News of a redesigned Wii may have been substantiated?

[goldenegg]

Completely out of curiosity, does anyone know, if someone in the US orders something from BestBuy.CA can they opt to have it shipped to a US mailing address?

 

They will only ship within Canada.

[+wood_jl]

This (stripped console) is being done for TWO reasons:

 

(1) Cheapen the hardware even more - although the WIi 2.0 (redesign that kept Wi-fi but dropped Gamecube) seemed cheap enough, Wii 3.0 must be cheaper.

(2) This is a legitimate excuse for dropping the Wii online network, while not necessarily admitting dropping support for the Wii. By removing online capability, they can drop the Wii network while pretending to still support the console. Brillaint!

[Atariboy]

Cheapen the hardware even more - although the WIi 2.0 (redesign that kept Wi-fi but dropped Gamecube) seemed cheap enough, Wii 3.0 must be cheaper.

 

Of course it's cheaper. No WiFi, no USB ports, no SD card slot, a flip top lid instead of that expensive slot loading drive, slimmed down and simplified internals, and it's a fraction of the size of the existing unit. There's no such thing as "cheap enough" to a business. If they see ways to save further money and there's a business case to justify the investment in the necessary design work and retooling and so on and see a viable market for the redesigned item to justify that initial expenditure, they're going to do it.

 

This is a legitimate excuse for dropping the Wii online network, while not necessarily admitting dropping support for the Wii. By removing online capability, they can drop the Wii network while pretending to still support the console. Brillaint!

 

And as I see it, there's no way that the Wii's online network is going anywhere anytime soon...

 

1. If it was going away soon and this redesign is prep work for that day, why didn't this appear in time for a worldwide launch before the Christmas 2012 shopping season with the online enabled redesign from earlier phased out? They're selling hundreds of thousands of online enabled Wii's just in the United States so far this season.

 

2. Having their WiiWare/Virtual Console shop's online and a few other bits and pieces that haven't yet gone offline surely aren't taking up much resources. What do they gain by stopping sales of Wii DLC to existing Wii owners, new Wii owners, and Wii U owners besides giving up money since I'm sure they're still raking in many times more than the cost to keep things online?

 

3. What do they gain by shutting down the matchmaking servers for the few popular games still going on the Wii like Mario Kart other than a lot of ill will and a few dollars in server cost?

 

4. Why can the Wii U access the Wii's online features if this was true? Wouldn't making a clean cut from it now made more sense if they were really preparing for a shutdown in the near future instead of allowing the early adapters on the Wii U to retrieve their DLC, continue making new purchases, and playing online enabled games? If I was to buy a Wii U six months from launch only to discover I couldn't do that while people on Day 1 could, I sure as heck wouldn't be happy. And if I cared about backwards compatibility a lot and was utilizing it and suddenly had a feature I viewed as important be pulled out from under the rug on me while my console was almost still brand new, I sure wouldn't be pleased. Such a tactic if you're right is just as likely to create as much ill will towards Nintendo as goodwill. So why are they allowing the Wii U access to the Wii's online features?

 

I imagine they simply think that the average consumer that is going to find this new SKU appealing and be persuaded into making a purchase is going to do so because of its budget price (2/3's the MSRP of the standard Wii redesign in Canada) and will mostly be unlikely to care about the loss of its fairly limited online capabilities (And for those that do, there's still the online option available). I don't think it's correct to read into this as if it's some sort of sign of an imminent shutdown of the Wii's online capabilities (Which will surely be going away eventually but hardly anytime soon when there are still many millions of them being routinely used and many new consoles and games still being sold).

 

I bet the Wii's online infrastructure, minus a few games that 3rd parties will shutdown between now and the end, will stay up for at least another 4 or 5 years. I don't see why they won't still be selling new Wii consoles for at least a couple of years and I'm sure we will have a couple of more years of online support after things start to disappear at retailers. As I see it, the fact that the Wii U can utilize these features is a guarantee that it won't be threatened for at least several years.

Edited December 2, 2012 by Atariboy

[jd_1138]

I was wondering why did they leave out wi-fi? That means no Netflix, but then I realized that if they left wi-fi in it, at $99 it would probably cannabalize sales for the Wii U.

 

This new Wii Mini is like a loss leader (that they are probably still making at least $30 per unit on) to get people into the Nintendo world so they can buy games, peripherals, 3DS's, Wii U's. It's like Chevrolet selling a tiny little car for $12,000. It gets people into the showroom to kick the tires and get a brochure, but most people will want to add the automatic transmission at $1,200, AC at $600, a stereo with an auxiliary input for $400, so on and so forth.

