Tag: Wii-Mini

Wii Mini Is Coming To The U.S.

by Mark Labbe

On November 17th, Nintendo’s Wii Mini will be available for purchase in America.

The Wii Mini is a more affordable version of Nintendo’s popular Wii console, with the opening price at a cool $99.99. The system is a smaller, redesigned version of the orignal Wii. It will come with a red Wii Remote Plus controller and nunchuck, as well as a copy of Mario Kart Wii.

However, the system lacks many of the original Wii’s capabilities. It will not have any internet capabilities, nor will it be able to play Nintendo Gamecube games. This limits users to only made-for-Wii games and eliminates Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu capabilities.

wiiumini

This system seems like a desperate attempt by Nintendo to make up for poor Wii U sales. With a used Wii costing less than $70, buying the Wii Mini simply does not seem worth it. One of the shining spots of the original Wii was the ability to download and play Nintendo 64 games on it. Being able to play Ocarina of Time again is one of the only reasons I still have my Wii. Without that capability, the console will lose a lot of its luster.

So for those of you who want to buy a cheap, fun, and family friendly console, try first to look for used Wii’s. You’ll be happy you did.

The ‘Wii-Mini’ Has Been Revealed! BUT ONLY FOR CANADA!!!

by Shane O'Hare

You read that right kids. The Wii gets a facelift, err well uhhh more like invasive fat removal surgery. Take a look at the little guy below!

That does look pretty slick, doesn’t it? Under the hood we have a drastically different machine. All GameCube compatibility has been torn out, WiFi removed and a new top loading disc drive (think portable walkman CD-Player) Nintendo has been able to scrape out most of the cost off the console. At $100 you get a Wii, Wii-Mote Plus and Chuck and that’s it.

The most interesting part of all this is that is a Canada exclusive. December 7th our friends to the North (East for me) get this little guy. At first I was confused, but looking into the though process behind it, everything makes sense. A lot of the Wii’s already out there have just devolved into a Netflix machine and Netflix not being as popular in Canada like it is here in the USA makes it the perfect place to do some retail level market analysis.  Who knows, this may be crazy successful and be sold in the US shortly.

Nintendo has a history of releasing compact versions of consoles at the end of their life cycles. Top loading NES, SNES-2, GBA-Micro and GameBoy Pocket are all prime examples of their logic.

So the world will wait, see what Canada does with this device. Hey, Derek, why don’t you enjoy this rare opportunity to have some delicious exclusivity.

December 7th the lovely Canadians can pick this up along side a stack of Tim Hortons treats. Lucky bastards.