The big Nintendo Wii press event in NYC was today. Nintendo announced the already known US launch date ( Nov 19 ) and price ( $249.99 ). 1UP has some additional albeit pretty uninspiring coverage of the event. Mostly the announcement seemed to consist of known or widely speculated information and worthless marketing drivel. The Official US Wii website is live. Is it possible to be already over the Wii before the damn thing launched?

It certainly seems like that. Everyone was so psyched over the Wii when they were at E3, Nintendo's Wii won so many Best in Show awards. Lol, this is what happens when you hype something up and then wait months to release it a la Snakes on a Plane.

But truth be told it is a big *yawn*, I'm still waiting for this damn thing to release. Most people were hoping for a lower price (on all the boards I was seeing as low as $170 for America, and Oct 3 as the launch). I'm predicting cloudy skies with a chance of whining fanboys.

Anyway, this is good news for me because I can finally reserve one. I'm off to Gamestop. :-)

http://www.nintendo.com.au/nintendo/news/index.php

FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS IN AUSTRALIA?

That is OBSCENE.

Adding the high tax we have here, it might well cost between 275 and 300 eur, with the games costing little less than the usual next-gen titles. No surprise it will make a profit from day one: the price seems well inflated.

Well you can't really blame Nintendo for high taxes. Even tho I was less than enthuszed yesterdat I did go an pre order one today.

That's true. But Nintendo material here is usually a more expensive than Sony's or MS (or Sega's, back in the day), tax or no tax, and that's only because the European headquarters still allow the jackasses of Concentra (their local distributor that botched their three consoles in the past 16 years) to do as they please.

I'm interested in the controller and how they make use of it, but not $250 interested.

Or $250+games interested. I'm worried it's going to be another Power Glove or Virtual Boy that looks awesome on paper and in show, but turns out to be completely impractical.

The price certainly dissaudes me a bit (thought it might be cheaper) though I'm still interested in the selection of games they're gonna get by Christmas. And not to mention the Wiimote.

Another year until it the blackmarketed versions hit SE Asian stores...