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Not a Rumor Anymore: Wii and 'Select' Games Are About to Become Less Expensive [UPDATED x2]

Nintendo is readying its own budget line in anticipation of a price drop for the console.


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UPDATE Part Deux: We can officially nix the "rumor" part of this article. Nintendo has announced that as of May 15th, the Wii system bundle will drop to $149.99 at all major retailers. Additionally, Wii Sports is officially out of the bundle, replaced by Mario Kart Wii and the Wii Steering Wheel. An elaborate mock-up of what the package may look like in real life can be seen directly to the right of this paragraph that you are reading.

Additionally, Nintendo confirmed the legitimacy of the Wii Select line of newly budget-priced titles. The lineup officially includes Animal Crossing: City Folk, Mario Super Sluggers, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and Wii Sports. Evidently, we'll have to wait a little longer for Super Smash Bros. Brawl to drop in price.

UPDATE:
One, Nintendo has since told us they won't comment. No real surprise there.

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Two, Nintendo World Report apparently has box art for these "Wii Select" games. They look legit!

--

With the exception of the original PlayStation, I've been a fairly notorious early adopter of new console technologies. I'm guessing if you're reading a website like Giant Bomb, one so thoroughly dedicated to the gaming enthusiasts of the world, you probably don't spend a lot of time waiting around to buy your console of choice, either. That said, there are many people who wait years after a system's release to get on board. One need only look at the absurd number of PlayStation 2 systems that sold well after the PlayStation 3's debut for prime evidence.

       Wii Sports: Now in purchasable box!
 Wii Sports: Now in purchasable box!
Of course, one thing that always helps grease the late adopter's wheels a bit is a price drop, and ever since Nintendo's new console announcement came rumbling into legitimacy, people have been bandying about various rumors of a new $149 price for the now suddenly old-feeling system.

Kotaku took the story a step further last night, citing retail sources that proclaimed that, along with the system's slashed price, a new line of "Wii Select" titles would also be dropped to a price point of $19.99. Along the lines of Sony's "Greatest Hits" and Microsoft's "Platinum Hits" collections--not to mention Nintendo's old "Player's Choice" line--the Select line would be made up of particularly noteworthy titles from the console's lifespan. Kotaku states the new line will debut in May, with the initial title run consisting of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Super Sluggers, and Wii Sports.

== TEASER == Hold on, let me record scratch this story to a halt for a moment. Wii Sports? You mean the game that's been packed in with Wii consoles since jump street? Yes, apparently Nintendo plans to take that seminal sports waggler and put it on store shelves all by its lonesome. Replacing Wii Sports in the console package would be Mario Kart Wii. While that might seem odd, think of it this way: If you're a consumer and you want a Wii now, in 2011, what are you more likely to pick up alongside your console for an extra 20 bucks? Mario Kart? Or that Wii Sports game every other Wii owner on the planet currently owns? Right.

For its part, Nintendo isn't currently talking on the subject, possibly in the hopes of keeping some minuscule modicum of info from their upcoming E3 2011 press conference something even vaguely resembling a secret. We've contacted them for more details and will update if we hear anything. At the rate things are popping out ahead of the show, they may have to resort to putting Miyamoto in a Link costume and forcing him to perform a Zelda-themed musical number. Maybe something like this, only sexier?
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98 Comments

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Brenderous

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Edited By Brenderous
@umdesch4: I also saw her at VGL. You may be right.
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Krakn3Dfx

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Edited By Krakn3Dfx

There's enough of a used market for the Wii that putting Wii Sports into the retail chain probably makes sense.  You buy a used Wii, it doesn't come with Wii Sports, you go out and drop $20 for Wii Sports.

I don't think them boxing it up and putting it on the shelves is any real indication that they'll remove it from new retail Wii boxes.

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Lucidlife

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Edited By Lucidlife

Whoopie.


Get Super Mario Galaxy down to $19.99 and I am in.
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Cirdain

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Edited By Cirdain
@Brenderous said:
" @umdesch4: I also saw her at VGL. You may be right. "
I bet you did ;)
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BonOrbitz

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Edited By BonOrbitz
@Kjellm87 said:
" It is kinda odd how time flies.2006 seems like yesterday. "
It sure does! I remember every detail about standing in that cold, cold line on 11.19.06. I still can't believe it's been  5 years now... I'm getting old.
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BonOrbitz

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Edited By BonOrbitz
@Lucidlife said:
" Whoopie.

