Wii Mini: Exclusive to Canada | Dec 7th @ $99.99 (No internet, no GC support)

Old school throwback. To all the people who wish "A console to just be a console again" You get your wish. But I'm still puzzled to why they would strip out wifi which would leave out Netflix, and especially vc. They must making a killing on those grossly overpriced roms.
 
MikeE21286 said:
If this comes to the US and can be home brewed I'd consider replacing my Wii with it. Although I do lose GC support....
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Without internet support, I wonder if it even has the 512MB internal storage. For what? They'll give it a bit of storage for save games but otherwise... who knows whether this thing will even have channels or start the games outright.
 
Where do you load the disc?
BGBW said:
But without the Internet I won't be able to use the Everybody Votes Channel or check the weather!

NINTENDOOOOOOOOOOO!
ibbKBjEm82mVLU.gif
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Damn that sucks.
 
PhantomR said:
If it had Internet, it would've been perfect at $100. Why get an Apple TV or Roku, when you can get a Wii Mini for the same price that even plays games too?

Massively missed opportunity here.
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If I wanted an Apple TV or Roku I would never consider getting a Wii even if they had equal media capabilities. The Wii can only do 480i/p, which looks disgusting on an HDTV.
 
Alchemy said:
If I wanted an Apple TV or Roku I would never consider getting a Wii even if they had equal media capabilities. The Wii can only do 480i/p, which looks disgusting on an HDTV.
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FOR YOU.

For your average consumer however, especially considering the brand recognition, the Wii Mini is an extremely attractive proposition if it has Internet. Most of these consumers see the Wii as "the Netflix box". This would've cemented that further in this particular segment.


Or if you want to be creative, price the Wii Mini at $99, remove the optical drive, add HDMI and an SD card slot. That way it's your HD Netflix box and you can connect to the Wii Shop channel to purchase games on your SD card if you want to.
 
I don't doubt that research shows that a majority of people will never connect their Wii to the internet, but I'd have to imagine the sunk cost of including it for people that won't use it is more than offset by the occasional outlier that stumbles upon the VC and kicks in for a handful of rom dumps. Seems shortsighted to cut them out, minority though they may be.
 
Shig said:
I don't doubt that research shows that a majority of people will never connect their Wii to the internet, but I'd have to imagine the sunk cost of including it for people that won't use it is more than offset by the occasional outlier that stumbles upon the VC and kicks in for a handful of rom dumps. Seems shortsighted to cut them out, minority though they may be.
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Man, this machine is purely positioned to coincide with the budget line of titles...co-color branding and all. It is not about the internet, not about streaming, not about downloading games. It is designed to move $20 games. A profit move. The machine is not for most of the folks in this thread or GAF.
 
I'm kind of digging the design actually. Has that 80's retro feel to it.

No WiFi is really baffling though, seems like it really wouldn't add too much to the cost or compromise the design of the unit.

Wonder if this will be the unit moving into 2013 worldwide.
 
axisofweevils said:
I am slightly concerned about the potential for confusion over this, simply because the red edging looks like a letter U. Especially as the console only has the word Wii on the top. Surely, they could have designed it so the red was on every side?

1128156_1.jpg


This image practically screams WII U.
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For the love of christ no it doesn't.
 
PhantomR said:
FOR YOU.

For your average consumer however, especially considering the brand recognition, the Wii Mini is an extremely attractive proposition if it has Internet. Most of these consumers see the Wii as "the Netflix box". This would've cemented that further in this particular segment.


Or if you want to be creative, price the Wii Mini at $99, remove the optical drive, add HDMI and an SD card slot. That way it's your HD Netflix box and you can connect to the Wii Shop channel to purchase games on your SD card if you want to.
Click to expand...

I highly doubt most users associate Nintendo products with media playback (for the moment, TVii may alter things). And now you're talking about doing significantly more work to get the system to support 720p/1080p video output as well as HDMI output when the point of the Wii Mini is to release a stripped down gaming console to extend the shelf life of an old console being sold at a profit.

