Hardware Wii U launch price. Any thoughts?

[The Catboy]

Both the launch prices seem rather fair to me.

 

[DiscostewSM]

A person would have to be supremely cheap and poor to think $300 is a high price, just sayin'. $350 isn't even bad. Especially not as a launch price, that's fantastic.

The tablet controller is what gets me. Holy fucking god is that thing expensive for a controller. Theoretically the console itself is only sold for maybe $130 because the controller is like $170 of the cost. Brilliant. Well that's Yen > $ for the controller. Probably more like $150. Still, that would mean it's as expensive as the console itself...which is just wrong on so many levels.

The controller is most likely a lot cheaper than it's sold for. Nintendo does make some sizable profits off of peripherals, I don't think people always realize that.

Must be their tactic to get as much money out of people before they implement multi-gamepads, since the system doesn't support it at launch. At that time, they'll most likely cut the price on them.

 

[10_0ARMY]

The price is fair IMO. Remember how expensive PS3 and Xbox360 were at their launches? Though, I saw in an earlier post that we have to pay for online service. Is this true? Because it could definitely affect whether or not I want one at launch.

 

[Maxternal]

The price is fair IMO. Remember how expensive PS3 and Xbox360 were at their launches? Though, I saw in an earlier post that we have to pay for online service. Is this true? Because it could definitely affect whether or not I want one at launch.

I heard that online was completely free ... don't know the source for that, though.

EDIT : excluding shop channel / eShop type stuff, of course.

 

[the_randomizer]

slightly newer tech, with stunningly tiny HDD space makes the price more than it should be (the xbox had a 20GB HDD for 50$ more than the premium...and that was in 2005) im guessing all the cost comes from the controller because otherwise for whats barely above tech-wise from what we have had for over 7 years seems overpriced. of course we know they are making money because they never sell the consoles at a loss aside from the 3ds debacle.

will i buy one? not right away, the 3ds burned me far too much for that to happen again, but il get one eventually....its is the only place to play the mario/zelda/metriod/DK..ect games.

*Sigh* Expandable storage is called expandable for a reason. The Xbox360 Arcade only had 4GB of storage, and no one complained about that?

 

[KingVamp]

slightly newer tech

I find that funny that you think that.

That's all effort I'm putting into this.

 

[Ghostyis40]

The Wii U is selling like hot cakes...the reservations are through the roof! keep it up Big N!

 

[KingVamp]

The Wii U is selling like hot cakes...the reservations are through the roof! keep it up Big N!

Are you serious? How do you know?

 

[Maxternal]

The reservations are through the roof!

That could be the first day rush since reservations were just barely opened today
but how would you know that exactly?

 

[the_randomizer]

Wii U reserved and Paid off in full the 349$ one + 5 games

for shits and giggles I reserved SimCity

I thought the $350 wasn't actually paid in full until the time came when it was shipped...

I think I'll go through Amazon of Best Buy, as they're not the douchebags that Gamestop are. Not sure if I want the deluxe one, though.

 

[Lurker2]

I wonder if they receive profit for each one sold since if it doesn't sell well maybe they will do a early price cut.
From what Satoru Kikuchi said in the article below they might but it might not be true.
http://www.bloomberg...ii-u-tech.html?

The price is fair IMO. Remember how expensive PS3 and Xbox360 were at their launches? Though, I saw in an earlier post that we have to pay for online service. Is this true? Because it could definitely affect whether or not I want one at launch.

They have the Deluxe Digital Promotion which gives you points towards future purchases so maybe they will try something like PS+ later.(Free games hopefully included ) They said their online service would be free at first but couldn't guarantee it to be free later. Hopefully they will offer the Deluxe Digital package to core buyers as well.

 

[zanfire]

slightly newer tech, with stunningly tiny HDD space makes the price more than it should be (the xbox had a 20GB HDD for 50$ more than the premium...and that was in 2005) im guessing all the cost comes from the controller because otherwise for whats barely above tech-wise from what we have had for over 7 years seems overpriced. of course we know they are making money because they never sell the consoles at a loss aside from the 3ds debacle.

will i buy one? not right away, the 3ds burned me far too much for that to happen again, but il get one eventually....its is the only place to play the mario/zelda/metriod/DK..ect games.

