Apparently.
The Japan one is due to start in a mere three minutes, although it'll probably be late. I'm going to try and keep this post as updated as possible with everything we hear. Hopefully we should find out launch and price details (although most likely only for Japan).
Okay, so a summary from Japan:
The Wii will launch in Japan on December 2nd, costing 25,000 yen. It will come with one Wiimote with a wrist strap, one nunchuck attachment, one sensor bar and stand, and a stand for the console itself, as well as cables and everything. Batteries, as ever, are included.
An extra Wiimote will cost 3800 yen, and the nunchuck attachment is sold seperately, for 1800 yen. The classic controller is also 1800 yen (possibly indicaing that will be a standard price for the controller add-ons.
Twilight Princess will be 6800 yen, the top end of the pricing scheme for Wii titles. Games will cost from 4800 yen to 6800 yen.
Virtual console games will 500 yen, 800 yen and 1000 yen for NES, SNES and N64 titles respectively. You can also buy them with prepaid cards that give you a certain amount of WiiPoints. These work almost exactly the same way as Microsoft Points on 360, but with a better exchange rate - one point is one yen.
The Wii has several 'channels' accessible from the main menu, in order to make it more accessible for the whole family. There is a direct news feed, although it's not clear where from, as well as a weather feature for your chosen area. There will be a Wii bulletin board, available through computers, Wii consoles and mobile phones (similar to Live Anywhere, but without the game functionality). And, of course, there is the Opera browser.
There is also the 'Mii' channel. The little characters in WiiSports are made through this area in the Wii's home menu, and not only apply to that game but also could pop up in other places. You can transfer them to that little bit of memory in your Wiimote and take them to a friend's house, apparently. My guess is that they will be your online avatar as well, and will probably turn up in WiiMusic.
And finally, there's a photo channel, apparently allowing for easy photo editing and manipulation and viewing.
Nintendo say that they plan to ship four million consoles before the end of the year. And the Japanese section of http://www.wii.com has videos up and running of the various channels, and there's also [url=http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/topics/wii_preview/movie/lineup.html]this video[/url] of the games.
There has also been some speculation. On the internets. About the US price being $250, launching on Nov 19th, and including a WiiSports pack in with only one controller. I'm not sure whether I believe these rumours.
Internets.
The American press conference:
Everyone's started filing in to the conference room. Techno music is playing.
Perrin Kaplan stands up to address the issue of the three near-simmultaneous events. Then she introduces Reggie.
Reggie appears. He says the date, price, how many units, and title information is all on the way later. No doubt he'll talk about DS first, though. And he does, focusing on the Touch! Generations series. Success, yadda yadda.
The rumours are confirmed - Nov. 19th Wii launch, worldwide debut in US, $249.99. White only at launch. No word on a WiiSports pack-in as of yet. The US will get the biggest shipment out of the 4 million Wii units by the end of the year.
There's a demo of WiiSports: Bowling. Apparently it works exactly like real bowling- you can even put spin on it. WiiSports will be included with the console. The game contains boxing, bowling, golf, baseball and tennis, and is the first time a game has been packaged with a console at launch since the NES, apparently.
Twilight Princess and Excite Truck are both confirmed for launch, as well as Trauma Center Madden 07, NFS:Carbon, Elebits, Super Monkey Ball, Metal Slug Anthology, Rayman Raving Rabbids, and Red Steel, as well as COD3, Splinter Cell: Double Agent and Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam.
30 Wii games will be available by the end of 2006! Half of these will be launch titles. Pricing will be less than $49.99.
Reggie goes on to talk about the Wii Channels mentioned earlier. Expect a new one to be announced.
Stuff about the Virtual Console. Zelda 1, Super Mario World, Super Mario 64 and Donkey Kong available at VC launch. 10 games will be uploaded per month - NES $5, SNES $8, N64 $10. 2000 WiiPoints will cost $20, 100 points per dollar. So a SNES game is 800 points.
Bill Trinen creates Samuel L Jackson on the Mii channel. 'Snakes on a game' jokes are made. It is confirmed that you can transfer this character and your profile to the Wiimote memory.
The Photo channel is shown next. You can doodle on photos and edit them like we've seen already. You can also make one of those puzzles where you slide the pieces around for any photo.
The Wii Weather, Wii News and Wii Messageboard channels are quickly discussed. No more functionality - you can send messages to other Wiis, phones and PCs.
