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[Nemo]

I like the concept, actual design could be better tho

 

[SlaughterX]

TREACHEROUS DR WU!

 

[Raide]

Still have SD Card support?

I can see Japan doing some interesting bundle copies for older games i.e. Zelda Wii Console (Gold with Tri-force engraved on it) and it comes pre-installed with several Zelda games.

 

[Gummb]

They're going to make a lot of money on this.

 

[tsab]

Removing SD could make sense for Nintendo. That way there is nothing the "bad" pirates and homebrewers do to launch exploits/hacks to install anything.

They should add a little more space to save your progress on the 1300 games available

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Why would you need SD here? Or are you just trolling.

Transferring saves, sharing Smash stages, replacement Excite Truck soundtrack.

This is a budget console for people that can't always afford our expensive hobby. I think this is a great idea.

Considering Wii Normal regularly $130 with a game and occasionally $90-100 without a game, this isn't even really a pricing improvement.

There's a picture of a Wiimote right there next to it. Do you have a Wiimote?

It seems to be slightly longer than a wiimote, but then so is the Wii. If it's much smaller it's got to be in the thickness.

 

[stalker]

 

[WiiredShawn]

Absolutely, and if that's the argument people are making, that's a valid point. It should be clear what the argument, is, though - the Wii Mini will be sold with a huge profit margin to pad Nintendo's bottom line (of course, this is fine, this is why companies sell things) and to protect their big margins on controllers.

The argument it seemed to me people were making was, the Wii Mini is a good deal because it includes $60 worth of controllers, so really the console only costs $39! Well, no, the controllers are sold for that much, they don't cost Nintendo that much. I would guess Nintendo could still make a comfortable profit if they reduced the controller prices and reduced the Wii Mini price, but none of us are in the Nintendo boardrooms, or catching hell from Nintendo shareholders for last quarter's losses, so I'll keep my armchair speculation to the wisdom of removing what I think are very important features.

I am all about budget versions of consoles, and budget versions of games. I've argued on this board repeatedly that there should be value options. But a good value doesn't mean it's missing essential parts. For example, the Wii redesign that removed GC BC - I think it sucks, but I get that, and people aren't buying Wii's to play Gamecube games. The Gamecube redesign that removed the optical port or whatever - fine, sure. But we're talking about the ability to play games online, stream Netflix, have a "fridge" for save game files, and buy and play Virtual Console and WiiWare games. That's not a value version, that's a different system, IMHO.

Nintendo didn't strip out these features to appeal to budget conscious shoppers. They could have just as easily released a fully-featured Wii Mini at the same price point or lower to do that. Instead, they are releasing a crippled, overpriced piece of hardware, and you've got folks here celebrating its purity and Nintendo's compassion for the common man. Give me a break.

While you make a fair argument, I'm not sure anyone so far has proclaimed this release as "Nintendo's compassion for the common man." They're testing the waters to see if a certain type of consumers will nibble. That type of consumer may not care about "the ability to play games online, stream netflix, have a fridge or play VC games." If they wanted any of those things, they would just buy a normal Wii. Rather, this system seems intentionally designed to 1) visually and economically differentiate the Wii from the Wii U for the holiday season; and 2) sell a few more Wii consoles to parents who just want a cheap console that will play retail Wii software. I think you already hit the appropriate nail in talking about satisfying Nintendo's investors - this system could generate some last-minute consumer interest without too much expense on Nintendo's end, thus improving the bottom line and compensating for Wii U production costs.

 

[ConsumerSquare]

It seems to be slightly longer than a wiimote, but then so is the Wii. If it's much smaller it's got to be in the thickness.

Right, and this:

Looks thick. I have no doubt that it's smaller than a Wii, it just seems like it should bulky based on it's shape.

I don't get this at all. It's like a redesign for the people who lost interest in the Wii years ago.

 

[Rocket Punch]

So cute!

At $99 it's an impulse buy. It will sell out instantly.

Also, I didn't realize Nintendo thought so little of their American market. It's Canada only to spare Americans mind-numbling confusion over their new console. Clearly.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

TREACHEROUS DR WU!

Took me a minute, but I now see what you did there.

 

[arts&crafts]

I bet you in 10 years this will be worth a lot more then 100 dollars.

 

[Supermanisdead]

No internet is ridiculous. I love the look of it and the red Wiimotes, but it needs Netflix. I wonder how much more profit they make off no internet.

 

[Meelow]

I like the design of it, very Famicom/NES like. Now I wish this was the Wii U design

 

[WEGGLES]

No internet is ridiculous. I love the look of it and the red Wiimotes, but it needs Netflix. I wonder how much more profit they make off no internet.

they have to lose money.
If I bought a Wii I'd want some VC/E-Shop games. I'm sure most people would buy enough to make up for the cost of the WiFi part....