*Sigh* Expandable storage is called expandable for a reason. The Xbox360 Arcade only had 4GB of storage, and no one complained about that?

that was also a rebuild of a system that was out for like 6 years and was sold as a system that wasnt meant for much DLing (in fact i believe you cant even slap on an HDD...and if you actually wanted a HDD, the next step up had like 250gb and its 299.99) You would think by now with how high the memory is for these systems and how much DLing goes on nowadays (full games, tons of arcade and classics, DLC and updates) that having a large amount from the start would just be a natural step...i can guarantee the ps4/720 will have big HDDs from day one...and one of those might be announced/out in a year for all we know.

im glad they have the expandable storage, just gives me another reason not to spend 50$ more. But its 2012 and a new gen is starting....so really?

 

[KingVamp]

that was also a rebuild of a system that was out for like 6 years and was sold as a system that wasnt meant for much DLing (in fact i believe you cant even slap on an HDD...and if you actually wanted a HDD, the next step up had like 250gb and its 299.99) You would think by now with how high the memory is for these systems and how much DLing goes on nowadays (full games, tons of arcade and classics, DLC and updates) that having a large amount from the start would just be a natural step...i can guarantee the ps4/720 will have big HDDs from day one...and one of those might be announced/out in a year for all we know.

im glad they have the expandable storage, just gives me another reason not to spend 50$ more. But its 2012 and a new gen is starting....so really?

And they are probably going to cost more too.

 

[zanfire]

slightly newer tech

I find that funny that you think that.

That's all effort I'm putting into this.

thats based on unconfirmed specs...but if anything like the last gen, im sure its not much above what we have now and will be lacking when it comes to the other next gen consoles. Nintendo seems to have set them selves up as this half step at best from now on. Of course once they put out the full specs, we can compare, but they havent even said much yet and the consoles due out in a couple months.

 

[DiscostewSM]

slightly newer tech

I find that funny that you think that.

That's all effort I'm putting into this.

thats based on unconfirmed specs...but if anything like the last gen, im sure its not much above what we have now and will be lacking when it comes to the other next gen consoles. Nintendo seems to have set them selves up as this half step at best from now on. Of course once they put out the full specs, we can compare, but they havent even said much yet and the consoles due out in a couple months.

Nintendo is also setting themselves up at least a year in advance before the competition brings out their goods. No one can deny the competition's devices will be far superior, but will that make a difference in the end for this coming generation? It didn't seem to matter during the PS2's era.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

Here's a couple things that I've been reading on IGN articles that I'm just going to post here:


- "360 and PS3 are cheaper"

Well no duh they are cheaper. They sold so much since launch that they can afford to sell for cheaper. Not to mention, at launch, they were expensive way more than the WiiU, at least by 100-150 bucks.

- "The graphics suck"

You're talking about launch graphics. Obviously they're going to suck. Look at the 360, we thought Perfect Dark Zero looked amazing. But as the years went on, we just found out what was wrong with the game in every way, and got way better looking games. Developers aren't going to get the full handle on the WiiU right away.

-"The launch games suck and the games announced for it too"

Really? Bayonetta 2, Pikmin 3, an actual good New Super Mario Bros., CoD Blops 2 (which apparently everybody loves), Rayman fucking Legends, and those are launch titles, and the games suck?


I think this will be a great console. It has games for everybody, core, casual, and hardcore, an entirely new way to play your games, and it's priced cheaper than what I thought. And let's be honest, 350 is not that much, at all. I'm sorry but even the worker at mcdonalds who gets paid minimum wage could easily afford a WiiU.

It just seems to me that Nintendo can't win at all. People want hardcore, so they get hardcore, but still lose. People want HD, so they give you HD (with an included HDMI cable might I add unlike the PS3), and people bitch that the graphics suck.

I've always thought this for years that a new video game crash is going to happen soon. And it won't be because of developers or publishers, but because of fans and the consumer.

 

[KingVamp]

- "The graphics suck"

You're talking about launch graphics. Obviously they're going to suck. Look at the 360, we thought Perfect Dark Zero looked amazing. But as the years went on, we just found out what was wrong with the game in every way, and got way better looking games. Developers aren't going to get the full handle on the WiiU right away.

That pretty funny since that like saying ps3/360 graphics suck. That and some launch games have even more polish.

You think people would be happy with 50 games in the launch window. I guess Nintendo really can't win with some people.

 

[gamefan5]

http://gengame.net/2...tremely-strong/
Apparently pre-orders are extremely strong.
Hmmm... interesting. I wonder how many of them that aren't Nintendo fans in any way... XD

 

[AceWarhead]

Price is alright.
The ONLY GRIPE I have is the rather low internal storage. But hey, External HDD's aren't very expensive, so not too bad.

 

[the_randomizer]

Would a place like Amazon or Best Buy take out the amount when I preorder or when it actually ships. I want a WiiU, I'm just hesitant at spending the $300-350 today.some
Surely, someone who preorded it can confirm when the transaction is made.