The only reason they went this route is because their licensing fees are stupidly high and have been ever since the Super Nintendo days. Ever since the original Sony PlayStation third-party publishers have had a taste of a much higher profit margin on their games, and fewer and fewer have wanted to put things onto newer Nintendo platforms-- especially since some of the hardware decisions that Nintendo have made have necessarily put them at a severe disadvantage technically and demand a specially designed game or completely rebuilt game version for existing franchises. (i.e. I wouldn't hold your breath for Wii Madden) It's hard to take the razor/razor-blade model if you have a very short supply of razor-blades and after one or two purchases nobody wants or *can* buy more razor-blades!

I'd rather they slashed the game prices with 30% instead. I'll never buy a Wii if the games are going to cost MORE than PC-games.

not surprising, wii is old tech... the more expensive consoles will have a much larger lifespan because there will be room to improve when the devs squeeze performance out of them, but with the wii.... its going to have to rely on gameplay with the wiimote to compete

no they have sold more like 1.7 million http://www.nexgenwars.com/ if that site is correct. so thats more like 68 million profit

I've decided to just rent the Wii at Blockbuster, take a week off work, play the 1-5 games that look appealing for it, and return it. Maybe repeat once or twice a year?

$250 for one game (Zelda) isn't worth it.

Same goes for the other two consoles...

It would take me several months straight worth of renting a PS3 before I ate up the cost of just buying it.

I personally think Nintendo put on their genius hat with Wii. Launching right before thanksgiving (knowing gamers will buy them up) so that they are available for play with the family around which in turn created the "man, i wanna get one of these" factor. Keeping the console cheap to produce which makes it cheaper to sell. And actually putting the fun factor back into consoles.

I gotta hand it to them, aside from the wrist strap recall and the idiots throwing the remotes at TV's... this execution has been pretty much flawless

http://us.wii.com/experience_gallery.jsp

notice the big grin on everyones face?

I almost wonder if it's not part of their strategy... outsell Sony and Microsoft with a cheap, but innovative console launch, and then launch a truly next-gen product in the middle of the 360 & PS3 lifetime that kicks both of them to the curb.

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72307-0.html?tw=rss.technology

But some of the more interesting uses of the controller aren't part of Nintendo's official game library. Within weeks of Wii's November launch, videos were making the rounds on YouTube showing the controller used to move a PC's mouse cursor, play Half-Life 2 and even control a music synthesizer and drum machine

You knew this was going to happen soon enough ;)

I wouldn't say the Wii is "old tech". It is just that Nintendo decided not to throw in as much "new tech" as Microsoft and Sony. Sony and Microsoft are eating it in the pants (price wise) for introducing so much new tech.

Nintendo's controller uses new technology that wasn't in the previous generation, so I think it is idiotic to write the Wii off as "old tech".

On a different note, if I were you all, I would not wait for a Wii with DVD player. Remember the Wii currently does not do Dolby Digital 5.1 and also does not have a coaxial, optical, or hdmi for audio output. The gamecube lacked those, too. Do you really think Nintendo would do a refresh in the spring that would add that much stuff just to play discs that most people already have a dedicated player for? I think it is unlikely Nintendo will add all that for DVD playback, which would end up being a pretty crappy/featureless DVD player.

The Wii console has brought back "fun" to console gaming. If people are so stuck on graphics and pretty pictures, then they should side-step consoles altogether. That includes the PS3 with it's 1-2 year old GPU and the Xbox360. Games like Crysis put those consoles to shame. But is it really about graphics or gameplay? For me. It's about gameplay and fun. The Wii has surprised me with this. Nintendo hit it dead on. For the first time, i am actually looking forward to all those possible games coming out that will take advantage of the Wii remote.
As a side note. No console in the past 21 years+ of console gaming has ever won the "console war" based on system power and graphics. Price, games, and gameplay determined that

The $250 pricetag isn't bad, but it'd be more reasonable if they threw in an extra Wiimote and nunchuck attachment. The Wii is supposed to be about bringing non-gamers into the fold, and it ships with one controller? C'mon.

#17:

Sony and Apple aren't even close,

Sony intentionally screws their customers.

Apple offers a niche product(sort of) and charges more then other similar products due to intangibles.

$200 for a Black Wii please. (you know what I mean)

sony and apple is a match made in heaven. they both love to rape their customers and people think they are getting a good deal.

care to edit your post cappa84 before damage sees it ?

Good, when I can get one for $150 maybe I will be interested. However barely upgraded graphics with a projectile controller does not yet attract me.

Wait so... they have sold about 600,000 consoles? At about $40 profit each...
40 * 600,000 = $24,000,000 profit off of the hardware alone already.

I don't think this is necessarily bad. After all, look how much the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 cost. Yeah, the Wii is not as powerful as those two systems, but at least Nintendo made some sort of effort to make it affordable to own a current-model console. I give them credit for going with lesser hardware to accomplish such a thing.

Man, I read this story and all I can think is "Apple should buy Nintendo".

That's probably unrealistic for a whole host of reasons. But Nintendo's focus on selling a product that is in itself worth buying (rather than as a loss leader), combined with their attention to carefully designing the product so that it has an optimal mix of features -- it just really make me think of Apple.

I don't think it is odd that the Wii only has one controller. Most consoles, actually I think ALL of them typically ship with one controller, and you have to buy the second one separately. Wii just continues the trend.

Hell if I could go buy and extra nunchuck I would be happy. I got extra Wii Remotes the day I got the console. I cant come up with an extra nunchuck to save me.