Nintendo Joins the 'Cheaper, Less Functional' Party With a New Wii Model for Europe

well lets consider the game market gamecube had , there would not be much people affected in any way , that thing only sold 26 million world wide , same for xbox 28 million , so with that said not much of a loss compared to ps3 losing bc with ps2 games, some 100 million ps2 users would have bought a slim ps3 if they had bc still , if not that at least close to that,

but then again this gen lacked somthing , and i couldnt finger that exact thing,

-maybe to many fpses was the problem not many good rpgs like ds has, or psp , seams handhelds sold way more this gen besides the wii ,

the fact is , gamecube did not have that big of market share plus im sure everyone in europe or close , has a wii with bc and or can find a gc or used wii cheap any way, this is just for people , who dont really need the gc stuff

and this is europe only people , not world wide that 26 million comes from world wide results,

the market in europe is much smaller then us so it had to have alot less gc sold ,

i cant blame nintendo for doing this , -after all gc seamed dead any way , there were only a few good exclusives i know on that thing mostly nintendo games , with the exception of dc ports and games like giest and timesplitters , had gc had more 3rd party support this would be a different story ,

hope wii u reatins bc all the way through because wii has hundreds of games i wanna get , that i have not yet gotten ,

most of them being cheap racing games /or sequals to games i own already

but i know noa they wont screw the wii u up , im getting that day one , putting my red 25th anniversery mario wii , and black wii in the box just for show

if the vc isnt on wii u then thats what ill use wii for but ya , ill put one away most likely the red one as it will be worth more

So, €4,99 for a Wii?

This definitely isn't for us.

Well, I wonder how much cheaper it will be and will this new SKU co-exists with the current Wii.

If you're used to using your Gamecube controller to play your Wii games then you already have a Wii and don't care about this stupid article.

If they wanted to remove something that never gets used, might I suggest MotionPlus?

this smaller, sleeker, slightly neutered Wii bundle

They should bundle Xenoblade with this thing to save us time importing :V

Seems like his writing style is not for everyone but Alex almost always manages to make the most mundane news hilarious and much more readable. Good stuff!

O.k. thats a huge change and needs a huge change in price.  If it goes for anything more then $99 in the US its a complete rip off.

@tadros86 said:

My Wii has been untouched for nearly a year.

I'll touch your Wii.

@The_Nubster said:

@ryanwho said:

Nothing about this is stupid. Its a cheaper version with less parts. The people who still don't have a Wii don't give a fuck about the 5 Gamecube games worth playing. Using your fucking head, clueless "real gamers".

And the people who still don't have a Wii don't care about the Wii, either. By the way, no one claimed to be a "real gamer", and you're not more of one for swearing.
 
@CandleJakk said:

That sucks, since all the best Wii games are actually GameCube games.

Man I haven't played a Wii game on my Wii in so long. I recently played through Majora's Mask. More engrossing than any Wii game I've ever played.

Nintendo is making appeals to the Wii audience which you clearly aren't a part of. That makes you clueless. If you think the Wii is the failure, you're not part of their very large active audience and you can have an opinion I guess, just not one that matters.

The classic controller is still no replacement for a GC one when playing smash bros.

On its own, it's fine though.

Wow, this is just dumb.

Either Nintendo really wants to confuse consumers or a redesign of Wii U is coming

Well this is extremely disappointing seeing as I tend to only play a majority of Gamecubes titles instead of actual Wii titles and the majority of the Wii titles I would prefer the Gamecube controller.

Just another reason to make me care less for the Wii and Nintendo sadly...

Wow, this is just dumb.

Either Nintendo really wants to confuse consumers or a redesign of Wii U is coming

@ryanwho said:

Nothing about this is stupid. Its a cheaper version with less parts. The people who still don't have a Wii don't give a fuck about the 5 Gamecube games worth playing. Using your fucking head, clueless "real gamers".

And the people who still don't have a Wii don't care about the Wii, either. By the way, no one claimed to be a "real gamer", and you're not more of one for swearing.
 
