Today at a press conference held in London’s Docklands, Mr Iwata, Global President of Nintendo Co., Ltd. unveiled a new dimension in home entertainment. Nintendo announced ways to involve every member of the family in gaming via the new Wii console, as well as the much-anticipated price, date and software line-up for the console’s European launch.
Wii is set to revolutionise the face of gaming when it launches in Europe on 8th December 2006 at an estimated retail price of 249 Euros (£179 in the UK), bundled with Wii Sports. Accompanying the console launch will be around 20 software titles including Wii Play and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and from third party publishers launch games include: Ubisoft’s RED STEEL, EA’s Need for Speed: Carbon, Activision’s Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam, THQ’s Disney/ Pixar’s Cars and Sega’s Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz.
Included with every Wii console is one wireless Wii Remote, one Nunchuk, and the groundbreaking collection of five different Wii Sports games on one disk which anyone can play using simple physical movements.
Nintendo today set a new direction for the video games industry by using state of the art technology not just for enhancing graphics and processing power but to introduce new people to the world of video games by creating brand new entertainment that is fresh and accessible to everyone.
Mr Iwata, Nintendo’s President, outlined how the Wii would build on Nintendo’s learnings and existing success with DS and continue this expansion of the gaming audience in unique and unprecedented ways.
With Wii, Nintendo aims to create a console that can be enjoyed by every member of the family. Every Wii console will include a series of on-screen “channels” that make up the Wii Channel Menu. The Wii Channel Menu is the starting point for all of the console’s functions. The “channels” offer a gateway to a rich variety of entertainment options. When connected to a TV, the Wii Channel Menu offers a simple interface letting users pick games to play, get news or weather, view and send photos or even create playable caricatures of themselves to use in actual games. Additional functions allow users to download classic games to Wii’s Virtual Console.
Nintendo believe that encouraging users to pick up the controller to access the internet quickly, check the news or see tomorrows weather is one way of ensuring that everyone in the household can use, interact and ultimately engage with Wii. And once users have picked up the controller to perform these basic functions, it’s a small step to get involved in some more fun game play action.
Wii launches across Europe on 8th December 2006 at the estimated retail price of 249 Euros (£179 in the UK). Nintendo first party games will retail at the estimated retail price of between 49 Euros and 59 Euros (£34 to £39 in the UK).
Additional controllers will also be available from launch at the estimated retail prices of: Wii Remote - 39 Euros (£29 in UK), Nunchuk – 19 Euros (£14 in UK) and the Classic Controller – 19 Euros (£14 in UK)
Source: Nintendo
TheGamer Writes "In my experience, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess’ once-warm reception has chilled somewhat over the years. Praised at launch as a beautiful return to form after the “childish” art style of its direct predecessor, the world eagerly embraced a game that more closely followed Ocarina of Time’s famous structure and plot cues. Perhaps most alluringly of all, the grandeur and sheer scope of this reimagined Hyrule Field wowed millions of us."
The best Legend of Zelda games experiment and tackle new grounds for the industry. These are the essential titles in the series you need to play.
I am a huge Zelda fan and love them all, but for me Ocarina Of Time is the greatest and my second all time favourite game after Final Fantasy VII.
You sir, have good taste in games :)
I also love all of the Zelda games but I adore Windwaker (Specifically the HD version on WiiU) most of all. It is a close run thing with Breath of the Wild though.
Special mention to Cadence of Hyrule too, what an awesome spin off title that was!
Cheers Spuds, yep i love Windwaker too, beautiful artstyle, and i loved sailing and finding all the secrets out there.
Agreed. For me top 3 of all time is.
1. ocarina of time
2. Final fantasy Vll
3. MGS1
Oh gee can't imagine what Number 1 is
....
A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker etc is better than Breath of the Wild.
I think it really depends on what you're looking for. If you want a traditional Zelda game then OoT or WW would be better to you. But if you want a Zelda game that really leans into adventure and exploration, and if you want intelligent systems/logic, BotW would be the better game.
I enjoy both. I understand why some people aren't fond of it but for me it was a breath of fresh air that I really needed. I'd become so burnt out on unimaginative games and BotW sort of made me appreciate games again, as weird as that may sound.
Right...so let's pretend ocarina of time didnt have exploration, secret dungeons and other secrets. Complex boss mechanics and exploration rewards. At least a traditional Zelda has dungeons.
What point are you attempting to make? At no point did I say that OoT didn't have any of that. However, the level of exploration and sense of adventure are vastly different between OoT and BotW.
Majora's Mask still holds as my favorite to this day, despite being the black sheep of the series.
I love them all, but Wind Walker, Link to the Past and Minish Cap are my favorites
The Switch just isn't equipped for a killer sports title like the Wii was
A lot of the points made here are true, yet let's give it a chance, because like the author said, the Wii was a motion control console and everyone did view it as such while the switch is not, so the way people view the game determines how much they invested in it, so again let's give it a chance and see
Wii sports was truly atrocious and you're saying Switch Sports will be even worse? It does not bode well for Switch Sports indeed.
Wii Sports was ok for screwing around, but the games lacked depth. Also I'm not sure why it seems like they decided to stick with the automatic player movement so all you need to do is swing to hit something. Very noob friendly but not as much fun IMO.
Wii Sports was THE game for casuals. I don’t feel many casuals own the Switch. I can’t see this doing the numbers Wii Sports did.
Course it won't, the Wii was a phenomenon. Something new with the motion tech. A curiosity to almost everyone. Obviously Switch sports won't create the same impact.
Christmas, but it is quite expensive for what it offers. No HD, no DVD player, well anyway, this is my opinion. But surely, the Wii will sell very well as it is a truly innovative system, not graphically but it is a completely different way to play. This will be interesting.
Sorry, this is what I meant to say. Well, it seems that the Wii will come to this side of the pond (UK) before Christmas, but it is quite expensive for what it offers. No HD, no DVD player, well anyway, this is my opinion. But surely, the Wii will sell very well as it is a truly innovative system, not graphically but it is a completely different way to play.
and £10 to £15 cheaper than the RRP of 360 games, the Wii could make a killing!
Not bothered about no DVD player, seeing as my house has 4 stand-alone players, a PS2, a pc with a DVD writer, a 360 & a laptop with a DVD-ROM...I just want to game on my wii (still sounds slightly wrong)
I agree with RealDoubleJ Dvd player is not a deal or no deal nor should it seeing that everyone and there mother has a dvd player more than one even. And if they don't they are the ones who don't know what a gaming machine is. Price is basically you get what you pay for. 250 for the "gaming" system, controller, cables both av and component, and a game. If you have the internet you get chat, news, and weather. You get to play every single gamecube game out there from day one. Unlike 360 where it's just some of them and unlike ps3 where you need to buy an attachment to get your ps2 saves moved to your ps3 system. Plus you'll get to download a plethera of oldie but goldie titles from all over the decades of gaming. The Wii has 3rd party support heavily this time through and can only get better. The Wii is looking at an amazing launch line up of games better than what 360 had and what ps3 will have. I think this comment is getting long enough but come on work with me here 250 bad and 600 not?