[Metal Ghost]

Out of curiosity, how much does a Wiimote and nunchuck cost these days if purchased on their own?

[cimerians]

Out of curiosity, how much does a Wiimote and nunchuck cost these days if purchased on their own?

 

It's still around 20 to 40 dollars (nunchuck around 20 and Wiimote Plus around 40) so it could cost you easily over 50 bucks.

 

More than one player? then tack on another 50-60 bucks.

 

Want the whole family to play? Tack on another 50-60 bucks.

 

Want a component cable or a spare AC adapter\Sensor bar? (so you can move the Wii around the house or take it to a freinds) tack on some more money.

 

I haven't mentioned the classic controller or another Gamecube controller either.

 

I spent more on the Wii than the PS3 and Xbox 360 COMBINED when it comes to peripherals etc. mainly because my whole family plays it.

 

Great system just expensive as shit for me. Glad you can use the same wiimotes on the wii-U.....very very glad.

[Metal Ghost]

So what I'm getting at is that for someone like me (who's never owned a Wii before), instead of purchasing a Wiimote and Nunchuck seperately for $50, I might actually opt to get one of these minis in order to get that peripheral for use with a Wii U. Yes, it's still a bit more expensive, but makes a valid alternative.

[Atariboy]

It's what I'm thinking as well. Need a new Motion Plus Wiimote and nunchuck anyways. For a bit more, I may as well get this tiny little Wii as well. The small size is neat and it may come in useful.

 

I hope it comes in other colors when the inevitable US release happens (and hopefully a cheaper MSRP).

 

Not sure why everyone is thinking no online is stupid or taking it a step further and turning it into some sort of conspiracy to have an excuse of taking down the network early, reselling content to Wii U owners, or now to sell more Wii U's for Netflix streaming. Couldn't what I suggest be true? Nintendo wanted the console as cheap as possible and recognizes that the crowd that will find this redesign most appealing are unlikely to care about the loss of the online functions and just want a cheap Wii to play a few retail games offline through the included composite cables? I bet many that buy this will be hooking it up to CRT's in fact.

 

It's a budget console and such steps are in line with the past. Why take outlandish guesses beyond it just being a cost cutting move to get the console as lean as possible to sell to the budget conscious consumer that has yet to take the bait with the more expensive past versions?

 

Think of the market this seems to be aimed at and I think their steps make sense.

Edited December 7, 2012 by Atariboy

[toptenmaterial]

Doesn't seem worth it. Why lose internet, GCN compatibility and the SD slot? The consumer can buy a Wii with a first party pack-in title for just a few bucks more. If I had money to burn I'd pick it up as a collectible but that's it.

 

Edit: After rereading this thread, I see some valid points about the high cost of paripherals, and how purchasing this new Wii may in some ways be a bargain.

Edited December 7, 2012 by toptenmaterial

[Atariboy]

GCN compatibility has been gone for over a year. And I suspect that the typical consumer that will be buying this budget console wouldn't be utilizing the online capabilities in the first place.

 

So elimination to drive cost down makes sense just like eliminating GCN compatibility the last time made sense. If the people you're out to sell it to won't be utilizing it, it makes perfect sense to lose the features and lower the cost.

 

The people that cared about GameCube compatibility bought their Wii's years ago. Ditto for the people that want to do things like play Mario Kart Wii online or want to download dozens of Virtual Console games.

[xg4bx]

One thing I haven't seen is what size, if any, internal memory this thing has. You can still save games, right?

[Atariboy]

Nope, they decided you're not going to be able to save your progress in Wii software with this redesign. You'll have to leave your console on until you finish a game like you did in 1985.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Atariboy

[Amstari]

I got my parents a Wii for Xmas last year. They use it for Wii Fit and a few games, but they don't go online and probably will never use the SD card slot, so this console would have been perfect for them. There is definitely a market for this. However if I you have waited this long to get a Wii I would just get a second hand one with all the extras.

 

I don't think online play for the Wii will go away any time soon. Until there is a new Super Smash Bros. and new Mario Kart on the Wii U there will still be plenty of people playing Wii games online.

