Nintendo announces $150 Wii <em>Mario Kart</em> bundle, $20 software line

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Nintendo has made it official: on May 15 the Nintendo Wii will fall in price to $150 for a black or white system with <em>Mario Kart</em> and a matching wheel accessory. A number of first-party games will also fall in price to $20 each.

<a href='http://meincmagazine.com/gaming/news/2011/05/nintendo-announces-150-wii-mario-kart-bundle-20-software-line.ars'>Read the whole story</a>
 
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johnbuk

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  • #4
    Meta4":314o9n0n said:
    I'm wondering if Nintendo will continue to support the Wii after its successor launches. I could see the Wii displacing the PS2 as the super-budget system.
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    Based on Nintendo's history, I doubt it. I skipped the N64 and Gamecubes systems, but support for those systems ended almost immediately after their succesors were released.
     
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    E. Zachary Knight

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  • #6
    MasterPatricko":v0ies9g1 said:
    Wii Sports, which is available for the first time as a separate software purchase
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    Does that mean the new bundle will come without Wii Sports?

    Has the Wii ever been sold without Wii Sports before now?
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    According to the article, the new bundle will come with Mario Kart.
     
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    auhim

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  • #9
    MasterPatricko":2vzr95yg said:
    Wii Sports, which is available for the first time as a separate software purchase
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    Does that mean the new bundle will come without Wii Sports?

    Has the Wii ever been sold without Wii Sports before now?
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    I believe this will be the first time outside of Japan. In its home country, however, Wii Sports was never bundled with the console.

    I'm glad about the $20 budget price. I was worried they'd try pricing them at $30.

    johnbuk":2vzr95yg said:
    Meta4":2vzr95yg said:
    I'm wondering if Nintendo will continue to support the Wii after its successor launches. I could see the Wii displacing the PS2 as the super-budget system.
    Click to expand...
    Based on Nintendo's history, I doubt it. I skipped the N64 and Gamecubes systems, but support for those systems ended almost immediately after their succesors were released.
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    Well, neither of those systems dominated their generations either, so there is that. I believe the SNES was supported a little bit more into the N64's generation than the N64 or Gamecube were into the GCN's or Wii's releases, respectively. Obviously, though, such support didn't compare at all to the PS1's or PS2's.

    I'm also doubtful the Wii will be supported long into its successor's life cycle, but it's possible. The current $150 price drop could mean a drop to $100 shortly before or after the new system launches next year.
     
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    Nate_001

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  • #10
    I have read reports on gaming sites that have said the new system will be backwards compatible for both Wii and GC games. Of course, we won't know for sure until it's actually released, but I certainly hope that's the case. I play video games rarely enough that I can't really support the idea of keeping two systems around the house, let alone both set up, and there are a few games on the Wii and GC that I quite like being able to play.
     
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    sinewav

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  • #20
    Good move by Nintendo if a little too late. The Wii started losing the must-have factor even before the Kinect showed up and every non-gamer I know since last year has been asking me about Kinect and not the Wii anymore. Had they made this move going into the Holiday season as a plan to counter the Kinect release this would have made for a better strategy and a sound low budget alternative to buying a Kinect bundle (for those who never owned either console).

    Also announcing the price drop with a bundle that doesn't include Wii sports is a bit puzzling. Sure Mario Kart was a mega-hit and makes a great bundled game and I know this is wishful thinking but I would have thrown in Wii Sports along with Mario Kart and made a stellar 2 game bundle at a great price. You would still make lots of money selling accessories and other budget titles. As it stands now IMO the bundle is good but not great.
     
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    passive0

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  • #21
    Seems like too little, possibly too late. I've been waiting for the games to drop in price, considering nearly every AAA PS3/360 game has spent time at $20 or less, often within months of release. That's why in the past 2 years I've bought one Wii Game, and ~15 PS3/360 games.

    Hopefully this is just the start, and we will see NSMBW and the Galaxy games come down soon.
     
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    Silverskull

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  • #23
    Iskandr":yxtikhti said:
    I would like to see Mario Kart as one of those budget game. The $50 tag has kept me away. The same could be said for the Kirby game last fall. I was hoping both would go down a few months after release, but it never happened.
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    Agreed. I was about to buy a copy a few weeks ago but decided against it... of course I'll probably buy one soon enough and they'll drop the price a day later.
     
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    auhim

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  • #25
    someloginname":2aysl7hn said:
    request to Ben - could you please include what it has dropped from.
    Just for those of us who either arent in the USA or havent actually been keeping track of what the price is or are simply to lazy to check a US based site to find out?
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    I believe the official price for the Wii pre-drop is $200, though it has been pretty easy to find for less (much like the Xbox 360 and PS3 are often purchasable for less or with huge bonuses on Amazon). I agree with you that It's probably a good idea for Ben to include the previous price in the article.
     
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    Nephilim2038

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  • #26
    Ooh! A black Wii. I'll buy it, and pass our white one down to my parents ... no, wait. Then I can't use the hundreds of dollars of downloadable content we've bought, since it is tied to the Wii.

    What happens if your Wii gets stolen? Is there ANY way to convince Nintendo to prom another Wii to your serial number or whatever is the key that unlocks the downloaded content?
     
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    vani77a

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  • #27
    johnbuk":19ks09iu said:
    Meta4":19ks09iu said:
    I'm wondering if Nintendo will continue to support the Wii after its successor launches. I could see the Wii displacing the PS2 as the super-budget system.
    Click to expand...
    Based on Nintendo's history, I doubt it. I skipped the N64 and Gamecubes systems, but support for those systems ended almost immediately after their succesors were released.
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    i think it will be different for the wii. Nintendo might not be making new games for post-Cafe wii, but they can just re-release games for it and still make lots of money off it.

    plus there's still virtual console.
     
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    Eldorito

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  • #28
    ssiu":9s7p681l said:
    Are there are $20 games besides the 4 listed? (Where is the source link?)
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    Seems all that Nintendo are talking about so far those 4. There's only box art samples for those, so maybe it'll be the first selection and more will come. I imagine it'll be like the platinum lines Sony and Microsoft have.

    Kind of looking forward to this price drop and the new console, just so I can get what I want out of the Wii. I bought a Gamecube after the Wii came out because there were some really good games there but I could never really justify another console and paying $40-50 a game. But when the used console was $20 and most of the games $5-10 (except Twilight Princess), it was a great bit of fun. Girlfriend loved the animal crossing games, I played through the metroid games, paper mario, RE4 and eternal darkness and I really got a lot of value out of it. Sure the graphics suck, but when you flick out the lights and really get into some good gameplay, it doesn't matter. Just a shame I never found a high res cable for under $70.

    If a Wii 2 is cheap though and fully backwards compatible with both the Wii and Gamecube, I might grab just it and enjoy a huge library of games for a while.
     
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