@CandleJakk said:

That sucks, since all the best Wii games are actually GameCube games.

Man I haven't played a Wii game on my Wii in so long. I recently played through Majora's Mask. More engrossing than any Wii game I've ever played.

@CandleJakk said:

That sucks, since all the best Wii games are actually GameCube games.

Are we forgetting Mario Galaxy?

@Jimjamjaha said:

Xenoblade is just about to come out and some more interesting japanese titles are on their way to europe so this would actually be a pretty good time to pick up a cheap wii.

Exactly. Xenoblade does looks incredible. (out on Friday in EU)

But does this mean GC downloadable titles won't work on the new machine as well?

"How do we make our failed systems more appealing?" 
"Take out functionality!" 
 
Huh? 
 
I don't give a crap about playing Cube games on the Wii because I have a Cube already, but sometimes Cube controllers are just better for several Wii games, even over the Classic Controller.  Either way, between this and the no-WiFi PS3, I can't help but wonder if Europe's just being treated as a testbed to see just how little they can do with future consoles....

Sucks, but then I doubt I would play many GC games, but I like having the option.

I doubt there is going to be much of an increase in sales. Just sounds like a last minute push before marketing the hell out of the Wii U... another Nintendo product I have no interest in.

Xenoblade is just about to come out and some more interesting japanese titles are on their way to europe so this would actually be a pretty good time to pick up a cheap wii.

People still care about the Wii?  I'm sure the new Kirby, Zelda, and possibly Mario Party will extend it's life a bit, but come on!  My Wii has been untouched for nearly a year.  - That sounds kind of funny.

Weird times for the games industry...

I mean I guess this is a good idea... but I don't feel like people will go out in droves to buy this unless the price is crazy good.

Not sure if "we already bought" and "Sony PSP" belong in the same sentence.

the problem with buying a wii, is that you then own a wii.

Nothing about this is stupid. Its a cheaper version with less parts. The people who still don't have a Wii don't give a fuck about the 5 Gamecube games worth playing. Using your fucking head, clueless "real gamers".

That sucks, since all the best Wii games are actually GameCube games.

For some reason, the concept of "slightly neutered" seems terrifying.

I wonder if this has to do with Wii U hardware. If both this new Wii and the Wii U share a lot of parts (same bluetooth, same optical drive, same USB controller, etc.) and they drop some of the stuff that the Wii U won't have (backwards compatability, ports, etc) it would probably save them a lot over continuing to pump out the existing Wii hardware.

Doesn't seem like the missing features will be a big deal breaker for most of the Wii's audience. I don't see anything wrong with these new cheap entry level models for nublets.

There are Wii games out there that support GCN controller only, and not a Classic Controller. Brilliant move, Nintendo.

I'll probably wait until Wii U to play Wii games...unless Skyward Sword gets to me.

Dat picture.

Also fuck this!

Nothing about this is stupid. Its a cheaper version with less parts. The people who still don't have a Wii don't give a fuck about the 5 Gamecube games worth playing. Using your fucking head, clueless "real gamers".

Seeing as the only okay way to play Brawl is with the GameCube controllers, this is bad news. That is, if you're intending to play that game. The Wii controls are horrific for that game.

Incredibly stupid, incredibly needless.

Goldeneye 007 & Super Smash Bros. Brawl just got a lot less fun to play without GameCube controller support.

So basically it costs as much as a PS2 now? I'm not sure I would choose the Wii if I were to see them side by side.

That sucks, since all the best Wii games are actually GameCube games.

So this is the answer to the UK riots and a bankrupt Euro?

Who knew getting rid of one of the two GameCubes duct taped inside that thing would be the answer to all of Nintendo's financial woes?

I guess it makes sense. It's not like they're taking the GameCube support out of the dusty Wii I already have.

In theory I need those GameCube controller slots for Mario Kart (Wii and Double Dash).

@craigbo180: Less stupid and more fake. Like someone who normally doesn't play video games was asked to come up with a fictional game console. Game(noun) sounds like its part of that category regardless.

Haha, Europe....

That picture had me cracking up and totally made my day!