Also the original system had an SD card slot, and you would need to rebuild the Wii Shop Channel from the ground up to support digital releases of games. Note we're talking about a system that isn't getting significant developer support anymore. It is completely unreasonable, especially without any form of built in flash memory.

At the height of Wiimania the system had practically zero media playback capabilities, and Nintendo definitely wants to push TVii on the Wii U more than reviving the Wii as a media device.
 
It looks really nice IMO, but I'm struggling to understand the price point given the cost of a full featured "original" Wii bundeled with a game. And is it really "no internet" or is it "no wifi", Nintendo makes some sort of USB Wifi adapter doesn't it? Maybe they are hoping people will pick that up...?
 
Oooh the Gold and Black number is pretty swank, the white model makes it look like a Styrofoam burger box from the chippy though I have to say.

It'll be interesting to see how this does and when the other markets will see this product. The Wii's still selling well and there is still that other model floating about that only takes gamecube BC out... seems a bit weird they didn't launch this last year really with that model
 
Polari said:
No internet? Holy shit Nintendo are cheap. What does a Wifi chip cost these days? Like 50 cents?
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Sony guilty of it too, with that no-wifi PSP that was sold in Europe recently..

And Microsoft used to charge $100 for a wifi adapter :P
 
Even if this doesn't sell much Nintendo is going to make a mad profit from it. It probably costs them $5 to make this mini Wii lol
 
Conspiracy-Age

Nintendo originally wanted to launch the Wii U with this design but was too scared of a backlash. They still couldn't let go and pulled it on the Wii!

If the red stripe was more rounded it would make a nice "U".


poppedcollar69 said:
Probably still doesn't play dvd's though, huh.
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This is what will hurt it a bit when compared to the PS2 slim, a lot of people still use PS2 as a DVD player. DVD is the media of choice in poorer households, those people don't care for more expensive BluRays.
 
I'm normally into console redesigns but the original Wii is already tiny and minimalistic. This thing just looks cheap. Pass.
 
I really like late gen console revisions as they get so tiny. it just sucks when they remove features, and no internet access is baffling.

Wiis are cheap as hell on Craigslist, and odds are you'd even find one that plays GameCube games still.
 
This is incredibly stupid thing to release after releasing the Wii-U
It is still to a certain degree struggling to be defined as a new unique console separate from the Wii
 
Yes it is a dumb thing to release so close to the WiiU, but NO INTERNET? How much money could that honestly save?
 
Tim-E said:
The people who are interested in buying virtual console games already have Wiis.
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Not universally true, at least. I'm legitimately torn between the prospect of another generation of deteriorating game content or simply hanging it up and living in the past. I have no interest in Wii games at all. But I could get by for a bit on Virtual Console.

Them excluding internet connectivity on this does make me question if a Wii would be a good idea, if push comes to shove.
 
Glorified G said:
Old school throwback. To all the people who wish "A console to just be a console again" You get your wish. But I'm still puzzled to why they would strip out wifi which would leave out Netflix, and especially vc. They must making a killing on those grossly overpriced roms.
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THIS. It makes me wonder if the VC games have really been all that successful for them if they are willing to effectively kill the store for all future customers.
 
have to carry ac power brick, sensor bars and cables

makes it very unportable !

at least sony builds the ac power into the console
 
ari said:
i am not sure whats with all the reaching that is going on in this thread, there is no way in fucking hell anyone would confuse this with the wii u.
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And what is the deal anyway? "Oh sorry Son I thought this was the system you wanted.."
Proceeds to return system for the Wii U. :P

It's not an issue.
 
Machado said:
GAF says PASS, of course you're going to pass on this, you'd had one by now wouldn't you?

don't like it? don't buy it. Hell...don't even comment on it.



me? I like the design, very much so. I hope this sells in US so I can buy one. that design is BOSS
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I'm just so damn tickled that this system is part of not only Nintendo history but also will exist as part of overall videogame history. It is such an amazing entry...especially in context of how this gen played out. I love it. Nintendo always throws curve balls.

And goddamn, that style. Holy shit.
 
Baffling decisions abound.

Would have bought if it was Wii feature complete. I dont mind the look of it.

The most puzzling is why it isn't being bundled with the new Gamepad accessory. :P
 
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