Forget The Box published a new speculatory report about the Wii U’s pricing today. The site’s “sources closely involved with manufacturing and distributing Nintendo products” claim that the console’s various parts total roughly $180. The Wii U’s controller, meanwhile, apparently won’t cost more than $50 to produce.
The same source believes a minimum $300 price tag should be expected, adding:
“Cutting production costs to maximize profits is Nintendo’s main concern with the Wii U. They are cutting costs in the Wii U’s hardware to build back confidence in investors. Nintendo wants investors to view Wii U as a less risky proposition. ”
One of the Wii U’s touted features, fear field communication (NFC), is essentially “a drop in the bucket”. The source says that this functionality should cost $5 at most:
“NFC capabilities are a drop in the bucket for Nintendo. As NFC becomes more mainstream in mobile devices, the price for NFC implementation will rapidly decline. Nintendo is jumping on NFC because of a projected cost decline in the technology.”
The source said the following regarding the controller’s other manufacturing costs:
“The cameras in the Wii U controller are an estimated manufacturing cost of $6. They are slightly better quality than the 3DS and DSi cameras. The touch screen has a manufacturing cost estimated at $14.”
And on the hardware overall:
“Nintendo chose an economical GPU and CPU that could keep up with the performance of today’s current consoles, but keep hardware costs down to maximize profits. Nintendo got a bargain price on the custom GPU and CPU that the Wii U uses. There is a bigger focus on downloadable content, applications, video content, digital distribution, and services to create a stream of revenue. Investors will be ecstatic with the news.”
Concerning the Wii U tablet, Forget The Box believes the “cost of materials would be slightly less than what Kinect cost when it was first released for the Xbox 360.” A breakdown of Microsoft’s accessory added up to approximately $56 following launch.
As is the case with each rumor we post on the site, take this report with a few grains of salt.
There wasn’t much Pokemon Black/White 2 news on Pokemon Smash yesterday, but we’re due for a big update during next week’s episode.
The show’s website has confirmed that Game Freak’s Junichi Masuda will be on hand to debut the first trailer for the games as well as footage. Masuda will supposedly be showing a battle between Black and White Kyurem and will provide additional details on the Pokémon Meloetta.
The next Pokemon Smash will air on April 15 in Japan.
01./00. [3DS] Kingdom Hearts 3D -Dream Drop Distance- #
02./00. [PS3] Pro Baseball Spirits 2012
03./00. [PSP] Pro Baseball Spirits 2012
04./01. [3DS] Kid Icarus: Uprising
05./03. [NDS] Pokemon Conquest
06./02. [PSP] Black Panther 2: Yakuza Ashura Chapter
07./09. [3DS] Super Mario 3D Land #
08./07. [3DS] Monster Hunter 3G #
09./08. [3DS] Mario Kart 7
10./00. [PS3] The Idolmaster: Gravure For You! Vol.6
11./00. [PSV] Pro Baseball Spirits 2012
12./12. [3DS] Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
13./04. [PS3] Devil May Cry HD Collection
14./15. [3DS] Hatsune Miku and Future Stars: Project Mirai #
15./00. [PS3] Silent Hill HD Edition
16./13. [PS3] One Piece: Pirate Warriors #
17./16. [3DS] Harvest Moon: The Land of Origin
18./10. [PSP] Shining Blade
19./00. [PSV] The King, the Demon King and the 7 Princesses: New King Story
20./21. [WII] Wii Sports Resort with Wii Remote Plus #
Videos
Pokemon Conquest Announcement Trailer
Pokemon Conquest Intro Movie
Nintendo Show 3D – Special Edition Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
Mario Tennis Open Special Games
Xenoblade Chronicles How To Play Video 1
Colors! 3D Trailer
TNT Racers Trailer
Penguin Patrol Trailer
Now that Nintendo Week is gone, I wonder if the Nintendo Channel will be featuring the Nintendo Show 3D from here on out… or was this a one time deal because of the Epic Mickey 2 interview?
Mario Tennis Open is one of many titles Nintendo has brought to PAX East. You can find some off-screen footage of it below.
