Late Night Consoling

- As may have noticed earlier today. Nintendo confirmed that its upcoming Wii console will not be priced above $250 in the US, or 25,000 yen in Japan. The company also stated that it plans to ship 6 million consoles worldwide by the end of its next fiscal year ending March 31, 2007. So now that you know the news, here's some history and speculation.
Nintendo's 25,000 yen upper limit for the system in Japan happens to have been the Japanese launch price for both Nintendo 64 and GameCube. Based on current exchange rates, this is equivalent to about US$223. In the case of both of those systems, as well as NES and SNES, the United States launch price was $199.99. Giving what would be historical precedence to a theoretical final Wii launch price of $199.99 is the fact that Nintendo 64 launched under the exact same circumstances. In early 1996, Nintendo's then-executive vice president Peter Main stated that Nintendo 64 would launch for "under $250." The final price point was later revealed to be $199.99. Furthermore, in a recent interview, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata noted, "You may want to check our past records of price points, launching price points for any past hardware." So I did. Take that as you will. As far as what will come in the box, Shacknews has learned from Nintendo that there are no plans to include the SNES/DualShock hybrid "retro controller," though there of course is the possibility of optional bundle deals.

- This week, a potential Wii launch lineup has been circulating through major news sites, including IGN. It consists of 16 titles across 11 publishers. Nintendo has officially declined to comment on the list, stating that the company has not yet made any announcements on the Wii titles available at launch.

- According to IGN, Wii will not use Dolby Digital optical sound. Rather, the machine will make use of Dolby Pro Logic II, which supports 5.1 surround sound systems by way of extrapolation rather than through true surround sound. This news is based on developer documentation which illustrates various types of A/V signals coming from the Wii's output port, none of which support optical sound. Developers aware of the methods used to extrapolate surround sound in Pro Logic II are able to essentially develop games optomized for 5.1 surround sound systems, but it is unable to provide a native six-channel signal such as is used in Dolby Digital.

Recently, rumors have been swirling that one more unrevealed feature of the Wii controller is that it also includes a built in microphone. These rumors have had no confirmation. Today, however, internet detectives discovered several domain names recently registered by Nintendo, one of which--wiikaraoke.com--suggests that a karaoke game is enroute. Given mainstrem Japan's well-known love of karaoke and Nintendo's well-known desire to extend gaming to the mainstream, such a game seems likely. This would mean the Wii console must allow for some kind of voice input, either by way of an internal or external microphone, or a headset. Rumors have also suggested that the system will have voice-over-IP technology and allow for the controller to act as a phone. The former seems likely, since it could be used for in-game chat; the latter, on the other hand, seems rather far-fetched.

Other registered domains include wiichannel.com, which some have presumed may be Nintendo's Xbox Live Marketplace equivalent, wiivc.com, referring to the system's Virtual Console, and wiiconnect24.com, referring to Nintendo's recently-announced "always on" Internet service for the machine. As the day went on, gamers uncovered more and more domains, turning up dozens of addresses all redirecting to Nintendo.com. Either the company has a disturbing amount of marketing in the works, or it's just very liberally hedging its bets. Other notable or entertaining entries: wiibreeding.com, wiicooking.com, wiimoney.com, wiiareone.com, shallwii.com.

There's been plenty of downloadable content over Xbox Live this week, and that's continuing with today's offering of a playable demo of Rare's launch title Perfect Dark Zero, as promised back in April. The demo includes the single-player level Outpost, also playable via online co-op, and the multiplayer map Plaza, which will also be made available in an upcoming content patch for the full game.

Following the January announcement that Capcom's Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting would be coming to Xbox Live early this year, there's finally some news of the game's development. IGN reports that preview code of the game will be distributed to media with Xbox 360 debug kits (ie, not us). While an actual release date for the game is still unannounced, at least we know it's playable. Actually, we've known it's playable for a while. I played it at a Microsoft event in March. So what's the holdup, guys?!

Little has been heard lately about Enlight's over the top satirical action game Bad Day L.A. (Xbox, PC), designed by American McGee. However, it appears that the game is still in development. UK publisher Supersonic Group announced today that it will be distributing the Xbox version of the game throughout Europe, serving as a de facto confirmation of the game's continued existence. Bad Day L.A. is expected some time in the fourth quarter of this year.

Nintendo of America announced a bevy of internal corporate promotions today. Most notably, outspoken executive VP of sales & marketing Reggie Fils-Aime, who has become the public face of Nintendo's North American operations in his only two and a half years with the company, was promoted to president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America where he will manage the company's daily operations. He is replacing Tatsumi Kimishima, who will now be acting as chairman of the board and CEO of Nintendo of America. Senior VP of business development Mike Fukuda has been promoted to executive VP of business development, where he will oversee oversee Nintendo's North American first and third party game production.

Fils-Aime is the first non-Japanese president of Nintendo of America, though Howard Lincoln formerly served as the company's chairman. Previously, NOA was led by Kimishima from 2002 until the present, and and prior to that by Minoru Arakawa from 1980 to 2002.

Nintendo also announced its financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006. The company saw revenue of $4.5B (509.25B yen), down 1.2% year over year, with net profits of $873M (93.38B yen), up 12.5% year over year. The decreased revenue was due to continually flagging GameCube sales as well as declining sales of Game Boy Advance, which seems to be reaching critical mass. This was largely offset by strong sales of Nintendo DS. Profits were impacted by research and development for DS and the upcoming Wii.

For the coming fiscal year ending March 31, 2007, Nintendo predicts a sales increase of 18% thanks to the upcoming launch of Wii and further sales of DS, bolstered by the recent Japanese launch of DS Lite and upcoming launches of DS Lite throughout the rest of the world. Nintendo plans to ship 6 million Wii consoles before the end of its fiscal year, alongside 16 million DS consoles between now and then.

MTV News has an interview with Microsoft boss Bill Gates, who, in response to persistent rumors of a portable Xbox, said that he expects people some day to carry around a device that acts as a media player, phone, and gaming platform--but maybe not for a while; "The world isn't ready yet for [such a] device," he says. Gates also isn't too enamored with the motion sensing technology being used in upcoming consoles from Nintendo and Sony. "Even pilots actually sit in a chair when they do their flying," he points out. "So there's a lot to be learned about these controllers."