I mean, it can't be THAT expensive of a part.

 

[Vandiger]

50 dollars too expensive.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[grimshawish]

My thoughts exactly.

Don't the controllers cost about that?

 

[Aquamarine]

Transferring saves, sharing Smash stages, replacement Excite Truck soundtrack.

Considering Wii Normal regularly $130 with a game and occasionally $90-100 without a game, this isn't even really a pricing improvement.

It seems to be slightly longer than a wiimote, but then so is the Wii. If it's much smaller it's got to be in the thickness.

Here's a very, very rough markup I made of relative sizes.

 

[MThanded]

Because it is the sexiest console to come along since the slim-line PS2?

It is also a breath of fresh air in a world stacked with techy full-featured consoles. Brass tacks, put a disc in and play.

And has some nice red controllers as a bonus.

"sexy"

 

[Allan Holdsworth]

I was considering getting one just in case, but no internet is a deal breaker. Also it's quite hideous, could have fooled me with the box shot.

It's a pretty bad deal when for $130 you can get a mostly normal Wii with 2 games. Which was in turn a bad deal when it launched at $150 (with NSMBWii/Mario Galaxy CD IIRC) when you could get a GC compatible Wii for the same price with Mario Kart Wii.

 

[sixteen-bit]

The SNES mini didn't output S-Video or RGB like the original model. What are the odds the Wii Mini tops out at composite too?

The packaged cables aren't encouraging.

 

[Raziel]

no internet renders it psx/panasonic gc/gb micro/pspgo status

 

[tsab]

The SNES mini didn't output S-Video or RGB like the original model. What are the odds the Wii Mini tops out at composite too?

The packaged cables aren't encouraging.

it's the same AV port. It would be silly not to support it. Besides,
"component cables are not included" and not "not supported"

 

[slightconfuse]

a gimped console even more gimped

 

[BocoDragon]

it's the same AV port. It would be silly not to support it. Besides,
"component cables are not included" and not "not supported"

It would be silly to not support it... but they took the S-Video connections out of the SNES 2 for some reason all those years ago (same port there too). If they can save a few cents on the hardware, maybe they would.

 

[sixteen-bit]

it's the same AV port. It would be silly not to support it. Besides,
"component cables are not included" and not "not supported"

That's meaningless though. SNES mini used the same AV port as the original SNES but did not output S-Video or RGB.

Edit: Beaten.

 

[Honey Bunny]

Gotta say the thing does look sexy

I thought so on that first tiny pic, but now I see it properly it looks sorta like a Razer-designed floppy drive

 

[ThanksVision]

I would buy this if I lived in Canada. Will it be easy to get in the states? There's a few Wii games I never got to play.

 

[Lijik]

I have no need for it but honestly, that design, and color... I kinda like it.

Same.

 

[Thraktor]

This is a very odd thing altogether. I can't really decide whether I like it or not, as it's got an interesting sort of retro design, but the plastic quality looks a bit cheap. Basically the opposite of the original Wii, in all its modern, shiny, angular glory. I'll probably have to wait to see it in person (if it ever arrives in Ireland) before I can decide.

From a business perspective, it looks like something designed for developing markets. The top-loading disc drive, removal of WiFi, and quality of materials are all going to bring down costs, and the fact that it's not being released worldwide indicates that they might be using Canada as a test market for some reason, then rolling it out to China, India, Brazil, etc. next year.

I'm actually very interested to see a tear-down of the device, both out of curiosity on the new internal layout, and whether there's a die-shrink of the CPU and GPU. I don't think Nintendo have ever done a die-shrink of internal components before, and it would be very interesting if they start now, as it would indicate that they expect to get a few more years out of the console yet, which would further point to developing markets, especially as the die-shrunk components would be cheaper.

It does have me thinking, though. I'm picking up a Wii U later this week. At some point I'll probably buy one of those Wiimote/nunchuck/sensor bar sets to go with it. Checking Amazon.co.uk, that set would cost me €64. This Wii mini, though, is going for $99 CAD, which is just €77, and includes a Wiimote, a nunchuck and a sensor bar. My brother lives in Canada, so if I can get him to pick this up over there and bring it to Ireland when he's back over for Christmas, then I effectively get a Wii mini console for €13, which I could use for imported NTSC games, or I could tear it apart for fun, or I could just stick it in my cabinet of console curiosities*. Hard to turn down a console for €13!


* Note to self: Create a cabinet of console curiosities.

