grrrr NO IT WONT. The stockholders meeting (where the info came from) said it would cost no MORE than 25,000 yen, which is 225 US dollars. Its going to be 200. The President of Nintendo even shrugged off rumors recently of it being 250 by saying something to the effect of "Look to our past and you will get a idea of what it will cost" Meaning 200 dollars.

They haven't announced the release date, but they said they plan to ship six million by 3/31/07, not release it on that date. It'll probably come out before the holidays.

Where's the source, guys?

Uh... 3/3/07? Originally I saw a launch aiming at Thanksgiving and then next reports were aiming at an october release... 2006. At least in the states. Has this now changed?

I think you left out quite an important piece of information. If you read the press release carefully, it states the Wii would not sell for more than ¥25,000 in Japan and no more than $250 in the US. That means it could conceivably retail for a lot less but it just won't exceed this limit.

Where the hell did you pull the March 31st 2007 ship date from? My guess is...uranus. See what I did there? ;)

Actually, i think they said they expect to ship 6 million machines by March 2007, not ship in March 2007. According to this BBC article anyways... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5016838.stm

A little surprising that they broke the 200 dollar trend that has been going on for Nintendo since the NES days. Hopefully that extra 50 will bring about a few extras, but still a steal, especially given that soon to be out of control demand. You'll be seeing Wii's sell for PS3 prices on ebay in no time.

found the direct quote, its from GameDaily BIZ, who interviewed Iwata BIZ: I know that Nintendo has not officially announced a price for the Wii, but a rumor we spotted this week in EGM suggests a $249 price tag. Do you want to comment on that? SI: [Laughs] As you know, that is speculation and we did not comment on the price point at all. What we've been repeatedly saying is that it's going to be an affordable price point, and when we say affordable, you may want to check our past records of price points, launching price points for any past hardware... I think you'll agree that we always come up with an affordable price point. So when we announce the Wii price point in the near future, I believe you are going to say, "That's an affordable price point." Right in the middle was the clue, "check our past records of price points, launching price points for any past hardware." Without saying it, he's pretty much hinting directly it's 200 dollars. The 25,000 yen roughly translates to 223 dollars current market. US price is always cheaper than Japanese price. Its GOING to be 200 dollars. Not to mention I have looked all over for this mythical press release from Nintendo of America, and have found it no where, only stories about their recent meeting which is where the 25000 yen number came from.

I call shennanigans. "The Wii will ship March 31, 2007" Isn't that bigger news than the price? Because last I heard, it was supposed to release Nov. 11, 2006. Thus... who was the source of this news?

Here is the original press release from Nintendo. The real wording is: "The company plans to ship 6 million systems to retailers around the world between its launch in the fourth quarter of 2006 and the end of its fiscal year on March 31, 2007." So yeah, release is still in the Fall and not on March 31, 2007.

You might want to check your facts. Only the Japanese price has been announced, and it equates to roughly $225 US. They haven't announced a US price, so while it could be $250, it's also possible that it could be less. Also, your facts on ship dates and quantities are a bit bungled. The estimate is that they expect to ship six million systems and 17 million games BY March 31, 2007. Kinda phoning it in on this one, weren't you John?

facts, shmacts- let's not lose sight of what's important. anything that contributes to the deaths of best buy employees should be encouraged.

There are no innocent Best Buy employees.

i hope nintendo wins this gen...i really do.

The Nintendo ... is so reasonibly priced. The Xbox 360 and the Ps3 are very expensive consoles and I believe that the companies should take a bigger hit when It comes to how much they lose per console. They will definitly get more sales of systems and can easliy make the money back from the games. That's why the Nintendo Wii is doing so well. The system is priced just right and if the are losing any money they can easliy make it back with thier affordable games.