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Technology Lifestyle At launch Wii will rock you
Technology Lifestyle At launch Wii will rock you | At launch Wii will rock you |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Monday, 20 November 2006 | |
  
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Even so, this has meant most people queuing up for a Wii were able to get one easily enough, with anyone missing out able to buy one within literally only a few days as new stocks are set to be quickly delivered to retail stores. So it is surprising to discover that some enterprising Wii buyers who were able to purchase more than one system have put them on eBay, with reports online indicating a price of US $600 achieved, more than double the US $250 price of the console, mirroring somewhat the price markup seen for PS3 consoles on eBay. However the difference here is that most people buying a Wii are buying it to play themselves, and it seems that a very small proportion of those lucky enough to score a second console have bothered to put it up on eBay’s site, instead of keeping it as a Christmas gift for friends or family. Consumer interest in the Wii is very high, with numerous reports of new Wii owners easily getting family members of all ages happily playing the Wii Sports and other Wii titles with little instruction or encouragement. It seems the unique control system is too seductive to resist, and with gameplay simulating what you’d actually be doing in real life, Wii owners are happily reporting that family members who showed total disinterest in touching a PS2, PS3 or Xbox 360 controller are eagerly playing the Wii for hours. At the eGames Expo in Melbourne, Australia, held just this weekend past, massive crowds milled around the Nintendo stand, with gamers eagerly waiting in line to play the Wii first hand. It seemed as though Nintendo’s stand, replete with Wii and Nintendo DS demo units, was the busiest stand at the show, surely making Nintendo executives very positive about the impending Australian launch on December 7. But now that the Wii has launched in the US, the Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has indicated that the ‘Wii Play’ pack is due for US release in 2007, a pack with additional games, while he also expressed a desire to see the Guitar Hero game arrive on the Wii platform. He said that the Wii remote had already been used as drumsticks, so perhaps we’ll see a Wii version of Guitar Hero sooner rather than later. Prolific memory card maker SanDisk have also announced new white SD memory cards branded ‘SanDisk for Wii’, to be available in 512Mb, 1Gb and 2Gb sizes. The white colour matches the Wii’s white exterior, with the Wii only available in white for now. However, with the Nintendo DS already available in several colours including white, black and pink, we’ll probably see the Wii in more colours too, with a cheeky question being whether they’ll ever release a yellow Wii model. Nintendo’s Wii launch has been an unqualified success, posing a real challenge to Sony and Microsoft in the next-gen gaming race. They’re so hard to resist that I’ll definitely be getting one myself. After seeing it for yourself, you may just get one, too. {moscomment} |
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