What do you do when you’ve announced your next-gen console but still have at least half a year left before you can conceivably start shipping it? If you’re Nintendo you chop the price from $200 to $150 and bundle it with MarioKart that’s what.
Today, Nintendo announced that effective May 15th, the Wii will set you back only $150 and come bundled with MarioKart. To sweeten the pot, Nintendo is also extending price drops on various titles including The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Mario Super Sluggers, and offering for the first time as a stand alone title – Wii Sports. Sure, this isn’t the high def goodness that Nintendo’s promising for E3, but not too shabby if you’re in the market for a Wii.
Full press release after the jump.
NINTENDO UNVEILS NEW WII PACKAGE AT $149.99, LAUNCHES ‘NINTENDO SELECTS’ $19.99 WII GAMES
Having Fun with Family and Friends Just Became More Affordable than Ever With New Suggested Retail Pricing
REDMOND, Wash., May 4, 2011 – Nintendo is dropping the suggested retail price of its Wii™ system to $149.99 and including a Mario™ game with the Wii hardware. Starting May 15, the newly priced Wii system will come in either black or white with the Mario Kart™ Wii game and a matching colored Wii Wheel™ accessory, replacing the previously included Wii Sports™ and Wii Sports Resort™ games.
Also on May 15, Nintendo launches the new Nintendo® Selects collection of Wii games, a set of popular games that millions of people have already experienced, at a suggested retail price of $19.99. The four must-own games in this collection are The Legend of Zelda™: Twilight Princess, Animal Crossing™: City Folk, Mario™ Super Sluggers and Wii Sports, which is available for the first time as a separate software purchase. Parents and video game fans can now easily expand their library of fun, family-friendly Wii games.
“From the day it launched, Wii has let players of all ages and experience levels have fun with one another,” said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “The new suggested retail pricing for both the hardware and select games will help create more of these magical moments for even greater numbers of people.”
With Mario Kart Wii now included with the Wii hardware, players will be able to enjoy fun go-kart racing with Mario and all his Mushroom Kingdom pals right out of the box. The Wii Remote™ Plus controller, Nunchuk™ controller and Wii Wheel included in the package will all match the hardware, meaning they will be either black or white. The new black Wii Wheel will also be available separately at a suggested retail price of $9.99.
Remember that Wii features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit http://wii.com.
I really didn’t understand what Nintendo was thinking announcing their next gen console while they still have a full year of sales to go on their current one. Seemed like a really dumb move to me.