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    The Nintendo Wii is a home video game console released on November 19, 2006. The Wii's main selling point was the innovative use of motion controls that its signature Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers allowed for. It became the best selling home console of its respective generation of hardware.

    So the Wii Mini is a thing.

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    wrighteous86

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    #1  Edited By wrighteous86

    At least in Canada (which means it will be released everywhere else eventually). It lacks Gamecube backwards compatibility (which all but proves that the Wii U is going to get a bunch of Gamecube up-ports) and gets rid of internet functionality (which, aside from buying some classic VC games and Netflix which is everywhere, let's be honest, nobody was using anyway). It's only $99, which y'know, isn't that bad but...

    I was going to say people are over the Wii, but apparently they just recently sold almost as many Wiis as Wii Us last week, so what do I know. I just know that with the... tepid success of the 3DS, the failure of the Vita, and the seemingly total lack of interest in the Wii U, even by people that bought it on launch day, I am fearful for the future of the industry.

    I'd say I'm fearful for Nintendo's future, but I think they have a pretty safe strategy where they will always keep their head above water, even in dire straights. Honestly, I think it's more likely that Sony drop out of the console race someday and it just becomes "Western games on Xbox, Japanese games on Nintendo" down the line, which, really... doesn't sound all that bad to me.

    I don't know how this turned into a ramble on the state of the industry, but yeah, Wii Mini.

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    RE_Player1

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    #2  Edited By RE_Player1

    I'm in Canada and I might buy this for my little cousins. I bought them a PS2 when that dropped to $99 and they loved it.

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    ProfessorEss

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    #3  Edited By ProfessorEss

    Man the Wii was already smaller than everybody else's slim. This thing must be tiny.

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    thedj93

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    #4  Edited By thedj93

    a 99 dollar wii was exactly what i was waiting for.... like a year ago

    this seems like a solid product, its a bummer about the GC compatibility though

    nintendo is gonna sell this shit like (somewhat stale) hotcakes, best believe. i wonder how much longer they plan on supporting the original Wii though.

    I think we can be fairly sure that there will be fewer than ten first party games coming out for OG Wii from here on out until she's officially retired.

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    crusader8463

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    #5  Edited By crusader8463

    Already a thread on this, but whatever. I think it's funny that they would release something like this now of all times. The casual market is already super confused thinking the Wii U is just a new controller for the Wii that will make their games prettier somehow. The last thing they need is to be promoting a new Wii ontop of that. It's just going to confuse the uninformed.

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    Phatmac

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    #6  Edited By Phatmac

    I find it hilarious that this console has the same color scheme as the Virtual Boy.

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    SexyToad

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    #8  Edited By SexyToad

    I think this would be a seller. It's pretty cheap at $100, so parents, I would think, would be buying them for their kids for Christmas. But it would probably split the market between the mini Wii and the Wii U. Parents wouldn't know everything about the Wii U, so they think it's only a new controller. So they would buy the mini wii since its cheaper.

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    BlatantNinja23

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    #9  Edited By BlatantNinja23

    @ProfessorEss said:

    Man the Wii was already smaller than everybody else's slim. This thing must be tiny.

    it's probably just larger than a disc. If anything maybe it's has wide as a wii, but much less deep.

    @SexyToad said:

    I think this would be a seller. It's pretty cheap at $100, so parents, I would think, would be buying them for their kids for Christmas. But it would probably split the market between the mini Wii and the Wii U. Parents wouldn't know everything about the Wii U, so they think it's only a new controller. So they would buy the mini wii since its cheaper.

    If people are buying wii mini's instead of Wii U's, the chances of them ever buying a Wii U at this time is already incredibly slim. This is for people who still somehow don't own a wii, and for the crazy people who want another one. A market the Wii U was never going to fill, the market that waited till 2009 to buy a ps2

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    wefwefasdf

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    #10  Edited By wefwefasdf

    @Ne0teric: It sounds like you'll need to purchase one of the USB to ethernet adapters they sold for the Wii to have internet access.

    Edit: Oops! Never mind! No online functionality at all... Huh.

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    TaliciaDragonsong

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    We, as gamers, might not like it but it's going to sell like mad. Again.

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    FritzDude

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    #13  Edited By FritzDude

    Mini Me, meet Mini Wii

    I don't see a reason for it, but to each their own. It will most likely sell a lot too.

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    Nictel

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    #14  Edited By Nictel

    Would be worth something with internet support..

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    MAGZine

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    #15  Edited By MAGZine

    Guys, the Wii hasn't had Gamecube compatibility in a year.

    Last year, they made the Wii have the horizontal design, rather than vertical. All horizontal Wiis are NON-Gamecube compatible. Furthermore, they retailed for $109 at Walmart.

    The only news here is that they made is smaller.

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    chaser324

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    #16  Edited By chaser324  Moderator

    @MAGZine: No internet connectivity, and it's a different box on the shelf with a different name that could contribute to market confusion.

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    Akrid

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    #17  Edited By Akrid

    A CANADIAN thing! High-five Canadians! We got something!

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    BisonHero

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    #18  Edited By BisonHero
    @Akrid

    A CANADIAN thing! High-five Canadians! We got something!

    High five! We're Guinea pigs to see if this Wii mini idea is totally a waste of time or not!
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    Benny

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    #19  Edited By Benny

    I'm gonna say it, nobody has any excuse to buy this. If you wanted a Wii you would have gotten your hands on one by now like the other 100 million people who bought one since 2007. I honestly think if you get one of these you're a total sucker.