Get Super Mario Galaxy down to $19.99 and I am in.
"
Oh man, SMG is so much better than $19.99.
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JoeyIA

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Edited By JoeyIA

Sweet, maybe I'll be able to get a legit Wii Sports box on eBay.

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Jazz_Lafayette

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Edited By Jazz_Lafayette
@Th3_James said:
" I want to replay Donkey Kong 64 now "
Word.
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agentboolen

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Edited By agentboolen

They should have made a Players Choice line of games a long long time ago for the wii....  Now lets see if Wii Music makes it on that list!!!     hint bomb very big BOMB!

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fox01313

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Edited By fox01313

At least this list might be a short list of select games due to the Wii having some good games every year among the tons of shovelware.

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Skytylz

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Edited By Skytylz

cool, I'll probably pick up Brawl now, my galaxy 2 machine is starting to get dusty!

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motang

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Edited By motang

I do hope Punch Out wold be on this list.

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sins_of_mosin

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Edited By sins_of_mosin

Is the Wii $100 yet?

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ajamafalous

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Edited By ajamafalous
@gla55jAw said:
" $149.99? Shit I thought it was already that. I was all ready to finally be on board to buy a Wii for $99 so I can get Smash Brothers and a few others. Not at $150 though, waste of money. "
Me too.
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SeriouslyNow

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Edited By SeriouslyNow
@ThePhantomnaut said:

" @Roasted said:

" Yo, wanna buy a Wii for 20$? "

Sounds like an offer a lonely woman can't refuse. "
  
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Grinsa

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Edited By Grinsa

??

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Everyones_A_Critic

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Mario Kart Wii is a great party game. It's strange to think I dropped $100 more on a Nintendo handheld just a few weeks ago.

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RE_Player1

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Edited By RE_Player1

If they had games like Mario Kart Wii, New Super Mario Bros Wii and Metroid Prime 3 for this discount I would dig out my Wii and play it. Animal Crossing and Mario Super Sluggers... no thanks.

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Shabs

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Edited By Shabs

The Nintendo Select box art style is horrible. Doesn't fit with the Wii aesthetic at all.

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Branthog

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Edited By Branthog

Frankly, you can find much better door stops for far less than $150.

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HydraHam

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Edited By HydraHam
@Shuborno said:
" The Nintendo Select box art style is horrible. Doesn't fit with the Wii aesthetic at all. "
All budget cases are awful, the original xbox silver greatest hits were awful, ps3 ugly red greatest hits, 360s, ps2's etc.

i am completely OCD when it come to this stuff i refuse to put greatest/platnium hits on my shelf because they look so out of place, same reason i remove slip covers from my blu-rays and have 3 shelves dedicated to boxed/tv show/limited edition BR's and my other shelf the same with games.

i know it's stupid but the ocd in me will not allow me to do otherwise.
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scarace360

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Edited By scarace360
@PrnceOfPwng said:
" Only Nintendo could charge $50 for an launch title still, oh wait gamestop is still charging $50 for king of fighters 12 lol.  "
Really i can play atleast 50 kof13 games for that.
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aleryn

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Edited By aleryn

New boxes look good.  Will haveta' grab Brawl for parties.  Oh, and good commentary by Alex, thanks.

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Little_Socrates

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Edited By Little_Socrates

Important question; does this new bundle come with WiiMotion Plus-equipped remotes?

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Kjellm87

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Edited By Kjellm87

 It is probably worth waiting for the new console first,
everyone assumes it will play Wii games.

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I_smell

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Edited By I_smell

RED BOXES, OH MY GOD!!

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Brenderous

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Edited By Brenderous
@Cirdain said:
" @Brenderous said:
" @umdesch4: I also saw her at VGL. You may be right. "
I bet you did ;) "
Hah! that made me lol at my desk.
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Cirdain

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Edited By Cirdain
@Brenderous said:
" @Cirdain said:
" @Brenderous said:
" @umdesch4: I also saw her at VGL. You may be right. "
I bet you did ;) "
Hah! that made me lol at my desk. "
Your welcome :)

@sins_of_mosin said:
" Is the Wii $100 yet? "
No... but your mum is ;)
I hear she raking in the money ;D
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FesteringNeon

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Edited By FesteringNeon

Man if this Wii did HD capability, I'd probably bite even though I have the Move.  I really like the look of the black Wii.

