Wii U

[Monkey]

Originally Posted by West E

any economists know how much in today's money i paid for my NES in 1988? I know i paid at least $200 for it back then (and i didn't even get Robb the Robot).

This is from 07... not sure a more modern chart has been made

[Show spoiler]

[blurayjunkie]

Does any one know if Wii games like NSMB WII, DKCR can be played with the new pro controller on the Wii U?

If so this would be the main reason I would get a Wii U as I would be able to beat these 2 games without have to move my aims around like a retard.

[Monkey]

Originally Posted by TheZoof

I don't really understand this concern with price. $500 is not a lot of money these days.

I am going on vacation next week and one of the cities I am staying in the CHEAPEST hotel I could find in downtown core was $210 a night! Two nights and I have a Wii U.

Not saying we all have same budgets but it shouldn't be a big deal, IF it is a good product. Now the Wii U might not be a good enough product for $350. That being said, if it is (which no one knows yet) then it will be worth it.

I also want to point out that I haven't bought a smart phone or monthly data plan in my life... I refuse to due to the $50+ a month fees or spend $200+ on a cell... so I am not someone that just throws money away. LOL

$500 is a huge deal to me, but that of course is also due to having kids now versus not having kids and the cost of everything else going up as well (food, gas, etc)..

edit: I did buy the PS3 at launch for $500.00 but as I said it was a different circumstance, plus it was double as blu-ray player. The PS3 has been worth every penny, one hell of a value at the time

[Mavrick]

Originally Posted by TheZoof

If PS4 or 720 don't come out at that price point then I doubt there will be much reason to buy it.

They have to push the envelope and in order to do that, it means cost.

Perhaps I am in the minority, but for me... the reason why PS3 is the best system of the past few years is because they went for the higher priced unit to begin with. They have the most features and I hope they also learned that all those great features were awesome but they didn't include enough core memory which was their only downfall.

At the time of release they had blu-ray, blutooth, 1080p(xbox got that via patch later and released new hdmi unit), hdmi, lossless sound(wii U has that now), etc...

PS4 will have to build on that to be successful. Offering those features(which are cheap) and give us 2013 technology that is rare as they did with the launch of ps3.

It might get people not buy it on launch day, but in 2-3 years when the product price drops due to technology being cheaper, then they would have made the right move.


If the next generation comes out as good as top of the line PC (multiple monitor support, 60fps on those higher resolutions, shaders, proper textures, fine filters etc)... then I would be willing to pay a lot more than $500 with the right features.

They won't be pushing any envolopes next gen. The leap to 8th gen will be no where near the leap from 6th to 7th was. There's no way Sony will launch PS4 at anywhere near £400. £350 would be the limit for most, personally I would reluctantly pay £400 but I'm one of the few that paid £425 for a PS3 at launch.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by TheZoof

I don't really understand this concern with price. $500 is not a lot of money these days.

I am going on vacation next week and one of the cities I am staying in the CHEAPEST hotel I could find in downtown core was $210 a night! Two nights and I have a Wii U.

Not saying we all have same budgets but it shouldn't be a big deal, IF it is a good product. Now the Wii U might not be a good enough product for $350. That being said, if it is (which no one knows yet) then it will be worth it.

I also want to point out that I haven't bought a smart phone or monthly data plan in my life... I refuse to due to the $50+ a month fees or spend $200+ on a cell... so I am not someone that just throws money away. LOL

No offense but I think your situation is very different than most. Most folks I know can't afford a vacation period. Though it looks like you're a Canadian so that would automatically make your situation better than most Americans as your quality of life is better and you don't get gouged by out crappy private healthcare.

[Monkey]

Don't get me wrong, I hope the PS4 aims to be the top of the pack again but hard to know what they'll do as the economy is quite different than when the PS3 was put into play.

I would have hope for a huge leap graphically with the Wii U and forget about the table and Wiimote (optional fine by me), but we get what we get, just finally an HD console..

[Schloob]

Originally Posted by TheZoof

I don't really understand this concern with price. $500 is not a lot of money these days.

I am going on vacation next week and one of the cities I am staying in the CHEAPEST hotel I could find in downtown core was $210 a night! Two nights and I have a Wii U.

Not saying we all have same budgets but it shouldn't be a big deal, IF it is a good product. Now the Wii U might not be a good enough product for $350. That being said, if it is (which no one knows yet) then it will be worth it.

