Nintendo’s press briefing is tomorrow so we will have concrete facts about the Wii then, but before details came from the big N a poster over at the Macrumor forums claims to have a scoop. A member who goes by the name Dexterity claims to be an inside source on Nintendo information. Now whether Dexterity has real information or not is clearly in question, but just for fun here is what he has to say.
Most of the things I’m about to post are going to be very vague on purpose. A lot of this info is very sensitive but I wanted to at least give you some details you may be interested in. First, you will here everything in regards to date, price, virtual console info, etc on the 14th.
Wii Price – There is a good chance it will be $229. I have a picture of how the Best Buy layout will look and the price is listed as $229. I was told this was just for mock up purposes but I have a feeling its the price.
Virtual Console – the games will be no more then $10 and expect roughly 20 to 25 at launch with all third party companies participating at some point.
Interactives: I can’t/wont say which stores will have playable interactives and which won’t but the majority of stores will not have a playable interactive. Hopefully this is only for the first three months until the safety concerns of a tethered controller are addressed. Most stores will have a video interactive. Both interactives are really nice and feature 21 or 23 inch flat screen monitors. I can’t post a pic, but the interactives are white with a blue similar in color to the light on the Wii.. very nice loooking.. I will post a pic closer to the date they ship..
Some stores will start doing resets around 9/15 (game stop) and cutting out a section for, others will start around 10/22. The playable and video interactives will be in all stores by 11/12 but you may start seeing them towards the end of October, early Nov.
Target and Best Buy will have a very nice section for Wii – Gamestop is moving Wii and DS to the front of store.
Mall tour: An announcement will be made soon in regards to various Westfield malls in cities across the U.S. The select malls will have 6 wii playable interactives which will be manned all day, every day from 11/15 through Jan…
Launch Events: you will see two major launch events in two major cities (NY/LA). These will take place the night before the midnight launch. In order to know what it will be like in NYC, just think about New Years Eve and that is the experience you will have.
DL Demo Update: Version three will hit stores next week – features Mario VS Dk, Elite Beat Agents, Clubhouse games, Brain Age, Big Brain and Danny Phantom.
Delta Airlines – if you’re in ATL or Cinci airport you will see a DS interactive in the Delta section of the airport… this is coming soon.
oh yeah forgot to mention there will not be a big supply of Wii accessories and controllers. roughly 600,000 extra controllers will ship in the U.S.
Finally Dexterity claims that beta testing for the Wii’s online functionality hasn’t begun yet and that it will begin on…
Sept 18th – Oct. 23rd so don’t expect the system to release prior to that. The beta test covers Wii Connect 24, the Virtual Console and "other" online features.. When I beta tested the DS wifi we did that for almost three months until Nintendo Wi Fi was launched but that covered three different games. I guess the system could launch but then the above features won’t be up and running if it did. So hope that helps in narrowing down the date.
Remember these are all rumors, juicy rumors, but still rumors. So what do you think? Is Dexterity on the right track? Do you want Wii mall demos? Are you getting ready to go to a Wii launch party?
Come back tomorrow when we compare Dexterity’s rumors with Nintendo’s press briefing.