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MetalGearSunny

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Edited By MetalGearSunny

I just want Brawl to drop in price. That's the only Wii game I'm interested in playing at this point.

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crusader8463

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Edited By crusader8463

Neat. Last November a local store had a sale and was selling them for $100 a pop. If I had of had the money I would have got one, but $150 is still a bit too much for me. There are only 2-3 games on the system that look even remotely fun, so I'm going to wait until I can pick all of them up for around $200 total.

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recroulette

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Edited By recroulette

Finally, I can try Wild World out.

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dvorak

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Edited By dvorak
@RecSpec said:
" Finally, I can try Wild World out. "
Yeah, pretty sure I'll also be taking advantage of that.

Also, I'm really shocked. I thought that the Wii was already $149.99. I guess I had a gap in my memory back to the GameCube when it got totally stupid cheap.
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Scarabus

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Edited By Scarabus

Nice try, but I'm not buying any more Wii games.

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Aaron_G

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Edited By Aaron_G

Wii games get cheaper, but too bad, I no longer have my Wii. Gave it to my sister to take to Chicago. 

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NukePuke

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Edited By NukePuke

I'm going to wait and see if the next Nintendo system is backwards compatible first.

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kollay

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Edited By kollay

The enthusiasm, it is nonexistent.

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deactivated-5e49e9175da37

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Maybe I'll pick up Twilight Princess now.

In the last ten years, I've played two Zelda games; A Link to the Past on GBA, and Darksiders.

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Vexxan

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Edited By Vexxan
@NukePuke said:
" I'm going to wait and see if the next Nintendo system is backwards compatible first. "
Sounds about right, I've managed not to buy a Wii for the past 5 years, I can wait another year or so until Wii 2 is released.
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jozzy

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Edited By jozzy
@Brodehouse said:
" Maybe I'll pick up Twilight Princess now.In the last ten years, I've played two Zelda games; A Link to the Past on GBA, and Darksiders. "
You made me giggle :)
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Delusibeta

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Edited By Delusibeta

Well, that's me proven wrong. Ho hum...

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gla55jAw

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Edited By gla55jAw

I wonder if that Limited Red console with New Super Mario Brothers is going to drop too. I might go with that if it does, even though it's not $99. What's the deal with not dropping Smash though, the game has been out for years.

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WickedCobra03

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Edited By WickedCobra03

I am totally down with them releasing "players choice", but come on, just about everyone has those already.  The console has been out for like 4-5 years already.  This would have been a good idea in year 2-ish.

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sins_of_mosin

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Edited By sins_of_mosin

@Cirdain - Unlike most users on here, I'm an adult so my mother is over 60 and wouldn't bother with kids who quote jokes from before they was even born.

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HypotheticalSolution76

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Actually, I'm looking forward to the price drop. I heard Animal Crossing was very fun when you get into it. It's the type of game I don't normally find interest in, but a game that I'm warming up  to now. Mario Super Sluggers fits into the same styles as Mario Mix, Mario Strikers, etc. It's a game to serve the fan base, and not everyone's tea. But the price drop to cater to the fans is nice. I've already played a ton of Wii Sports so cool there. Zelda: Twilight Princess might be a good purchase, but I do own it on GC already. Amazing - that'd be three Zelda games in one year, counting OOT 3D and Skyward Sword. That's a record I would think! I have Brawl as one of my top games still yet played, and if there's any price drop on it, I'll pick it up too. Great news.

   
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athruntalan

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Edited By athruntalan

Bout time some of the first party titles were made a bit cheaper, Nintendo's FP titles always seem to stick rigidly to release price, even if they've been out longer than 6 months!

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mariokart64fan

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Edited By mariokart64fan

it can be 99 go used there ya go , 99 dollars , lol

seriously though if you compare wii price to xbox 360 your better off with a wii lol

ms still wants to push 400 bundles out lol and the lowest you can get a 360 is 300 lol even though that is 6 yrs old!

no console has ever been this expensive this far along

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mariokart64fan

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Edited By mariokart64fan

a used wii is already 99 bucks! ,, i think wiis are well worth their price for all of what they do , sure the new model i say 99 bucks but ones that have mariokart wii are bc and all so

especally if a xbox 360 that came out in 2005 can still sell for 300 plus dollars