Best Buy Canada Website Outs Wii Mini, States December 7th Launch

That looks kinda sexy from what I can see.

I do think a lot of casuals will get totally confused and end up buying this thinking it's a brand new console from Nintendo but at the same time I think it's a smart move from them too. I think it will keep sales of the Wii chugging along for the foreseeable future, bringing them in a steady income from old/outdated hardware that still has a huge market of untapped potential customers if it's sold to the right people for the right amount. In much the same way Sony kept the PS1/PS2 sales chugging along for a long time by offering smaller models of those consoles at cheaper prices, that appealed to those people who couldn't afford to buy the machines until that time but were still interested in getting them. As long as Nintendo also offers it at a reduced price then I think it's mostly a good move. If they don't actually make it any cheaper than the current model then it's mostly a needless hardware revision that doesn't actually bring any benefit to the consumer but does increase the chances of confusing people.

Edit: Yeah, now that I can see more and indeed know more...

Not impressed or excited.

I actually sort of want one. It looks really cool. If it's sub-£100 when/if it comes to the UK, I may have to consider getting one, if only for the collection!

Talking about milking the cash cow dry.
Even thought Nintendo has confirmed they haven't got any plans for release any more first party titles for the original Wii,they still have plans for a little re-design before it goes the way of the Cube,
I must admit it does look nice though.

I'm liking that red Wiimote.

I can't figure out how they'd make it much smaller than it already is!

@Kelvin

The tech inside that thing is so ancient at this point in time that they could probably fit it into a case the size of a mobile phone if it weren't for the CD drive. Genuinely. They could certainly get it down to around portable CD player size, or pretty much where they are now basically.

Interestingly this actually looks to be pretty much spot on with what Iwata originally wanted for the system in terms of size, which is what he said way back when it was first revealed as Revolution back at E3 2005, which was to fit it into the same size as a few DVD boxes stacked on top of each other. Looks like they've pretty much nailed that original design goal finally.

OMG this is just awesome! I hope that they will also continue to make Wii games, if sales of Wii Mini goes wild.

I want one! And I want more Wii, WiiWare, Virtual Console games for the next 10 years!

...Really? I mean it looks quite nice, but why release it now? Wouldn't it have been better to have released it last year while Nintendo were still releasing games for it and it wouldn't have confused parents and uninformed store associates mistaking it for the U? Also, like others have stated, how much smaller could it possibly be unless the disc drive was removed? The Wii was by far the smallest system of the generation, even when taking Microsoft and Sony's "Slim" redesigns into account. Despite it looking nice, I am just completely baffled by this. Feels like GBA Micro all over again.

This will definitely be added to my Nintendo collection/museum.

Perfect for stuffing stockings.

like the color combo! Besides it doesn't look like a Wii-U at all. So, why would anyone mistake it for a Wii-U?

There are (and will be) always people who like to play games on a low budget. This is the perfect console for them. Not the Wii U or the Playstation 4. I'm sure they will sell like hot cakes!

@Rockman

Parent goes into shop looking for the new Nintendo console for their son, Timmy. Sales associate sees Wii Mini listed with its December release date and thinks it to be the new system. Parent buys Wii Mini instead of Wii U. Timmy can't use Miiverse. Wii all miss Timmy.

I suspect that this is more about reducing production costs than them feeling the need to make the Wii smaller. I don't think any of us really expected them to stop producing the Wii yet - they're still producing DS consoles almost 2 years after the 3DS launched! This is probably their way of ensuring that they can do so as efficiently as possible.

@NFreak007
This is most likely the case. I just hope the consumer sees some cost reduction/benefit too. Otherwise it just doesn't feel like a particularly good thing from the customer's point of view. If you get what I mean.

Edit: Yup. Now that I've read about more about it...

It's not really a good thing from this customer's point of view.

I'm impressed by the look of the Wii Mini, I won't be getting one because I already have two Wii systems but it definitely looks like it'll be a really good buy for anyone who doesn't have one already.

Sony is producing (and updating) Playstation2 consoles 6 years after releasing the PlayStation 3. Nintendo has learned something (finally).

Dang, that is a cutie!

I like it. Too Bad I bought the Wii U.

Still not sure what the point is, other than reducing production costs. Or maybe that's the only point.

if the price is right, i might get one for my collection. But i agree the timing seems rather weird

Really beautiful. Worthless without GameCube ports, but still, amazing design...

Just about every console gets a "mini" version at the end or near the end of its life cycle. (Well, to be fair, the Wii's been dead to me since the day after Xenoblade got cleared)
Does anyone know if Nintendo ever came out with a mini-re-design for the N64 or Gamecube? I don't think either got a makeover other than color change here in NA.
The whole "confusion" for consumers is ridiculous. Nobodys complained about the PS2 and PS3 being sold on the same shelf at the same time. Just read the damn box. If you can't figure it out, maybe its time to work on the reading comprehension skills.