 

[Yawnier]

As I said in the other thread, I am sort of considering this just because I never owned a Wii and there are quite a few games on the console that have intrigued me (Galaxy 1 & 2, DKCR, Zelda: SS).

Or do I wait a bit longer down the road and just pick get a Wii U?

 

[sixteen-bit]

As I said in the other thread, I am sort of considering this just because I never owned a Wii and there are quite a few games on the console that have intrigued me (Galaxy 1 & 2, DKCR, Zelda: SS).

Or do I wait a bit longer down the road and just pick get a Wii U?

Find a used, full-featured Wii for under a hundo.

 

[Yawnier]

Find a used, full-featured Wii for under a hundo.

I was thinking about this for a while because I own about 25 GC games, and it would be nice to get a Wii that has the GC compatibility in order to play those.

 

[Canis lupus]

It looks like it comes straight outta the 80s.

 

[idwl]

As I said in the other thread, I am sort of considering this just because I never owned a Wii and there are quite a few games on the console that have intrigued me (Galaxy 1 & 2, DKCR, Zelda: SS).

Or do I wait a bit longer down the road and just pick get a Wii U?

I am seriously considering this too if theres a pal version. I have a lot of pal games and my launch wii has a fried gpu? Or cpu dont know whichever causes those weird lines on screen. So i definitely want something i can play my old wii games on. While eventually getting a US wii u for the cheaper games

 

[King Mystery]

I heard the plastic in these Wii Mini things were recycled from melted down Virtual Boys.

 

[Liquidus]

I think it like looks great but no internet support is garbage. This would have been a great little Netflix machine for the grandmother.

 

[Freezie KO]

No WiFi?

Why does Nintendo do this? Just drop the Wii to $99 across the board or kill it altogether. Why release a new model when trying to sell the new console?

 

[Tallshortman]

At $99 it's an impulse buy. It will sell out instantly.

lol no. $100 is not impulse buy for something that was $140 before. It will also not sell out instantly unless they restrain supply. There could be a decent market for this but this is likely not going to be the hot cakes you're trying to portray it as.

 

[pestul]

They're going to make a lot of money on this.

Yep. Again, all the complaints here are not valid for the target audience, at least to an extent. $99 is almost a throw-away price point for electronics in Canada. Parents will impulse buy this in droves.. I'm not sure how it will effect the Wii U adoption rate in Canada though.

 

[Rocket Punch]

lol no. $100 is not impulse buy for something that was $140 before. It will also not sell out instantly unless they restrain supply. There could be a decent market for this but this is likely not going to be the hot cakes you're trying to portray it as.

Sorry, you don't know what an impulse purchase is. It's not geared towards the hardcores, it's for the kiddies who don't have a console. It's the cheapest console in the market. It will sell out easily.

I also have to laugh a people scoffing that it doesn't have internet access. My Wii has been w/o internet for over 3 years.

 

[AlexBasch]

Ugh, the lack of internet is a deal breaker for me. Not that I live in Canada, but I would have bought this one even if I can get an older Wii for less than $99.

 

[Kurdel]

Sorry, you don't know what an impulse purchase is. It's not geared towards the hardcores, it's for the kiddies who don't have a console. It's the cheapest console in the market. It will sell out easily.

Imagine being in middle school, in 2012, and your parents just bought you a new Wii.

Kids today want iPhones, iPads and Wii Us , they don't want this.

 

[B.O.O.M]

That's one ugly ass console

 

[Effnine]

Imagine being in middle school, in 2012, and your parents just bought you a new Wii.

Kids today want iPhones, iPads and Wii Us , they don't want this.

It's OK, this Wii doesn't have Internet. They'll have no idea what they're missing. LOL

 

[ThanksVision]

I don't think I used the internet connection on my Wii more than 5 times, and those were just to download VC games that I never played for more than an hour. So yeah, no internet is fine in my case.

 

[waypoetic]

Sure, i'd buy one just to play DKC:R.

Spoiler

lol no i wont

 

[Good Job Bob]

Imagine being in middle school, in 2012, and your parents just bought you a new Wii.

Kids today want iPhones, iPads and Wii Us, they don't want this.

Stealth troll?

 

[abasm]

I'm surprised the design is so divisive! I really, really like it, and the price would be perfect if it had Internet access. I'm not particularly committed to anything on WiiWare, but I can't fathom losing access to the extensive Virtual Console store.

...would the USB Ethernet adapter work, I wonder?

 

[Aquamarine]

I'm surprised the design is so divisive! I really, really like it, and the price would be perfect if it had Internet access. I'm not particularly committed to anything on WiiWare, but I can't fathom losing access to the extensive Virtual Console store.

...would the USB Ethernet adapter work, I wonder?

No, that's been confirmed not to work.