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__StRiDeR__ · #1 09-14-2006, 04:51 PM

Live from New York -- It's the Wii Conference
Details from Japan and leaks sprung last night, what's coming today?
by Luke Smith, 09/14/2006

Sure, the Wii pricepoint and date leaked yesterday (expect it to ship Nov. 19 and retail for $250), but we're still on hand at Nintendo's press event in New York City locking down some of the details that the embargo-breaking New York Times' story didn't clear up.
Keep checking back here or here for on the fly live updates from the event.

9:18 a.m.: The techno music just died and VP of Marketing and Corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan has taken the stage to a lukewarm, morning ovation. She's understanding of the lack of enthusiasm since most of the press here are from the west coast and admittedly tired and cranky (hi, Perrin).

Perrin just described the last 12 hours for Nintendo as "Rolling Thunder" rememeber, that's what Microsoft is calling their press conference as well.

"Today we're going to share many of the exciting details about the Wii," Kaplan said. The presentation is expected to be a bit less than an hour with a Q&A at the end.

9:21 a.m.: Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime has taken the stage, announcing today as Nintendo's "next planned step" in driving the video game industry forward.

Nintendo's strategy "is based on one core belief. That the next step in gaming, is bringing gaming back to the masses." Fils-Aime states the importance of bringing gaming to "new gamers" -- people who don't even consider themselves part of the videogame industry.

Fils-Aime is detaling five products that Nintendo has brought into the industry to innovate -- the first is the Nintendo DS, the second is Touch Generations.

Reggie pointed out that 35% of Nintendo's first party sales came from New Super Mario Bros. but those sales were stlil less than the sales of Nintendo's Touch Generation titles.

Nintendo's third was their WiFi service (unveiled last fall). The fourth was their Wii controller.

November 19 is when Nintendo will "debut" the Wii worldwide. It will appear in 25,000 retail locations with an MSRP of $249.99. There is one price, one configuration and one color -- the same white Nintendo uses in its Nintendo DS.

Nintendo intends on shipping 4 million Wii consoles in the 43 days before the calendar year ends. The United States, Fils-Aime states, will get the majority of these consoles.

On hand today, are 40 kiosks with 24 games on hand to demonstrate. Wii Bowling, a part of Wii Sports is about to be demonstrated on stage.

Wii Bowling pretty much involves replicating the motion of bowling with the Wii-mote, if you want to put a little bit of spin on the ball, it's possible -- though it was difficult to tell how, one can assume its via the twist of a wrist -- we'll have impressions of Wii Bowling later today.

Wii Bowling will appear on Wii Sports, which inclues Wii Baseball, Wii Tennis, Wii Golf and the just-announced Wii Boxing. Wii Sports is a five-title pack-in, and Nintendo's first since the days of the Super NES. Fils-Aime cites the Wii as the "best innovation in the industry" and also the "best value in the industry."

The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess is a confirmed launch titles, according to Fils-Aime beside Xcite Truck -- these are three of Nintendo's first party launch titles. This is the first time, Fils-Aime points out, that "we have a launch title on the first day." He likens the presence of Zelda at launch to the Yankees scoring nine runs in the first inning of a baseball game.

9:36 a.m.: Fils-Aime points to the large list of third party developers on hand and takes that as a vote of confidence from the third parties who believe in Nintendo's disruptive vision. One hundred and four titles were on display at the Nintendo event in Japan earlier today.

Citing a series of quotes from developers supporting the Wii, Fils-Aime points out that 30 titles will be available in the launch-window, with about half of them available on day one. They will, as reported, retail for $49.99 (ten bucks less than Xbox 360 titles).

9:40 a.m.: Reggie mentions Wii Channels, a new part of Nintendo's Wii plan. This is one of the ways Nintendo wants to expand its audience, Wii Channels is being likened to the audience expansion that Touch Generations brought.

Wii Channels, Nintendo hopes, will change the way people interface with their television. Users will see a unique channel menu that will show 12 channels, the first channel, in the upper left of the screen is the "disc" channel -- which will allow gamers to play Wii titles or a GameCube title.

In the upper right of the menu is the Wii Shop -- where users will purchase Virtual Console titles -- Fils-Aime confirms, Legend of Zelda (NES), Super Mario World (SNES) and Super Mario 64 will all be launch day ready on the Virtual Console.