I thought everyone already owned a Wii, so I'm not too sure who they'll sell these to.

Cool! Not getting it though!

yeah the colors look great but yeah i doubt they be putting this out im sure its still just a rumor and all but if it was there enitial design maybe they wanted to release it before they said bye to it and move on?

@ajcismo There is a Nintendo 64 mini, but I don't think so with the Gamecube...

@Chriiis I never heard of a N64 mini before. Pics or it didn't happen.

Looking around at twitter, there are some reports that the Wii mini has a flip open disc tray and NO internet connection. Priced at $99.99. :-0

Cute, but nobody's gonna buy it... because the Wii U is out...

Damn I bought a new Black one this year and this one looks better. But its the inside that counts and I'm sure its the same. Maybe less power requiered though the Wii is already power bill friendly.

Well the Wii already has Netflix, Hulu+, and YouTube if they added Amazon Video on Demand, I think they can sell it as an video streaming device. Compete with the Roku.

@Luigifan141

Skeptics make me laugh..."pics or it didn't happen" is so played out, haha.

Just Googled the N64 mini and a lot of the images look identical to the Wii U controller

Twitter now says it also is Canada exclusive and has no internet of GC compatibility.

It's real?
Mind = Blown.

I'd almost get it just for the Wii Remote and Nunchuck.

@Chriiis That's totally not official, though, so it didn't happen.

@Chriiis Holy Ke-dangg First time I've seen it! Thanks for showing us!

To further confirm @LEGEND_MARIOID's news, here's Destructoid -

"Nintendo has officially revealed the Wii Mini, slated for Canadian release on December 7 and retailing for $99.99. According to the platform holder, the small-size Wii will be exclusive to our neighbors in the north for the duration of the holiday period.

The Mini features a top-loading disc tray and looks like a Duplo brick with its flat look and red/black color scheme. As well as cutting down on size, the Mini has an important feature snipped — online connectivity. It also won't be compatible with GameCube games — but "most" peripherals will be supported ... so that's something. Maybe.

Nintendo currently has nothing to say on a worldwide release, so if you're desperate for an offline Wii that isn't backwards-compatible, you best be in Canada!"

http://www.destructoid.com/-99-99-wii-mini-revealed-239382.phtml

I wonder why its Canada only right now. By "no online connectivity" I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that they mean its ethernet only. I mean not even Nintendo would be foolish enough to completely remove it, right?

I must admit it does seem like a odd give to release it around the same time as the Wii U it could effect there sales of Wii U. This should have been released in about 6 months if it even needed to be released I can't really see the point if it

@bahooney I love how you completely write off something because it isn't "official" and made by the big N themselves. It isn't one of those portables people are building nowadays, it's actually based off of the original system; they just happened to compact it quite a bit so it's basically the same thing through and through.

Aj simply asked if there was one; nobody said nothing about it having to be official. Be in denial as much as you want if that makes you happy; it doesn't change the fact that there is one, haha.

@Chriiis

That's not an official mini N64 from Nintendo and doesn't count.

@RevolverLink

So it really is just a completely bare bones games console and pretty much nothing more (no online features whatsoever including the Store and WiiWare/VC etc), that actually looks kinda crap now that I've seen more images, for around $100.

It's basically just stealing money from noobs at this point.

Edit: I guess it does kinda take us back to the simplicity of the old consoles where you'd just plug it in, power it on, start the game and then off you went.

It will be interesting to see what comes of it but it almost seems as if Nintendo heard people like me complaining about how overly convoluted most modern consoles had become and how I longed for the days where I just plugged in my machine and was ready to go without having to set up anything. sync this or that, download day one patches, wait for features to get added/fixed at a later date, or worry about creating online accounts etc.

This in principle is what I meant when I said those thing...but I didn't actually mean ANOTHER variation in ADDITION to the main console that already exists anyway. I didn't mean something that was basically just gimped as well as being cheap and nasty looking, but more that they needed to make what was in the standard consoles more intuitive, simple, clean and elegant and get back to the immediacy of the old days. Rather making everything so complicated, convoluted and just less simple fun.

It's like Nintendo actually heard me and tried to make a few extra bucks by giving me what they think I want...but they weren't properly listening to what I was saying in the first place and just got it completely wrong.

@Kirk Once again, nobody was asking for an official one; I was responding to the question: is there one? Taking the fact that it didn't come directly from them aside, this is a real Nintendo 64 that was basically compacted into a mini.

tl;dr Is it official? No. Is it real? Yes.