[nesboy43]

I've been trying to find a site that ships this to the US, but nothing so far . My old Wii broke on me (it was from the 06 launch day) in early 2012 and ever since 2009 the discs made a loud buzzing sound that got worse and worse as it went one until finally that stupid automatic slot thing broke and even after opening it up and playing around with it I couldn't get it to eat discs or read them (if they were put in manually). This design is appealing to me because it takes away the slot and I like the way it looks. I already have Gamecube so the backwards compatibility does not bother me.

[+wood_jl]

I was wondering why did they leave out wi-fi? That means no Netflix, but then I realized that if they left wi-fi in it, at $99 it would probably cannabalize sales for the Wii U.

 

It's unbelievable that it doesn't do Wi-fi. One of the BEST things about the original Wii is that it's a fine Netflix box. I LOVE it for that. Hell, even a Nintendo DS has Wi-fi. It could have competed with Roku (etc) set-top boxes but with Wii games (!!!!!), and it is my conjecture that many of those people would be tempted to then buy a Wii U. I suppose you're right - they're going to "reserve" Netflix functionality for Wii U. I know they're cheapening it, but seriously, it's almost 2013 and Wi-fi should cost them $2 in their quantities. Perhaps they're trying to save MAC address space for future machines.... :lol: :lol:

[Atariboy]

There are cheaper Netflix streaming boxes than 100$ Wii's that do a better job of it than the Wii's app does.

[jd_1138]

There are cheaper Netflix streaming boxes than 100$ Wii's that do a better job of it than the Wii's app does.

 

It's kind of nice to have ONE box though. However, a lot of smart TV's have Netflix/Hulu/Amazon/YouTube/Pandora built into them now. And a lot of blu ray players have it also. My Vizio blu ray player has Netflix, but every once in a while it will crap out and not even turn on, so then I turn the Wii on. The Wii has component hookups, so the picture isn't quite as good as the blu ray's HDMI, but on our 32" TV, it's hard to tell the difference. These are all growing pains. In a couple of years, every entertainment device will be "smart" and have apps.

[Atariboy]

It is and I certainly can see why someone would want to utilize a Wii for Netflix. But I think that the average Netflix user on the platform is utilizing it for Netflix because they already owned the hardware and had it hooked up.

 

My point is that the person wanting a Netflix streaming box has cheaper options out there and won't be purchasing a Wii in 2013 to utilize it as a Netflix streaming box. And the average consumer that is going to purchase this Wii redesign wouldn't be interested in the feature anyways even as a side benefit, let alone as the primary one.

 

I'm not sure why anyone thinks someone is going to take the plunge on a Nintendo Wii in 2013 at a budget price at long last and then want to utilize every last bell and whistle it ever had. Things like component video, WiFi capabilities, and GameCube compatibility aren't going to be missed by Nintendo's average consumer in the future.

 

People buying one finally in 2013 primarily care about keeping the cost as far down as possible and playing retail software offline. They're people that are often on a tight budget, they're perhaps people playing primarily on the 360/PS3/PC that may want to experience a few 1st party Nintendo releases now that it's cheap and more justified in purchasing for a limited amount of use as a secondary console, they're perhaps people that have been away from the console world for a few years, perhaps people that are slightly interested in the fad from years ago that might now take the plunge with the price so low, and many will likely will be sold as a children's first game console.

 

The people like those of us in this thread have largely already purchased their console at this point. They're not out to cater to us since they've made their money off of us. They're now trying to tap some smaller markets that have been underserved in the past six years.

 

In light of that, these trimmings to lower cost as far as possible make a lot of sense.

Edited December 16, 2012 by Atariboy

[bojay1997]

I've been trying to find a site that ships this to the US, but nothing so far . My old Wii broke on me (it was from the 06 launch day) in early 2012 and ever since 2009 the discs made a loud buzzing sound that got worse and worse as it went one until finally that stupid automatic slot thing broke and even after opening it up and playing around with it I couldn't get it to eat discs or read them (if they were put in manually). This design is appealing to me because it takes away the slot and I like the way it looks. I already have Gamecube so the backwards compatibility does not bother me.

 

Videogamesplus Canada ships to the US. They sent it well boxed and didn't gouge on the price (i.e. it was $99 Canadian plus actual shipping and no Canadian tax or other markup). Oddly, it really isn't that much smaller than a regular Wii.

[jd_1138]

Videogamesplus Canada ships to the US. They sent it well boxed and didn't gouge on the price (i.e. it was $99 Canadian plus actual shipping and no Canadian tax or other markup). Oddly, it really isn't that much smaller than a regular Wii.

