep recession. People "without money or work, or in some cases neither money nor a place of gainful employment" scoured the internet or waited in half-mile long lines at 5am in the winter before xmas to get a chance to pay (oftentimes more than market price) for a Nintendo.

Your argument, before it derails into apple hate, is fatally flawed anyway.

[DouglasMcc]

Whether you want the WiiU or not is irrelevant. This thing will sell like hotcakes, and $300 is a fair LAUNCH price. I guarantee you that families with young kids will probably be their primary audience. Have you seen how kids have taken to the IPad and Android tablets? This will sell very well, and if they have a new Mario or Zelda game at (or shortly after) launch, this thing will be HOT!

I have already stated my reasoning about the economy affecting families and casual gamers. But, you also touched on the secondary reason the Wii U is not going to sell as well as the Wii. iPad, iPhone, Android tablets/phones have already captured the casual gamer market. The price hurt the 3DS, but outside of the 3D effect, you could play similar games on your phone/tablet at launch for 99 cents to 15 dollars. Why would a casual gamer - one who could care less about Mario or Zelda - invest in a system where games are 39.99 to 49.99? Apple/Android had as much to do with the less than exciting launches of the 3DS and VITA ... yet it hardly ever gets mentioned. So, going back to that point, why would a parent buy a new 300 machine for their child - knowing they were going to have to pay 50 - 60 dollars a game, when they can get a current iPad or Android tablet for 400 to 500 hundred (300 - 400 if they go for last years model) and only have to pay 99 cents to 10 bucks on average for the games? Hardcore gamers realize these games are not as complex (well, most of them ... there are a few gems among the turds), but casual gamers don't care about that. And, trust me, if you ask a teenager whether he wants a WiiU which will sit in his room or a tablet he can show off while out with his friends ... well, I am welling to bet the majority pick the tablet.

Now, I don't want Nintendo to fail ... I was one of the "dopes" who bought the 3DS at launch ... VITA as well. The problem is these companies don't make major money off the hardcore gaming base. The big bucks come from casual gamers. And, I just have a feeling, that the casual gamers are going to stick with their tablets, phones. Would a lower price help? Who knows, but I don't think it would hurt either.

[DouglasMcc]

With Nintendo MAKING $120 on each unit sold, does it really matter how many million of them they sell? They don't take a bath on hardware like Sony and MS do, yet they continue to sell millions of units, making money on them from day 1, not even inlcuding software.

I will not argue with the fact that the Wii made crazy money for the first 3 to 4 years. However, have you noticed how BADLY it is selling now? Heck, when was the last time you saw a commercial for the system or it's games? The DS is dying due to the advent of app games - why pay 30 to 40 bucks for a game when you can play similar games on your phone for 99 cents? Nintendo has been losing money at an alarming rate over the past year. In fact, the majority of the insiders claim that Nintendo refuses to sell the hardware for actual cost or at a loss because they want to be able to claim a profit on each unit and sooth the fears of their investors. The problem is that this kind of business model does more damage in the end. I call it the lottery winner syndrome. Much like with a lottery winner, it seems better to take the money all in one lump sum ... except you lose a crap load of money by doing this. Taking that steady monthly payment nets you more in the end. Well, Nintendo hit the lottery when the Wii launched. So, for three years, they were rolling in cash ... then it dried up over the last 2 years. Now, their stock is once again in the toilet. Serious/ long term investors want a company that CONSISTENTLY makes money - and that's not been the case with Nintendo.

[Blinx123]

Sure, we can get deep into conjunctives etc. My point was that it was funny because all he's saying is the economy is bad, but we have to make it dramatic and make a couple mentions of low cash and unemployment.

In either case, it doesn't help your/his argument. We don't have to make Nintendo perfectly align with Apple. Nintendo sold gangbusters throughout the entire deep recession. People "without money or work, or in some cases neither money nor a place of gainful employment" scoured the internet or waited in half-mile long lines at 5am in the winter before xmas to get a chance to pay (oftentimes more than market price) for a Nintendo.

Your argument, before it derails into apple hate, is fatally flawed anyway.