Wii points will be used to purchase Virtual Console titles. 100 Wii Points equals a dollar, NES titles cost 500 points ($5), SNES titles 800 points ($8) and Nintendo 64 titles cost 1000 points ($10).

9:46 a.m:: What is the Mii channel? It's a character creation system that will allow users to create a picture of themselves on their Wii (these characters look very similar to the ones that were used in the Wii Sports Tennis demo at E3).

Capitalizing on just how hip irony is, they create a virtual version of Samuel L. Jackson. After character creation, you can transfer your "Mii" to your Wii-remote, so that you can take them with you wherever you go.

"That's where population comes in to play." The Mii's will be characters that you use in Wii Sports and Wario Ware -- software for the Wii will be compatible with the Mii-channel. This allows users to leave a different imprint on their game playing experience.

9:54 a.m. Reggie retakes the stage, showing the Weather Channel (Wii version), a news Channel, a Wii message board (where users can send messages or photos to other Wii users, PCs or cell phones). Users will also be able to leave messages on a calendar -- on the Wii, a virtual 'fridge, of sorts.

On the Internet Channel, Reggie maintains that the TV can replace the PC screen -- the Wii seems to be Nintendo's strike at the PC, its own brand of a convergence device.

The Wii Proposition: Revolutionary Play, Best of the Past, Biggest Launch Library, Wii Channels and finally, an Affordable Price. Reggie: "We do believe that there has never been a proposition to match this in interactive history."

Reggie is going to field some Q&A, let's see what people ask:

Q: How much are additional remotes?
A: The Wiimote has a MSRP of $39.99 and the nunchuk has an MSRP of $19.99 -- they are sold separately.

Photo Channel: Will the unit actually hold the photos, or will it just read them from a card?
A: The majority of the information will be kept on the SD card.

Q: 'Sup with Zelda?
A: Zelda for GameCube will launch on December 11, the Wii version will launch with the console.

Q: What's the cost of the Wii's online functionality?
A: There is no incremental cost to using WiiConnect, the console connects via WiFi or wired connections.

Q: Will third parties price their content at $59.99?
A: Third parties can price their titles how they see fit, but the Wii encourages a consumer-friendly pricepoint.

Q: How many games will support Widescreen aspect ratio and how would you compare the visuals to other next-gen systems?
A: Most titles will support widescreen. Nintendo has a different paradigm for what turns on the consumer. "If you want power, you're going to go somewhere else."

Q: Is Nintendo releasing Metroid Prime 3 in the launch window?
A: Metroid Prime 3 is a 2007 title.

Q: How will the DS interact with the Wii?
A: We'll have announcements on that functionality soon.

Q: What will the first online game be, where players can play against one another?
A: Japan announced a Pokemon battle game that will have online functionality -- that will be the first game in the U.S. as well.

Q: Are there plans for "branded" Wii Channels?
A: Right now, we don't have plans for branded Wii channels at this time.

With that the conference ended. Now, to play the games.

From www.1up.com

More to be Posted as Released!

Apoctanks · #2 09-14-2006, 08:14 PM

Don't be so hasty.

The Nov 19 launch was announced by the New York Times and picked up by the Seattle PI before the conference had even announced it.

Then, the conference accounced a Dec 2 release date.

Hellfire · #3 09-14-2006, 11:05 PM

Haha, what a dissapointment for a lot of Nintendo fans.

- 50$ more than all of their previous consoles.
- Controller is 60$
- Releases on a ****ing Sunday. SUNDAY!!!
- Metroid Prime 3 delayed till 2007
- Wiimote using AA batteries

Unseen · #4 09-15-2006, 04:46 PM

PS3 Owns the Wii... :mellow:

Kikaz · #5 09-16-2006, 05:30 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Hellfire@Sep 14 2006, 05:05 PM
Haha, what a dissapointment for a lot of Nintendo fans.

- 50$ more than all of their previous consoles.
- Controller is 60$
- Releases on a ****ing Sunday. SUNDAY!!!
- Metroid Prime 3 delayed till 2007
- Wiimote using AA batteries

Metriod Prime sucks balls though.

Hellfire · #6 09-16-2006, 06:42 PM

A lot of people wanted it...

Kikaz · #7 09-16-2006, 09:19 PM

Well MP 1 sucks I never bothered after that.

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