[News] Nintendo Discontinues the Wii

[gkarris]

After racking up more than 100 million units sold worldwide, Nintendo ends production on one of its most successful pieces of hardware and focuses solely on the Wii U.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57608484-93/nintendo-says-sayonara-to-the-original-wii/

If any of you are collectors, now's the time to get any leftover bundles or the unusual Wii Mini from Canada.

The Targets by me put out the last of their stocks of the Wii Skylanders Giants bundle - $149, thought I've seen them on sale for $99. Will definitely keep an eye out now...

 

[musicpenguy]

About bloody time - having both Wii U and Wii on the market at the same time is just about as dumb as having the DS and 3DS on the market at the same time

 

[neoelectronaut]

About bloody time - having both Wii U and Wii on the market at the same time is just about as dumb as having the DS and 3DS on the market at the same time

Why is that, exactly?

It's like saying that Apple is dumb for keeping around the iPad Mini and iPad 2.

By removing the low cost Wii and DS from the market you're missing out on sales from customers that aren't ready to spend $300 for the Wii U and $170+ for the 3DS.

 

[e²Studios]

Why is that, exactly?

It's like saying that Apple is dumb for keeping around the iPad Mini and iPad 2.

By removing the low cost Wii and DS from the market you're missing out on sales from customers that aren't ready to spend $300 for the Wii U and $170+ for the 3DS.

The 2DS fills that void rather nicely

There is/was too much confusion with the Wii and WiiU, parents were buying the Wii thinking it was a WiiU etc etc I kinda chuckled at the stories I've heard from retail employees.

It's a good thing to be getting rid of it, one less SKU to confuse their customer base.

 

[Miharu]

I used to work in retail, and when 3DS came out of course I had to put huge notifications that "warning, 3DS games don't work on a regular DS..." Same with Wii U.

Which is kind of sad and strange, since people don't really have any problems understanding that Playstation 3 games don't work with Playstation 2. How come it's only Nintendo that seems to get people so confused

 

[musicpenguy]

I used to work in retail, and when 3DS came out of course I had to put huge notifications that "warning, 3DS games don't work on a regular DS..." Same with Wii U.

Which is kind of sad and strange, since people don't really have any problems understanding that Playstation 3 games don't work with Playstation 2. How come it's only Nintendo that seems to get people so confused

I have a feeling that PS4 and X1 will confuse folks - most of the time there has been some backwards compatibility - I'd imagine some folks will pick up games and expect them to work.

Also now that controllers are wireless will everyone know that the old PS3 controller doesn't work on PS4 because its wireless and why wouldn't it work

 

[peskaa]

Gone in the EU as well. Only NA has remaining production.

 

[e²Studios]

I have a feeling that PS4 and X1 will confuse folks - most of the time there has been some backwards compatibility - I'd imagine some folks will pick up games and expect them to work.

Also now that controllers are wireless will everyone know that the old PS3 controller doesn't work on PS4 because its wireless and why wouldn't it work

The PS3 was backwards compatible for a short time, for most its life it was not. I don't think it will cause any confusion.

As for the controller, I never thought to use my PS2 controller on a PS3, I think its pretty much a given you need a new controller unlike the WiiU which allowed you to use the old ones. Which is where a lot of the confusion started.

Yes there will be the daft few that think the PS4 is BC but its been made pretty clear that its not and I'm sure it will be far less confusing at retail than the cluster F the Wii/WiiU was.

 

[musicpenguy]

The PS3 was backwards compatible for a short time, for most its life it was not. I don't think it will cause any confusion.

As for the controller, I never thought to use my PS2 controller on a PS3, I think its pretty much a given you need a new controller unlike the WiiU which allowed you to use the old ones. Which is where a lot of the confusion started.

Yes there will be the daft few that think the PS4 is BC but its been made pretty clear that its not and I'm sure it will be far less confusing at retail than the cluster F the Wii/WiiU was.

Yea I have a hard time judging what average folks will think works and doesn't - the PS2 was wired and that was a pretty clear difference. I think many will see hey that looks like my PS3 controller and since there aren't any ports for controllers to plug into that it might work still. I guess we will know fairly soon what kind of news stories pop up with customer confusion

 

[e²Studios]

Yea I have a hard time judging what average folks will think works and doesn't - the PS2 was wired and that was a pretty clear difference. I think many will see hey that looks like my PS3 controller and since there aren't any ports for controllers to plug into that it might work still. I guess we will know fairly soon what kind of news stories pop up with customer confusion

I think you hit on something important that most gaming forums tend to lose sight of, we're all pretty savvy gamers but the general public isn't.

It will be interesting to hear stories after XB1 and PS4 launch

 

[Mac'nCheese]

Yea I have a hard time judging what average folks will think works and doesn't - the PS2 was wired and that was a pretty clear difference. I think many will see hey that looks like my PS3 controller and since there aren't any ports for controllers to plug into that it might work still. I guess we will know fairly soon what kind of news stories pop up with customer confusion

Sorry to bother you. Could you or someone else clear up my confusion on this whole wired/wireless thing? Isn't both the ps3 and 4 wireless just different version of wireless and that's what makes them work only for their specific consoles? I know they can be plugged in but I real wired controller means always plugged in, right?

 

[gkarris]

I guess the scoop is that the Wii is discontinued only in Japan and Europe.

The US will still be getting the Wii...

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/129012-Nintendo-Wii-Also-Discontinued-in-Europe

 

[musicpenguy]

Sorry to bother you. Could you or someone else clear up my confusion on this whole wired/wireless thing? Isn't both the ps3 and 4 wireless just different version of wireless and that's what makes them work only for their specific consoles? I know they can be plugged in but I real wired controller means always plugged in, right?

Wired is the old school way done in Sega Genesis, PS1, PS2, N64 GameCube etc. The way you played games was plug the controller into the controller port. Most controllers these days are wireless and use cords either for charging or as an alternative connection method.

That is why some consumers may be confused with PS4 vs PS3 - the controllers look very similar and one would think that Bluetooth hasn't changed radically to make that much of a difference. Same thing may happen with Xbox 360 and the 1

 

[Mac'nCheese]

Wired is the old school way done in Sega Genesis, PS1, PS2, N64 GameCube etc. The way you played games was plug the controller into the controller port. Most controllers these days are wireless and use cords either for charging or as an alternative connection method.

That is why some consumers may be confused with PS4 vs PS3 - the controllers look very similar and one would think that Bluetooth hasn't changed radically to make that much of a difference. Same thing may happen with Xbox 360 and the 1

Gotcha, thank u.

 

[gkarris]

Well, less places have the regular Wii in stock and what they have is dwindling.

The Wii is still available in the US and Canada at least as the Wii Mini. The latest is the bundle with Mario Kart for $99.

Don't know of anyone buying one except for collecting. The Wii U bundles are flying off the shelves this holiday season, especially the Mario & Luigi one.