At least you had the decency to just say that it doesn't count as an official instead of pretending that it doesn't exist.

@Chriiis

Well I think it was entirely clear that aj meant an official one because he specifically asked "Does anyone know if Nintendo ever came out with a mini-re-design for the N64 or Gamecube?".

There's hundreds of unnoficial mods out there for every single console that ever existed but that wasn't what was asked, hence why I personally made the point that the unofficial mod you posted isn't really relevant.

It definitely exists though.

@ I wasn't directing my point at the article though because I know what that's about; I was responding with the fact that there is one. I admit that I may have overlooked what was asked once all of the rent-a-skeptics popped up with that played out nonsense ala "pics or it never happened". Is it that hard to give someone else credit for a change?

Love that logic though: If Nintendo didn't make it themselves, it's impossible for anyone else to accomplish it; anything you find is just photoshopped and/or a myth.

A lot of mods also add in a bunch of 'cool extras' while this, afaik, is just a compacted N64 with very minor, if any, additions.

@Chriiis
I think the guy that said "pics or it didn't happen" meant that unless you can provide pics of an official "mini" N64 then there isn't one...and...he's right. You didn't provide him pics of an official "mini" N64 because there isn't one. There's some random mod that has nothing to do with anything he was talking about.

I think the problem here was simply that you didn't read what he was originally saying properly and because your initial retort was off in the first place then it all just got messed up from there.

Aj said that most consoles get a mini version and wondered if the N64 or GC got official mini versions. You said the N64 did. Chris said pics or it didn't happen. You showed him pics of an unofficial console but you still haven't showed him any pics of an official mini N64. So, him using the phrase "pics or it didn't happen" is actually quite apt (as annoying to you as it is). It didn't happen. You don't have any pics to prove otherwise. Maybe that's EXACTLY why people like him use that phrase...

It appears you haven't read much yourself; @Luigifan141 was the one who posted "pics or it didn't happen" and was who I was responding to with the pic; it seemed like he was more curious as to whether or not there was one in general. @ajcismo was the one who was asking.

When I was bringing up that post with the logic, I was more pointing to people like @bahooney .

@Chriiis

Touche.

lol

@Kirk Haha. XD

@Chriiis

Still the fact is that it was indeed you who started the confusion by not quite getting what was being asked by aj in the first place. Every single other bit of confusion or debate grew from that initial mistake.

@Kirk

Touche(although it was really more of a response to the asking for a pic, then somehow ticked others off with it not being an official)

If people weren't so close-minded when it comes to situations like this...

Now that we know there's not gonna be any online functionality whatsoever, does that mean that on the main Channel screen all you're really gonna have is the Game Channel, the Mii Channel and maybe the Photo Channel, and a load of empty spaces...?

I wonder how Nintendo is going to handle that and not have it seem totally gimped and crap...?

Are they maybe just gonna remove the normal Channel interface altogether or something...?

So no buying VC games, Wiiware, online play, GC bc or anything...

Other than to be directed at collectors, what is there to justify the high price tag(in comparison to what it can do)?

@Chriiis
I think this really is just an example of Nintendo making the cheapest possible version of the Wii they could manufacture, that they can sell to all the remaining noobs and collectors that will actually think it's worth it, making some very easy money off them.

You know...if they'd just released this as the original Wii console in the first place, and charged $99 day one, then I think this could have sold them even more systems by now. By now it would also probably cost people about $30-$50 or something too. It might not have been anywhere near on the same level as the likes of Xbox 360 or PS3 in terms of features etc but as a simple stand alone Nintendo console in it's own right I might have actually kinda liked the idea back then, as bare bones as it would have been. For $100 on release it might have actually been true genius. To be fair, from a business point of view it might still be genius...but this late in the game it doesn't sit quite right with this consumer and gamer.

Yeah, a bunch of clueless people who only look at the price(trust me, I know plenty of people under that category, haha).

It it had GC bc somehow or some way to purchase VC, etc. for it that would at least justify the price somewhat. Yeah it's cheap but, at that price, you'd expect it to at least be able to do one tiny extra thing other than playing Wii games. I probably would've bought one as well.

@Chriiis

Indeed.

I can't wait to see just how small this thing is!! I want to see a size comparison ASAP!

It's probably the size of a DVD case

This thing will be worth a bunch, sealed and still in the box, come 20+ years from now!

@HawkeyeWii

Yeah, it looks about the size of a DVD case. It's a bit fatter than I thought it was going to be when I saw the initial image however.

http://www.destructoid.com/-99-99-wii-mini-revealed-239382.phtml

If anyone that lives in Canada is willing, I will send you the money for this WiiNi. I'll also give you a little extra for your trouble.