Whoa? For once, just once, I say something nice about Apple and you dare call me out on Apple hate?

[Badger3920]

Whoa? For once, just once, I say something nice about Apple and you dare call me out on Apple hate?

Oh I see, for once you were saying something 'nice' about apple. I apologize

Apple merchandise is for showoffs who can't live without the kicks of having something they can brag about.

Apple is an exception. . . The people who buy their products are exceptional(y stupid).

Their products are exceptional(y dumbed down, so aforementioned stupids have no issues using them.

Oh, never mind. You sure as hell weren't. That is unabashed apple-hate, plain and simple. I don't mind it because it's easily ignorable, but RM's comments apply quite neatly and negate your argument entirely.

[DouglasMcc]

Woah, not to flood the topic by myself, but I just read this, and it both plays into my views on apps vs. Nintendo mentality ... plus it's just an interesting read:

http://www.gametrailers.com/side-mis...geru-miyamoto/
'I Wish I Had Designed Angry Birds' ~ Shigeru Miyamoto
Always the company man (LOL), I love how he ends the interview with: “Obviously, if the developer had created the game for Nintendo DS the controls would have been even better, but what can you do?"

[TheAnalogKid]

Serious/ long term investors want a company that CONSISTENTLY makes money - and that's not been the case with Nintendo.

I'm not a nintendo apologist, but can you name me a gaming company who has consistently made their investors money like Nintendo has? I don't think you can. I also don't think you can name a current console manufacture who has been in business as long as Nintendo has. Nintendo practically created their market, and are still in it and still relevant roughly 30 years later. A company that got its start making trading cards (i think?), still able to go toe to toe with gigantic corporations like Microsoft and Sony. Not to shabby.

Maybe 'consistently' to you is over a span of 5 or 10 years, which..you may have a point. If you look at the span of the last 20 years, only one gaming company has been consistently bringing in money. Everyone else has gone out of business (and we may be looking at Sony next).

[Blinx123]

Oh I see, for once you were saying something 'nice' about apple. I apologize








Oh, never mind. You sure as hell weren't. That is unabashed apple-hate, plain and simple. I don't mind it because it's easily ignorable, but RM's comments apply quite neatly and negate your argument entirely.

Lol. Is this like the "We're Robin Hood"/"We're Anonymous" thing now?
Apple sure aren't their customers.

Calling their customers stupid doesn't make Apple stupid.

In fact, they can't be stupid or people wouldn't sell a limb to buy their products.

[gravis778]

I was really just looking for your opinion actually. I'm in the market for a tablet myself and I wanted to know why you think the iPad trumps the competition.

What do you want to do with your tablet? I just got an Android tablet for $180 and I love it. It doesn't have the full Google Market, but it supports the Amazon market. The tablet came pre-rooted, will run the Kindle app (which supports the .mobi format, so you can download e-books from pretty much anywhere and the Kindle app supports it), it supports the Amazon video store (you have to go to the Amazon Website, but it supports flash, so it plays the videos just fine), it supports my Bible app, and it plays Angry Birds. It also has GPU acceleration, so I can play 3D games just fine, and it has a front-facing camera so I can do video-calls in Skype. Being a rooted Android, I can also put emulators on it, and bittorrent. The thing performs beautifully. The specs are probably on par with the Kindle Fire

So it supports everything I need it to do, and I have been thrilled with it. Granted, its not the best tablet out there, its doesn't have as big of a screen size as the iPad, but the question is, what do you want to do with your Tablet? I am not dishing the iPad, but I think a lot of people are overpaying for what they actually need.

[Snadinator]

If you have an iPhone, universal apps and iTunes just makes sense.
IOS always seems to get popular apps/games first (words with friends, instagram, draw something, etc).
Scrolling on any android phone or tablet seemed jerky to me compared to IOS device, ram is rarely a problem as background apps that are ended do no take long to restart.
Expectations of "console" type games should be low on any tablet, for obvious reasons.
Not that iOS doesn't have drawbacks or limitations, not being able to quick reply to texts without jailbreaking is nonsense.


