Speaking exclusively to SPOnG recently, Nintendo Europe's recently-appointed head of sales and marketing Laurent Fischer outlined the company's plans for the PAL roll-out of the Wii, reassuring us that Europe will not be left out in the cold.
When asked directly if Nintendo will launch the Wii into Europe during 2006, alongside the rest of the world, Fischer stated, "The announcement has been made that it will be released in 2006," he said. "To me, by the end of 2006, all the various countries are going to have Wii released. I have no other, more precise information."
Of course, European gamers have, for a long time, been left out in the cold by Nintendo hardware release staggering, though recent drives to bring PAL territories and all the troublesome localisation work they require closer inline with the release dates of Japan and the US have made headway. Having the Wii launched in time for Christmas in all territories should be high on Nintendo's agenda. Offering the game-buying public a console at less than half the price of either Sony or Microsoft, combined with an astute marketing campaign, should form an attractive deal to parents and gamers during the Festival of Consumerism.
When asked directly if Nintendo will launch the Wii into Europe during 2006, alongside the rest of the world, Fischer stated, "The announcement has been made that it will be released in 2006," he said. "To me, by the end of 2006, all the various countries are going to have Wii released. I have no other, more precise information."
Of course, European gamers have, for a long time, been left out in the cold by Nintendo hardware release staggering, though recent drives to bring PAL territories and all the troublesome localisation work they require closer inline with the release dates of Japan and the US have made headway. Having the Wii launched in time for Christmas in all territories should be high on Nintendo's agenda. Offering the game-buying public a console at less than half the price of either Sony or Microsoft, combined with an astute marketing campaign, should form an attractive deal to parents and gamers during the Festival of Consumerism.
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Comments
fella 31 May 2006 07:54
1/4
For the UK we can expect limited numbers, Paying between 150 to 200 % what the us or japan pays. We will also get a cut down version of hardware that will not not be able to do progresive scan and have lovely balck borders on 50% of the games. Nintendo Europe suck and will shaft us yet again
phoo 31 May 2006 10:03
2/4
That's not entirely true anymore.
With the gamecube they changed a bunch of age old practices:
They didn't do the black border thing.
They didn't run slower.
They did support progressive scan cubes with component cables.
They charged 130 pounds sterling at launch (my pound key is broken), which was closer to the $200 dollar equivalent they were charging in the US than Microsoft or Sony. Both those companies continue to rip us off on hardware (check the PSP: $250 vs 180 pounds).
Sure they still have MAJOR problems - mostly with release dates (and lack of releases), but in hardware terms, they've actually learnt the lesson enough that they're better than the competition.
With the gamecube they changed a bunch of age old practices:
They didn't do the black border thing.
They didn't run slower.
They did support progressive scan cubes with component cables.
They charged 130 pounds sterling at launch (my pound key is broken), which was closer to the $200 dollar equivalent they were charging in the US than Microsoft or Sony. Both those companies continue to rip us off on hardware (check the PSP: $250 vs 180 pounds).
Sure they still have MAJOR problems - mostly with release dates (and lack of releases), but in hardware terms, they've actually learnt the lesson enough that they're better than the competition.
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fella 31 May 2006 14:25
3/4
not every game in the cube was without borders.
but every pal game was without progresive scan. you could play ntsc games using freeloader but uk games had pro scan removed
but every pal game was without progresive scan. you could play ntsc games using freeloader but uk games had pro scan removed
config 31 May 2006 22:51
4/4
phoo wrote:
That's not entirely true anymore.
With the gamecube they changed a bunch of age old practices:
[...]
They did support progressive scan cubes with component cables.
With the gamecube they changed a bunch of age old practices:
[...]
They did support progressive scan cubes with component cables.
...for everyone else, Nintendo told us to shove our S-Video goodness - composite video is the new black! Fscktardedness at its finest.