Nintendo announces price cut for Wii

The Nintendo Wii has been the best-selling console of the current generation. Close to the launch of the Nintendo’s next-generation console – the Wii U – the company has decided to slash the price for the motion-control based console. According to IGN, Nintendo has cut the price of the Wii down to $129.99 (around Rs 6,873) in a new bundle that includes the console, and its Nunchuck controller in black; and a copy of Wii Sports, and Wii Sports Resort on one disc.

“Nearly six years after it launched, people are still attracted to the pure, inclusive fun of the Wii console,” said Nintendo of America executive vice president of Sales & Marketing Scott Moffitt. “A new suggested retail price and the inclusion of two great games make it an easy choice for families looking for a great value this holiday season.”

The new Nintendo Wii bundle

The Wii U, scheduled to be launched in Japan on 8 December 2012, will have two versions: the 'Basic' white coloured system and the 'Premium' black coloured system. The Basic version will come with 8GB of flash memory and cost 26,250 Yen (around Rs 18,700), and the Premium version will come with 32GB of flash memory and a subscription to Nintendo Network Premium, and will cost 31,500 Yen (Rs 22,500 approximately).

Nintendo Network Premium is a paid subscription service that gives you points for every purchase you make on the Wii eShop. As of yet, there has been no word on if there is any other way of getting a subscription to Nintendo Network Premium other than buying the black version of the Wii U.

Along with the release date for the console itself, Nintendo has also announced the launch titles for the system – New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendo Land. It is worth noting though that neither of these games will be pack-in titles and will have to be bought separately.

The specs for the Wii U had been leaked yesterday. The specs were sent to VGleaks by an anonymous source that claims to have access to the Nintendo developer-only resource, Wario World. The main shocker from the leaked specs is that the console will only have 8GB of internal space. Nintendo seems to be relying on SD Cards for more memory. The Wii U will be compatible with SD cards of up to 2GB and SDHC cards of up to 32GB, which is still quite low, compared to the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.

The system will also be packing an “Espresso” CPU with three enhanced Broadway cores, and the graphics will be handled by a high-definition GPU based on “GPU7” from AMD Radeon. Along with this, the Wii U will have 1GB of RAM. The next-gen console will be able to connect to external hard drives through one of four USB 2.0 ports.

With the Wii U, Nintendo promises that it won’t miss out on multiplatform games, because the hardware will be much closer to what Sony and Microsoft will have to offer. "We have not successfully kept the momentum of the Wii for about the last two years because third-party publishers have released a smaller number of game titles and Nintendo has also decreased new games for the platform in preparation for the launch of the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U," said Satoru Iwata, the president of Nintendo, at an annual meeting with shareholders.