 

And at probably $120-$130 shipped, you can instead go on Craigslist or eBay and buy 2 regular used Wiis for that much. And they will have wi-fi and perhaps GameCube compatibility. Or buy one used Wii and a bunch of extra accessories (2 or 3 extra wiimotes) plus games.

Edited December 20, 2012 by Trekker_1138

[+wood_jl]

It's kind of silly that it's being called "mini" because it really isn't much smaller than the old, standard Wii.

 

 

 

Here's a good review of it:

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-nintendo-wii-mini-review

 

 

In addition to the loss of Wi-Fi, Nintendo's own USB Ethernet adapter won't work with it. Couldn't they have left that in, if cutting Wi-Fi cost was the imperative? I revert back to my original supposition, that they'd like to end online support for the original Wii, otherwise they'd have supported it.

 

 

Another LAME thing is that - despite the fact that it uses the same video port as the original Wii - they've disabled BOTH component video and S-video. So the only thing it will output is the old composite video!

 

This seems to be a Nintendo trend - to (for some reason) lessen the video output in their "mini" redesigns. NES Mini lost composite output on the mini, SNES lost not only the RGB (that was rarely-used) but the S-video, as well. Now no component or even S-video on the "Wii mini."

 

What a piece of junk. I'll take a red controller and Wiimote, however.

[Atariboy]

The picture everyone first saw sure made it look very small. I wonder if the the Wiimote wasn't to scale with the system or if we're just not used to looking at the top of our existing console's with a Wiimote laying on it.

 

Missing component video is probably a cost cutting move that allows them to eliminate things like a video encoding chip and such. The market they're after isn't exactly the type that's going to be going out and purchasing an aftermarket video cable so it's likely not a big loss and such cost cuts benefit both Nintendo and the consumer. That's the first I've heard of it lacking S-Video though and I don't know why that would be gone from a cost savings perspective.

 

I'm not sure why the USB adapter doesn't work with the included USB port. It's perhaps a cost cutting move (Even though I have no clue what the savings might be), but then why not just eliminate it completely like i think people were expecting when they heard no internet access? The USB ports went unused for many users as it was and had a fairly limited range of uses. And several of the important uses for it came as a result of the console's online connectivity that isn't present here.

 

Beyond mics for a few singing games, I'm not sure the USB port on this thing has a single use with the online component removed (So no USB internet adapter, no Wii Speak, etc.). And they've been more than willing to sacrifice limited utility in the past in the name of cost savings with a hardware revision (Like all those DS accessories that utilized the GBA cartridge slot).

 

So its presence is puzzling here.

Edited December 20, 2012 by Atariboy

[+wood_jl]

That's the first I've heard of it lacking S-Video though and I don't know why that would be gone from a cost savings perspective even though I don't think it matters to the average customer that will purchase this (Are you sure it is gone, or perhaps just assumed it was since component is? I don't see S-Video support being mentioned in that overview.).

 

Hi, I read that somewhere in another article that I can't find, now. However, Wikipedia says it, too:

 

http://en.wikipedia....ki/Wii#Wii_Mini

Additionally, the console only supports Composite video output using the included cable, and does not support S-Video or Component video cables despite using the same AV port as the original Wii.

 

So, to recap (not to bitch, just to recap):

 

* No Gamecube backward compatibility (although the previous redesign lacked it, too)

* No Wi-Fi

* No USB Ethernet adapter support

* No SD Card slot

* No Component or S-video

* Not much smaller than the original Wii

 

But you can still get the Original Wii - even brand new - still. But this "mini" makes the 1st redesign look pretty good, despite the loss of Gamecube support, eh?

[Jinks]

To recap wii Mini is CRAP!!!

[Atariboy]

It's also 2/3's the cost of the previous Wii redesign with a potential to go significantly lower.

 

For the type of consumer they're going after from here on out, i think that's the most important factor. Eliminating frills unlikely to be important for that consumer to drive the price down makes perfect sense.

 

They're not out to produce a superior Wii revision to take the place of our BC Wii's and I'm still at a loss on why people seem to think they were. They're out instead to make the Genesis 3 of the Nintendo Wii line and they seem to have succeeded with a well built and cheap console.

 

Hi, I read that somewhere in another article that I can't find, now. However, Wikipedia says it, too:

 

http://en.wikipedia....ki/Wii#Wii_Mini

 

Yeah, I Googled it and edited my post as you were typing your reply up.

Edited December 21, 2012 by Atariboy