Apparently you have to pay for the Internet channel with your WiiPoints. It's a one-off payment for the browser, though. Not amazing news, but hopefully it won't be too much cash.
The Channels interface will appear as soon as you boot up the console, which makes sense considering it's always on - minimal loading times. Reggie emphasises how this is good for both the casual and core user (notice, not 'gamer').
The Wiimote and Nunchuck attachment are sold seperately: $39.99 for the remote and $19.99 for the nunchuck attachment.
Zelda: TP will be available for GameCube on Dec 11th, almost a month after the Wii version. This will most likely push Wii sales and allow for a global GCN TP launch.
The Wii can connect through a wired or a wireless connection. It is not yet clear whether wireless is built-in or not. It does have some internal memory, but most of the storage is SD-card based. All first-party games are widescreen.
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption will be launched in 2007.
Wii and DS will connect, but more information about that will be released later. Expect that tomorrow at the EU conference.
Pokémon Battle Revolution will be a launch title in Japan and will arrive in the US not long after. It will also be online.
And that's the conference over. I'll get some images up and whatnot once they're released. Don't forget to keep checking http://www.wii.com for the US section and check back tomorrow for the European conference.
And the European conference has started. I'll only update this post with new info, most likely. Fingers crossed for the final two Channels and a sub-£150 price point.
"Nintendo's adamant about not using laptops, mobiles, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth devices, so we may get cut short. Didn't happen at E3, mind. Can't stop the signal." I'm wondering if it interferes with something.
The slogan in Europe for the Wii is 'Wii Play Together'.
Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman are rumoured to be wandering about. Promotion for WiiSports: Tennis?
The Scissor Sisters play in the background to a Wii montage. An hour late.
Stuff about DS and longevity in sales as opposed to loads at the start and little later. Yawn.
Rusedski and Henman take on Fischer and Shibata in Wii Tennis and win.
And, prices:
Dec 8th, £179/€249. Games are between £34-39/€49-59. WiiSports bundled.
Cool. Aren't there 3 press conferences though?
Yeah. One's tomorrow (Thursday) in the US, the other's Friday in the UK.
Huh, guess it's a good thing I took a nap today then. Hopefully the news gets posted before a reasonable hour.
I have a better idea, they should post pics and/or videos of SSBB/TP!
I'm uh, also hoping for a date and price. ;|
*Crosses Fingers*
Wii by novemeber, Wii by novemeber, Wii by novemeber...
But seriously that would kick ***. it would let people who wanted it asap get it early and not have everyone wait for christmas.
Eh. I'm sure it'll be out by November. Actually, I'd rather it be after October 20th, so I have the funds to buy it on launch day. =/
I'm pretty confident it's coming soon and I'll get the funds pretty quickly, so I just want to learn about the games.
Okay. First post updated with what's currently known.
I also see that the Wii will launch in America for 250 dollars on November 19th.
wii.ign.com
Still unconfirmed, and I did mention it. Klarth also made a thread in the Wii board.
The US press conference is in 10 mins, so not long to confirm.
EDIT: Started.
The US press conference is finished. The first post has all the info.
[quote=Wings]Bill Trinen creates Samuel L Jackson on the Mii channel. 'Snakes on a game' jokes are made. It is confirmed that you can transfer this character and your profile to the Wiimote memory.
[b]I HEREBY REQUEST PICTURES OF THIS LEGENDARY EVENT[/B]
Apparently.
...Close enough...
It just looks like a black guy...
Oh wait, right.
Does Jackson even have hair?
**** thats $60 for a full extra controller (nun-chuck included)
Looks like people better start bringing there own controllers.
The only game I'll need multiple controllers for in the forseable future is Smash Brothers Brawl, and I've already got 4 GAMECUBE controllers.
[quote=TendoAddict]**** thats $60 for a full extra controller (nun-chuck included)
Looks like people better start bringing there own controllers.
Considering the built-in memory, I think that is actually the point.
Yup-yup. Still, $60 for a controller is bull****.
No. The 360 controller is an awful, awful deal. The Wiimote is simply a bad one.
When compared with the 360 controller I mean. But even then, I don't think it's such a bad deal. I can afford 60 bucks if it means my friends can get in on the action.