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    DoctorWelch

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    #20  Edited By DoctorWelch

    Wait, you're telling me the regular Wii isn't 99$ yet? That's a rip off.

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    SathingtonWaltz

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    #21  Edited By SathingtonWaltz

    @Wrighteous86: I think it's funny that you think the Wii U has a total lack on interest seeing as they have already sold a shit load of them. I would be more worried about Sony than Nintendo, Nintendo is doing excellent.

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    wrighteous86

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    #22  Edited By wrighteous86

    @SathingtonWaltz said:

    @Wrighteous86: I think it's funny that you think the Wii U has a total lack on interest seeing as they have already sold a shit load of them.

    I love Nintendo, so withhold your fanboy rage.

    Have you noticed any general excitement amongst the majority of "hardcore" gamers? Do most non-"hardcore" gamers even know the Wii U exists, or understand what it is? Most of the people I that I've heard from that bought it admit they only bought it because it was a new console, not out of any real interest, taking into account games journalists and forum posters. I anecdotally only know one person in real life that bought it, and the rest haven't even heard of it. It's also one of the first launches in recent memory that you could relatively easily walk into a store the day it was released and pick one up without pre-ordering or waiting in line.

    It sold 200,000 less than the Wii first week (which DID sell out everywhere and sold 600,000 even with production issues). It only sold 100,000 more than Wii's were sold on the week of it's release. It sold 100,000 less than the Gamecube, 25,000 more than the Dreamcast...

    It's about on par with the PS3 (which I suppose also didn't immediately sell-out), but that had a much more prohibitive cost, and people also pronounced it a troubled launch.

    You can't act like everything is all hunky-dory. Is it the end of days for Nintendo or the gaming industry? No. But it is a warning sign that should be analyzed and heeded for one or both. It's certainly not an ecstatic launch for Nintendo. I'm sure they were hoping for much better.

    EDIT: And I did say that Nintendo is safe and that I think Sony is more likely to drop out (which would only be good for Nintendo).

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    Bollard

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    Thoseposers

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    #24  Edited By Thoseposers

    lets say i wanted one of these but i live in america, would it cost a lot to import one and does it play ntsc games or pal?

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    Lukeweizer

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    #25  Edited By Lukeweizer

    Can we all agree to abolish thread titles like this?

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    deano546

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    #26  Edited By deano546

    Man, this thing is crazy.

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    Akrid

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    #27  Edited By Akrid

    @BisonHero said:

    @Akrid

    A CANADIAN thing! High-five Canadians! We got something!

    High five! We're Guinea pigs to see if this Wii mini idea is totally a waste of time or not!

    They won't lose too much money funding a product to 35 million! And we're basically America anyway, so it'll probably work the same down there!

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    xyzygy

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    #28  Edited By xyzygy

    I wonder if the whole GC thing is just on official discs. Maybe you can hack this thing and burn your own GC games and override what Nintendo has set up.

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    JasonR86

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    #29  Edited By JasonR86

    This seems like a total waste of time to me. Why bother creating a product that has no audience to buy it?

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    Aaron_G

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    #30  Edited By Aaron_G

    Seems nuts, it is even a more limited Wii...

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    wrighteous86

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    #31  Edited By wrighteous86

    @JasonR86 said:

    This seems like a total waste of time to me. Why bother creating a product that has no audience to buy it?

    I don't know how, but just last week Nintendo sold 300,000 Wiis. Only 100,000 less than the Wii U.

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    BisonHero

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    #32  Edited By BisonHero
    @Thoseposers

    lets say i wanted one of these but i live in america, would it cost a lot to import one and does it play ntsc games or pal?

    Canada is in the same region as the US. The discs in each game case are identical; the only difference I'm aware of in Canada is that sometimes publishers will add a French-language manual to appease Quebec (and other scattered French communities). It would probably be easiest for you to just drive across the border and buy one if you're anywhere close. If you import one, the seller is likely to put some markup on the price.
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    JasonR86

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    #33  Edited By JasonR86

    @Wrighteous86 said:

    @JasonR86 said:

    This seems like a total waste of time to me. Why bother creating a product that has no audience to buy it?

    I don't know how, but just last week Nintendo sold 300,000 Wiis. Only 100,000 less than the Wii U.

    I heard that. It makes it even sillier to me that they would spend the research money and production making another one when the original is still selling well.

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    Giefcookie

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    #34  Edited By Giefcookie

    I'll give you 20$ for a wii!

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    Death_To_America

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    #35  Edited By Death_To_America

    I guess Nintendo knew the Wii U would sell like crap? Why? Cause they know it is crap, and I wholeheartedly agree.

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    SathingtonWaltz

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    #36  Edited By SathingtonWaltz

    @Wrighteous86: Jesus I'm not a damn fanboy, I haven't owned a Nintendo system since the SNES. Anyway, I see where you're coming from but I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as you think it is.

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    wrighteous86

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    #37  Edited By wrighteous86
    @SathingtonWaltz Sorry, I more meant the Royal you. I've come to expect attacks from any Nintendo criticism.
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    SathingtonWaltz

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    #38  Edited By SathingtonWaltz

    @Wrighteous86: It's cool. A buddy of mine actually picked up a Wii U last week and I got to try it out. It's actually kind of awesome from what I've seen, there are a lot of nice conveniences and features that make the console worth owning imo. Then again, I'm not platform loyalist and there is no changing some people.

    This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:

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