I also want to point out that I haven't bought a smart phone or monthly data plan in my life... I refuse to due to the $50+ a month fees or spend $200+ on a cell... so I am not someone that just throws money away. LOL

WOW! Wish I could say that, and I have a pretty solid job. As others have said, with family/kid(s) $500 is A LOT of money.

And whether something is a good product or not should not matter. It should matter what value is actually there. If this thing beat the pants off both the 360 and the PS3 then I would at least agree with that kind of a price tag. However it does not, when I compare it to those systems this thing is definitely overpriced.

[TheZoof]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

No offense but I think your situation is very different than most. Most folks I know can't afford a vacation period. Though it looks like you're a Canadian so that would automatically make your situation better than most Americans as your quality of life is better and you don't get gouged by out crappy private healthcare.

No offence taken. I can understand tough situations however what makes me upset is when people make a big deal over $50 for something they should own for many years.

I don't want to turn this into a debate of such however I would like to live in the USA due to our government's tax gauge and overall prices of things.

I was lucky to visit the USA a few times in the Summer and just a simple thing like chicken was about 1/4 of the price of what I pay at home. I don't know the actual weight but it was a large package of 6 chicken breasts at walmart for like $8,95! In Canada it would have been like $25-30. I am also sure you have an idea about blu-rays... lol New releases being $10+ more each.

Currently my wife doesn't work however I do make a reasonable living. The big problem is I pay about 40% taxes on my income plus 13% sales tax, and a large sum for property tax (about 25% of my mortgage costs). Canada is crazy expensive. Of course you are right, there are advantages however cost of living isn't one of them.

I don't drink, smoke, or such. When I see a device that I should use often(at least once a week) and costs around $250, if I really wanted it an extra $50 isn't going to stop me.

The real point of the discussion is that Nintendo didn't offer a nice enough product for your money. I doubt $250 price tag would sell that many more... if you didn't want it in the first place.

That's how I am anyways, if I want it $50 isn't going to stop me. LOL

[TheZoof]

Originally Posted by Schloob

And whether something is a good product or not should not matter. It should matter what value is actually there. If this thing beat the pants off both the 360 and the PS3 then I would at least agree with that kind of a price tag. However it does not, when I compare it to those systems this thing is definitely overpriced.

I agree! The product is what matters. Going by specs, it does seem to be a system about double of what xbox/ps3 can do cpu and memory wise. So until we get a title direct comparison, it is tough to say. The other thing is I feel they are hurting the overall quality of game graphics so the little screen can support it.

I dunno... I am not sold like most of you, but $50 wouldn't stop me if I wanted it and felt $250 was worth it.



EDIT - I should point out that $500 isn't a lot of money for something used often and for years. I couldn't justify spending $500 a month on a new console. LOL... I am just saying that for the right product, it is worth it. The PS3 was one of the best things I ever bought, and I did pay launch time price.

[Monkey]

I fully agree on $350 not being too much if the perceived value is there. I don't see it yet, but Nintendo can still convince me. $500 and the value in the PS3 was there for me at the time, but they are of course very different products (PS3 was far and away the powerhouse leader in the console world on top of a great blu-ray player as well.. the competition wasn't even close in value). The WiiU is going on its new control scheme, which for me I'm not sold yet.

[TheZoof]

Yup, no argument on that.

Sure, it's neat, but is it worth $250-$350 to have that in game ability.

I am sure once end of November rolls around we should all get a better understanding of what else the console offers. Nintendo have never been great at selling their own features(ie - I don't think Nintendo even told anyone they could play Netflix on the wii).

[Monkey]

Originally Posted by TheZoof

Yup, no argument on that.

Sure, it's neat, but is it worth $250-$350 to have that in game ability.

I am sure once end of November rolls around we should all get a better understanding of what else the console offers. Nintendo have never been great at selling their own features(ie - I don't think Nintendo even told anyone they could play Netflix on the wii).

Well the Wii sold a insanely more amount than the PS3 and 360..

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by TheZoof

I agree! The product is what matters. Going by specs, it does seem to be a system about double of what xbox/ps3 can do cpu and memory wise. So until we get a title direct comparison, it is tough to say. The other thing is I feel they are hurting the overall quality of game graphics so the little screen can support it.

I dunno... I am not sold like most of you, but $50 wouldn't stop me if I wanted it and felt $250 was worth it.