My brother has an asus transformer tablet, the interface is pretty slick and it has a very nice dock accessory but I run out of compliments after that.
I would say try out both, hopefully competition leads to lower prices and/or innovation.

Thanks.

How is Mass Effect: Infiltrator? Don't lie... I know you must have played it by now!

[Badger3920]

Lol. Is this like the "We're Robin Hood"/"We're Anonymous" thing now?
Apple sure aren't their customers.

Lmao you're seriously going to try and play coy? Your claim was that you "finally said something nice about apple." Yet all you actually did was imply they're conning the market/people ("selling scraps of metal at the price of gold"), making exceptionally dumbed down products, and to top it all off - you call the people who buy their products exceptionally stupid (which comprises probably over half of this board).

After all that, you ask if I "dare to accuse you of Apple hate" and maintain that you were saying nice things about Apple. Don't be ridiculous.

[gravis778]

I have already stated my reasoning about the economy affecting families and casual gamers. But, you also touched on the secondary reason the Wii U is not going to sell as well as the Wii. iPad, iPhone, Android tablets/phones have already captured the casual gamer market. The price hurt the 3DS, but outside of the 3D effect, you could play similar games on your phone/tablet at launch for 99 cents to 15 dollars. Why would a casual gamer - one who could care less about Mario or Zelda - invest in a system where games are 39.99 to 49.99? Apple/Android had as much to do with the less than exciting launches of the 3DS and VITA ... yet it hardly ever gets mentioned. So, going back to that point, why would a parent buy a new 300 machine for their child - knowing they were going to have to pay 50 - 60 dollars a game, when they can get a current iPad or Android tablet for 400 to 500 hundred (300 - 400 if they go for last years model) and only have to pay 99 cents to 10 bucks on average for the games? Hardcore gamers realize these games are not as complex (well, most of them ... there are a few gems among the turds), but casual gamers don't care about that. And, trust me, if you ask a teenager whether he wants a WiiU which will sit in his room or a tablet he can show off while out with his friends ... well, I am welling to bet the majority pick the tablet.

Now, I don't want Nintendo to fail ... I was one of the "dopes" who bought the 3DS at launch ... VITA as well. The problem is these companies don't make major money off the hardcore gaming base. The big bucks come from casual gamers. And, I just have a feeling, that the casual gamers are going to stick with their tablets, phones. Would a lower price help? Who knows, but I don't think it would hurt either.

You do have a good point. The question is, will the WiiU have an online store? The Wii did, as does the PS3 and the Xbox 360. All have games available for under $5. What Nintendo needs to do here is line up online devleopers (something similar to maybe the XBox Arcade) to make some cheapy games for the system, to be competative with the App stores. They can still sell their $50 games, as well, and their retro games.

In any case, I stand by my statement that this will sell simply because its Nintendo, its new, and it looks like it won't have any competition this holiday season, and $300 is a justifiable launch price. Just because you or I won't buy the thing doesn't mean that this won't sell well.

[Favelle]

I will not argue with the fact that the Wii made crazy money for the first 3 to 4 years. However, have you noticed how BADLY it is selling now? Heck, when was the last time you saw a commercial for the system or it's games? The DS is dying due to the advent of app games - why pay 30 to 40 bucks for a game when you can play similar games on your phone for 99 cents? Nintendo has been losing money at an alarming rate over the past year. In fact, the majority of the insiders claim that Nintendo refuses to sell the hardware for actual cost or at a loss because they want to be able to claim a profit on each unit and sooth the fears of their investors. The problem is that this kind of business model does more damage in the end. I call it the lottery winner syndrome. Much like with a lottery winner, it seems better to take the money all in one lump sum ... except you lose a crap load of money by doing this. Taking that steady monthly payment nets you more in the end. Well, Nintendo hit the lottery when the Wii launched. So, for three years, they were rolling in cash ... then it dried up over the last 2 years. Now, their stock is once again in the toilet. Serious/ long term investors want a company that CONSISTENTLY makes money - and that's not been the case with Nintendo.

You mean...like Sony?