I'm just hoping that it translates to a £25/£10 price point - but it'll probably be £30/£15. Europe always gets so screwed.
Speaking of which, European conference in ninety minutes.
Also, watch the video at Gamespot. He actually ends up looking like him once he's finished tweaking. With the Pulp Fiction handlebar and everything.
Considering the technology that's inside it I don't think it's a bad deal at all. There's way more going on in a Wii controller than a 360 one, you've got 2 six axis accelerometers and a pointing interface compared to just buttons and sticks.
No, you've got one six axis accelerometer per unit. A pointing device does not cost an extra £15.
2 accelerometers per remote and nunchuk package, that is one in each. The controllers are $60 combined, pay attention. The remote on it's own has way more technology in it than a 360 controller AND it's cheaper.
Both points are wrong.
Can someone link me to videos of the confrence? :) Im lazy.
The American one is on Gamestop. Easy to find, don't be lazy.
EDIT: Lol, Gamespot.
I was still clinging to the idea of it being under $200, but no problem, still good news.
Man, I'm still annoyed by the lack of colours consoles have at launch. I hope Nintendo give more details on new colours and Wiimote colours.
There will be a black one, and there will be a silver one, but not until July at the earliest.
50 bucks over what I expected but still good price.
The guy who demonstrated bowling was a knob head.
They're all idiots. The large majority of videos out there are played by those who appear to have no coordination
[quote=Vampiro]They're all idiots. The large majority of videos out there are played by those who appear to have no coordination
It's actually most likely the controller. In the same way everyone sucked at DS at first, everyone's gonna suck at Wii too. It's really gonna seperate the men from the boys. People who like to pretend they're hardcore will give up once they realise their uber skillz are actually nonexistant and can't handle the thought of them not being great at a game from the beginning, whilst the real hardcore will accept that they can't aim worth crap and then actually get good at it. Before you know it, Wii gamers will be getting headshots faster than any 360 gamer.
At the same time, casual gamers will love it because they'll actually be able to do something with it. It's a brilliant system that's easy to learn and difficult to master, as opposed to the other way around with older interfaces.
I don't remember anybody sucking at DS at first.
I've heard a lot of people saying, though, that you need to be at least 4-6 feet away from the TV in order for it to work properly.
[quote=Wings]I don't remember anybody sucking at DS at first
Other than game designers?
Oh, that angle. I thought that it was meant that gamers sucked.
Fair enough.
I'd do the same thing, but the TV in our main room has no SCART plug.
[quote=Wings]I don't remember anybody sucking at DS at first.
I've heard a lot of people saying, though, that you need to be at least 4-6 feet away from the TV in order for it to work properly.
At the E3 demo pods, yes. Because the closer you are to the TV, the more sensitive it gets. The sensor bar probably tracks the difference in angle in 2 sensors inside the Wiimote, and the further away you are from the sensor bar the less the change in angle would be detected.
This isn't a problem with home users because it can be calibrated, they just didn't want a bunch of E3 attendees changing the calibration every 3 minutes.
Same problems at other cons. This Nintendo press event suffered from the 4- feet problem.
It begs the question - why didn't they calibrate so that standing close to the unit would be oaky for the E3 demo pods?
[quote=Wings]Same problems at other cons. This Nintendo press event suffered from the 4- feet problem.
It begs the question - why didn't they calibrate so that standing close to the unit would be oaky for the E3 demo pods?
Uh, they did. That's how people were able to play at all. It was a few isolated instances like in the IGN video at GC where they were a bit too close.
Kotaku reported on Red Steel, saying the controls were still too 'janky' when close to the TV set.
No, I mean close.
I don't understand it either. It's logical that as you're further away, the less responsive it'll be. But if you're too close, I guess one or other of the sensors gets blocked somehow.
I think it's you getting confused. The closer you are, the mroe sensitive it gets, and that's a bad thing. That's the problem people are complaining about.
Yes, I realise that. The original quote didn't make much sense, since it said "still janky" as if getting up close is going to fix any issues, when in fact, it will most likely make it worse.
Anywho, if I wasn't confused before, I'm definitely confused now. :cookie:
[quote=Wings]Kotaku reported on Red Steel, saying the controls were still too 'janky' when close to the TV set.
Yeah, that's what I said. The majority of the people that used it didn't have a problem, only a few isolated incidents. Well done, you've found one.
And that ends that.