Nintendo Wii Price Drops to $150 Ahead of Wii 2 Release in 2012 @ Gaming Target

Written by Matt Swider on May 04, 2011

News: 2011 will be the year of the Nintendo Wii price drop; 2012, the year of Wii 2, Wii HD Project Cafe.

For the first four months of this year, Nintendo Wii was consumed by two rumors. First, there'd be a successor, whether it's name will be Wii 2, Wii HD, Project Cafe or something completely different. Second, Nintendo would drop the price of its struggling Wii console.

The first rumor came true last week when Nintendo officially announced a unnamed Wii successor. This week, the videogame company has finally confirmed that Wii will indeed see a price cut to $150, down from $200. In addition to the $50 price difference, which occurs on May 15, Wii systems in both black and white will come bundled with a new game: Mario Kart Wii with the plastic Wii Wheel accessory to match the system.

This marks the first time that the Wii Wheel is be available in black. At the end of its press release, the company made a point to mention that the accessory will be available separately for $20 in either color, too. The new bundle also means that the "top selling" pack-ins, Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort, have been replaced.

Finally, the same day will see the launch of Nintendo Selects - popular games that are also reduced in price. Four games will start this hopefully contagious $20 trend: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Animal Crossing: City Folk, Mario Super Sluggers and Wii Sports. So, just in case you're buying a Wii for the first time and are bummed about getting Mario Kart Wii (you shouldn't be) instead of Wii Sports, a single Andrew Jackson will amend that loss.

With flat Wii sales and next year's planned launch of Wii 2, Nintendo is hoping to spur sales of its once-uber-popular console for the rest of 2011. Do you think the Wii and Nintendo Selects price drops will make a difference? Leave a comment