EDIT - I should point out that $500 isn't a lot of money for something used often and for years. I couldn't justify spending $500 a month on a new console. LOL... I am just saying that for the right product, it is worth it. The PS3 was one of the best things I ever bought, and I did pay launch time price.

I definately agree on that last part. While I did spend $600 on my original model PS3 it was worth every penny. It survived for 6+ years and thousands of hours both gaming and as a Blu player before dying a few weeks ago. I don't know a serious 360 gamer whose gone through 3 or 4 consoles. Hard to put a price on durability.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by Monkey

Well the Wii sold a insanely more amount than the PS3 and 360..

The gap worldwide has narrowed considerably in the past year or two. And wasn't the Wii originally $199 with a game? Big difference in price given their target market.

[celticmoon]

Are the Nintendo consoles still made in Japan? The exchange rate has changed drastically from when the Wii debuted in 2006 (probably somewhere around 120 yen to the dollar) to now (hovering around 75-80 yen to the dollar), so if so, that could explain their reason for needing to price it so high.

In Japan, the Wii (without Wii Sports included) debuted at 25,000 yen, and the price of the Wii U, at 26,250/31,500 yen, is pretty much equal when considering the non-inclusion of a game in the basic set and the inclusion of a game in the premium set.

Looking at comments made on Japanese news articles, the Japanese consumers seem to have no qualms about the Japanese prices. Some seem to even be perceiving the prices to be fairly cheap.

Compare that to the U.S. prices, where the Wii was $250 at launch (with Wii Sports included) and the Wii U is launching at $300 (no game included) for the basic. (A $50 increase despite the non-inclusion of a game.)

Economics isn't exactly my strong suit, but even if the consoles aren't made in Japan, I think the major strengthening of the yen over these six years could partially explain the relatively expensive price in the US.

I don't know how other consoles would fit in with this theory, though.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by celticmoon

Are the Nintendo consoles still made in Japan? The exchange rate has changed drastically from when the Wii debuted in 2006 (probably somewhere around 120 yen to the dollar) to now (hovering around 75-80 yen to the dollar), so if so, that could explain their reason for needing to price it so high.

In Japan, the Wii (without Wii Sports included) debuted at 25,000 yen, and the price of the Wii U, at 26,250/31,500 yen, is pretty much equal when considering the non-inclusion of a game in the basic set and the inclusion of a game in the premium set.

Looking at comments made on Japanese news articles, the Japanese consumers seem to have no qualms about the Japanese prices. Some seem to even be perceiving the prices to be fairly cheap.

Compare that to the U.S. prices, where the Wii was $250 at launch (with Wii Sports included) and the Wii U is launching at $300 (no game included) for the basic. (A $50 increase despite the non-inclusion of a game.)

Economics isn't exactly my strong suit, but even if the consoles aren't made in Japan, I think the major strengthening of the yen over these six years could partially explain the relatively expensive price in the US.

I don't know how other consoles would fit in with this theory, though.

I'd be shocked if they're made in Japan given how high manufacturing costs are there compared to countries not too far away like China.

[celticmoon]

Yeah, I'm assuming China. I just can't see Nintendo pricing something at a higher price than they think is reasonable, especially considering everything that happened with the 3DS. The US price leap from the Wii to the Wii U just seems like too much, no matter how you look at it.

The strong yen forcing them to give it a higher price point seems like it would make some sense.... But now that I think about it, I really don't think this theory could really apply considering the prices of the 3DS and PSVita.

The 3DS went up from the DS in the US, but went up by about the same amount in Japan too. Not sure about the price of the PSP/PSVita in Japan, but I think the launch price of the PSP/PSVita in the U.S. were about equal, so.... that probably shoots my theory out the window.

[Livelong420]

The price they settled at seems worth it.

[xXI GaMe IXx]

I'm not impressed with the system. Most of the games I want I can play on my 360/PS3. I don't understand how BO II can be such a big thing. I mean anyone that loves those games already has a system to play it on.

That being said I pre ordered 3 of them and I will flip them for $600.00 each around christmas when no one can find one.

[xXI GaMe IXx]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

I definately agree on that last part. While I did spend $600 on my original model PS3 it was worth every penny. It survived for 6+ years and thousands of hours both gaming and as a Blu player before dying a few weeks ago. I don't know a serious 360 gamer whose gone through 3 or 4 consoles. Hard to put a price on durability.

My consoles are used more and have lasted longer than my $1000.00 laptop. However I just bough a Mac so that might change.

PC owners attack!