More Wii Details

Planet GameCube is live-blogging the Nintendo press conference today. Apparently Wii Sports will indeed be included in the package (it wasn't in Japan, so there was some confusion), and will inclue Tennis, Golf, Baseball, Bowling, and Boxing as well. I hope you have the option of using a second controller (or the nunchuck) for two-fisted boxing action. It's not a new PunchOut!! or Fight Night 3, but it'll do. Additional Wii Remotes (the official name, despite Nintendo's apparent facination with the idea of calling it the "Wii-mote") will be $40, and the nunchuck attachment is $20.

The other details are still valid, launching November 19th for $249.99. I don't understand the late launch, given that Nintendo had assured everyone that they'd launch before PlayStation 3. The price is higher than I expected, but given the inclusion of Wii Sports and the nunchuk controller, it's a decent value. However, I'd like to remind everyone that may have forgotten ... Nintendo dropped the price of the Nintendo 64 from $249.99 to $199.99 three days before the launch. While it's doubtful they'd repeat that stunt, it's certainly a possibility.

Sadly, the unit will ship in white only at first. I was hoping for a Nintendo Red model.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Excite Truck will be the only first-party launch titles. Mario won't be out until 2007. 15 total games at launch, and 30 by the end of the year. The Trauma Center remake for Wii will be a launch title.

The most interesting part is the idea of a "Mii". This is a virtual charicature of yourself or someone else, which you can then transfer to your controller and take with you. Clever idea. Any game with support for the "Mii Channel" can use your charicature in-game. including Wii Sports and Wario Ware.

Much like Xbox Live, Nintendo will be using a point system for Virtual Console purchases, and it's fairly straight-forward ... 2000 points for $20.00. NES games are 500 points ($5), SNES are 800 points, and N64 games are 1000 points. Unfortunately, the much vaunted Opera browser for Wii will NOT be included, and must be purchased with points.

No mention at all of DVD playback, so the rumors of DVD support being dropped must be true. Damned shame ... while I don't need another DVD player personally, it's certainly a "nice to have".