Wii Followup: Joystiq

We like Joystiq. They have cool stuff.

Like, for instance, this not-so-live coverage of the Wii press announcement. While the Seattle Pi seemed to jump the gun on pricing and dating, there's still some juicy tidbits yet to come.

The conference confirms the Virtual Console games from $5-10 (Well, 500-1000 Yen,) mentions that there will be 30 Nintendo games and 30 30 PC Engine/Megadrive (Turbo-Grafx/Genesis) games on the Virtual Console by the end of the year--with 10 more coming every month afterwards.

I like the sound of that.

Update:

"And the other shoe drops. Famitsu is reporting a December 2 launch and 25,000 yen ($215.51) price for Japan."

Hm. Interesting.

Facts to keep in mind: this is emulating the strategy with the DS perfectly. Remember the November 20 launch in USA followed by a December 2 launch in Japan? Yep. I'd guess that Nintendo is planning on using the DS to tide them over in Japan during the early holiday season before unleashing the Wii--keep in mind that Sony's stated PS3 lineup is only going to be 100,000 units in the land of the Rising Sun.

Also: the Gamecube was 25000 Yen when it originally launched in Japan... could this be signaling a real US price of $200?

Update 2 (Bless you, Joystiq):

Nintendo will be posting a Japanese press release momentarily and will have full text of Iwata's speech in about an hour. Also, wii.com will go live in Japan in about an hour."

Update 3:

The press release is up. It lists the contents of the Wii box: Wii console, Wii remote (w/ strap) Nunchuck attachment, Wii AC adaptor, Wii A/V cable, Wii console stand(?), sensor bar, sensor bar stand and two AA batteries. Also, it seems the 25,000 yen price includes tax.

Update 4:

Gemaga reports 3,800 yen cost for the remote, 1800 yen for the classic controller, and 1800 yen for the nunchuck attachment.

Famitsu reports 16 titles from ten publishers at launch. Cost of games: 4,800 yen to 6,800 yen. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess will cost 6,800 yen.

Update 5:

Some Wii launch titles:

WiiSports (4800 Yen)
Odoru! Made in Wario (5800 Yen) (Odoru = dance)
Zelda: Twilight Princess(6800 Yen)
Pokemon: Battle Revolution

Pokemon? Pokemon out of nowhere?!

Well, that's going to be a plus for the Japan launch...

Update N+1:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/topics/wii_preview/movie/lineup.html

Nice little lineup movie there...

I spy with my little eye (and rudimentary knowledge of Japanese): "Biohazard (Resident Evil here in the States) Umbrella Chronicles."

Someone's gotta be excited about that.

Update 7:

Japanese version of wii.com is up. Nintendo has posted a list of Japanese launch titles. Four from Nintendo: Zelda, WarioWare, Wii Sports, and "Your First Wii Games" (rough translation). More translations coming.

Update 8:

Virtual Console Partners. Lots of big names there. Sega, Capcom, Konami, Square-Enix, to name the ones that jump right at you.

Oh, and New Twilight Princess trailer.