Mini Wii to be released

[LightyKD]

Source: http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=191423

I'm really surprised nobody here posted this. Not much here article length wise so I'm going to just post the damn thing...

RUMOR - Wii getting miniaturized on Dec. 7th?

Nov 23, 2012 by RawmeatCowboy​

​

Here's an interesting rumor. Supposedly a listing from a retailer has leaked out the following info.

Introducing the Wii Mini! Coming Dec 7 2012!
WII MINI CONSOLE
Compact Nintendo Wii Console
Comes with Sensor Bar, Nunchuk and Wii Remote Plus with Jacket.

A redesign for the Wii? Making a tiny console even smaller? I guess we'll find out very soon!​

Update- confirmed for at least one location
http://gbatemp.net/threads/mini-wii.338059/page-3#post-4464560

 

[Snailface]

This could be neat, especially if it gets the price under $100.

 

[AshuraZro]

Less than 2 weeks away, I don't think I believe it myself. I'd peg it more of an after Christmas thing as the Wii U is already going to confuse a lot of shoppers buying for their children I think.

Plus how much smaller can the Wii really get?

 

[KingVamp]

If true, I can't wait to see mods of it. This will bring it closer to the Ouya price.

 

[Hyro-Sama]

Doubt it's true. Why make a dying console cheaper? Especially since the Wii U can do what the Wii can do and more. (Except Backwards compatibly with GameCube games but don't ride my ass.)

 

[KingVamp]

Doubt it's true. Why make a dying console cheaper? Especially since the Wii U can do what the Wii can do and more. (Except Backwards compatibly with GameCube games but don't ride my ass.)

New wiis can't do that either, so no riding necessary.

 

[LightyKD]

I would love to see this at $99 so that it could properly compete with Ouya and so that the two consoles could split the market into high end and budget gamers, allowing devs to benefit from both ends. Hell if they added 2 gigs of internal space that would be even better. They should also go ahead and allow for legal USB loading and revamp the Wii Shop Channel. Just give the damn thing the e-Shop branding and allow for download of Wii retail games. Hell, hey could even go a step further and create a GameCube controller to usb adapter and a GC loader for backwards compatibility and only sell these things directly from their warehouse as to save money from mass creating and shipping.

This could be one kick ass idea provided Nintendo actually takes the time to make it work. It would be even better if we could get a few Android game ports to Wii just to keep the library gong for a bit.

 

[Deleted-188346]

I would love to see this at $99 so that it could properly compete with Ouya and so that the two consoles could split the market into high end and budget gamers, allowing devs to benefit from both ends. Hell if they added 2 gigs of internal space that would be even better. They should also go ahead and allow for legal USB loading and revamp the Wii Shop Channel. Just give the damn thing the e-Shop branding and allow for download of Wii retail games. Hell, hey could even go a step further and create a GameCube controller to usb adapter and a GC loader for backwards compatibility and only sell these things directly from their warehouse as to save money from mass creating and shipping.

This could be one kick ass idea provided Nintendo actually takes the time to make it work. It would be even better if we could get a few Android game ports to Wii just to keep the library gong for a bit.

- The Wii is not and will never be a competitor to Ouya. The Ouya is completely open, allowing developers a huge amount of freedom. The Wii is not open, and quite restricted. They are also aiming at entirely different demographics.
- Legal USB loading for the Wii would require a huge amount of development from Nintendo for very, very, very little gain.
- Downloading Wii retail games would require a much larger internal HDD for the Wii. This would push the price up, something which is the opposite of what Nintendo are trying to achieve. For the WiiU it would be feasible for the Deluxe version perhaps.
- The Wii and it's WiiWare are both currently in their death process, given the WiiU. You may have noticed the complete absence of any quality titles appearing on the Wii recently.

 

[Gahars]

"I shall call it... Mini Wii."

Anyway, I'm going to agree with the chorus here; this all seems a bit fishy. I'd say the odds of this being completely legitimate are as small as this proposed redesign.

 

[DiscostewSM]

It's width/length would have to be at least a little more than the diameter of the Wii discs themselves. Depth-wise would have to be enough to include the components for operating the disc drive. Where the rest of the hardware would go (the SD card slot, USB ports, etc) would either have to fit underneath the disc drive and/or around it in some form.

 

[Alexrose]

I'm really surprised nobody here posted this.

Why?

Not only did they say "a retailer", really helpful there, but they also put "supposedly", so the writer of the article wasn't even sure it happened himself. For all we know he might have seen someone posting an ironic statement about a mini wii or something on a forum somewhere and this guy took it as a "serious rumour".

Even if he had a screenshot of a big retailer like Amazon posting it up, it'd still be massively dubious; with big retailers means a lot of staff, and absolute bollocks get posted up for short amount of time for jokes every other month and get picked up by Kotaku or whoever, then turn out to be rubbish.

I don't see why anyone would think this post has even an ounce of credibility, especially as even if it did happen "a retailer" could be "some guy who runs a small hardware website".

 

[RupeeClock]

Doubt it's true. Why make a dying console cheaper? Especially since the Wii U can do what the Wii can do and more. (Except Backwards compatibly with GameCube games but don't ride my ass.)

Do you have any idea how long Playstation 2 consoles continued to sell for?

 

[loco365]

Introducing the Punii.

 

[Qtis]

"I shall call it... Mini Wii."

This was the first thing that came to mind, when I saw the topic in USN!

OT: I don't expect Nintendo to go that much all out on it with downloadable games, since the network features on the Wii are kinda crap and Nintendo hasn't offered it so far on the Wii. As for the size, it's only going to get as small as they can make the disc drive, since it will have to read and play the discs. Making the mobo smaller is possible, but there are physical limits for components, since Nintendo will probably not invest in a completely new manufacturing line for making smaller components.

 

[Veho]

It's real. Here's a pic of the Wiimote that comes with it:

And here's a size comparison:

 

[Maplemage]

WHAT IS THIS A WII FOR ANTS?

 

[Algot]

the remote looks like the candy dispenser version of the wii remote

 

[Taleweaver]

"I shall call it... Mini Wii."

Anyway, I'm going to agree with the chorus here; this all seems a bit fishy. I'd say the odds of this being completely legitimate are as small as this proposed redesign.

Damnit! You beat me to it!

In addition, unknown sources claim a smaller version of the wiiu is also in the works. It's called the wiiu little. Here's a screenshot

EDIT: as for the topic: I don't believe a word of it. With the wiiu out, prices of the wii are going to plummet as people sell off their obsolete consoles. I can think of even less people wanting to buy it than those going for that gamecube-less wii.

 

[nachoscool]

This is ridiculous! An even smaller version of the Wii?

 

[LightyKD]

- The Wii is not and will never be a competitor to Ouya. The Ouya is completely open, allowing developers a huge amount of freedom. The Wii is not open, and quite restricted. They are also aiming at entirely different demographics.
- Legal USB loading for the Wii would require a huge amount of development from Nintendo for very, very, very little gain.
- Downloading Wii retail games would require a much larger internal HDD for the Wii. This would push the price up, something which is the opposite of what Nintendo are trying to achieve. For the WiiU it would be feasible for the Deluxe version perhaps.
- The Wii and it's WiiWare are both currently in their death process, given the WiiU. You may have noticed the complete absence of any quality titles appearing on the Wii recently.

Um no. Downloading retail games would NOT require larger amount of NAND space. The game could be sent directly to the USB drive just like how WiiWare games can be sent directly to the SD card. As for Ouya/Wii competition, it's not about the openness of the console but about the games and making budget games for people who don't have the funds to or just don't care to go high end.