Now Wii know everything: Launch date and price revealed @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on September 14, 2006

News: Nintendo has finally let the secret out of the bag. But do we believe it?

Late last night Nintendo unveiled all of the Japanese launch details in a press conference. Around the same time, an article on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has revealed all of the North American launch details in a hotly debated article.

Nintendo's press conference revealed that the Wii would launch in Japan on December 2 for about $215. But then the Seattle PI article dropped the major bombshell: the Wii will launch in North America on November 19 for the price of $250 and it will come bundled with Wii Sports.

Yes, it's coming after the PS3 and October 2 appears to have been way off.

The Seattle PI article also said that Nintendo will have between 25-30 games available for launch and they are still on track to deliver four million Wii systems worldwide this year.

At their press conference, Nintendo also confirmed some details about the Virtual Console. The service will feature 30 games from Nintendo systems and 30 games from the Genesis and Turbo-Grafx at launch with an additional 10 titles coming out every month. NES games would be priced at 500 yen ($4), SNES games will be 800 yen ($7) and N64 titles will be 1000 yen ($8.50).

We also know that the (Japanese) box will contain the Wii console, a Wii remote (with strap), a Nunchuk attachment, Wii AC adaptor, Wii A/V cable, Wii console stand, the sensor bar, a sensor bar stand and two AA batteries.

While some gamers have embraced the news that we finally know about the Wii, others have questioned the late release date and high price. Nintendo has repeatedly said that they would launch the Wii before the PS3 and historically, every Nintendo console has launched for $200. Some have even gone so far as to claim the Seattle PI article (and a similar article in the New York Times) are outright lies.

I guess we'll know for sure in a half hour when Nintendo holds their North American press conference.

UPDATE: Nintendo's American press conference is over and we now know a few more details:

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption has been pushed back to 2007.

The Wii will feature Internet browsing and various "channels" including News, Weather and Photos.

The Virtual Console will use "Wii Points" that exchange for a penny a point and NES, SNES and N64 games will weigh in at 500 ($5), 800 ($8) and 1000 ($10) points respectively.

Players will be able to create "Mii" profiles and avatars that they will be able to store in the Wiimote.

Extra Wiimotes will be $40 and extra Nunchuk attachments will be $20.