Producer Tomoya Asano revealed in a Famitsu interview that Bravely Default: Flying Fairy will contain a number of different endings. In addition to the main quest with an overarching story, the game will offer sub-scenarios which feature new jobs.
Scenario writer Naotaka Hayashi also teased an unannounced character. This character happens to be his favorite one in the game.
Top 30 New Works
01/01. [PSV] Persona 4: The Golden (Atlus, 06/14/12) – 795 votes
02/02. [PS3] Dragon’s Dogma (Capcom, 05/24/12) – 779 votes
03/03. [PS3] Resident Evil 6 (Capcom, 11/22/12) – 772 votes
04/04. [Wii] Dragon Quest X: Rise of the Five Tribes Online (Square Enix, 2012) – 744 votes
05/06. [3DS] Fire Emblem: Awakening (Nintendo, 04/19/12) – 615 votes
06/05. [3DS] Monster Hunter 4 (Capcom, TBA) – 543 votes
07/09. [3DS] Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry’s Wonderland 3D (Square Enix, 05/31/12) – 426 votes
08/07. [3DS] Animal Crossing (Tentative) (Nintendo, TBA) – 408 votes
09/12. [NDS] Pokemon Black 2•White 2 (Nintendo, 06/12) – 357 votes
10/11. [PS3] Lollipop Chainsaw (Kadokawa Games, 06/14/12) – 313 votes
11/13. [PS3] Final Fantasy Versus XIII (Square Enix, TBA) – 289 votes
12/10. [3DS] Rune Factory 4 (Marvelous AQL, 07/19/12) – 251 votes
13/24. [PS3] Toki to Towa (Namco Bandai, 2012) – 244 votes
14/18. [PS3] Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (Capcom, 04/26/12) – 215 votes
15/17. [PS3] The Last Remnant (Square Enix, TBA) – 210 votes
16/19. [Wii] Mario Party 9 (Nintendo, 04/26/12) – 201 votes
17/16. [3DS] Etrian Odyssey IV (Atlus, 07/05/12) – 198 votes
18/14. [PSP] Conception: Please Give Birth to My Child! (Spike, 04/26/12) – 194 votes
19/15. [PS3] The Witch and the Hundred Knights (NIS, 2012) – 184 votes
20/26. [PS3] Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Konami, TBA) – 180 votes
21/20. [3DS] Fantasy Life (Level-5, 2012) – 174 votes
22/30. [PS3] Tokyo Jungle (SCEJ, 06/07/12) – 170 votes
23/22. [PS3] Persona 4 Arena (Atlus, 2012) – 168 votes
24/25. [PS3] The Last Guardian (SCEJ, TBA) – 164 votes
25/23. [PS3] 2nd Super Robot Wars OG (Namco Bandai, TBA) – 161 votes
26/21. [PSP] God Eater 2 (Namco Bandai, 2012) – 140 votes
27/—. [3DS] Luigi’s Mansion 2 (Nintendo, 2012) – 133 votes
28/—. [PSP] Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (Atlus, 05/17/12) – 130 votes
29/29. [3DS] Mario Tennis Open (Nintendo, 05/24/12) – 113 votes
30/—. [3DS] Culdcept Saga (Nintendo, 06/28/12) – 105 votes
Top 10 Rookie Titles
01/01. [PS3] Dragon’s Dogma (Capcom, 05/24/12) – 663 votes
02/04. [PS3] Toki to Towa (Namco Bandai, 2012) – 235 votes
03/02. [PS3] Lollipop Chainsaw (Kadokawa Games, 06/14/12) – 220 votes
04/03. [3DS] Fantasy Life (Level-5, 2012) – 210 votes
05/06. [PS3] The Last Guardian (SCEJ, TBA) – 207 votes
06/10. [PS3] Tokyo Jungle (SCEJ, 06/07/12) – 162 votes
07/05. [PSP] Conception: Please Give Birth to My Child! (Spike, 04/26/12) – 140 votes
08/07. [PS3] The Last Remnant (Square Enix, TBA) – 127 votes
09/08. [PS3] The Witch and the Hundred Knights (NIS, 2012) – 125 votes
10/09. [3DS] Bravely Default: Flying Fairy (Square Enix, 2012) – 94 votes
Top 10 USA Games
01/01. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision Blizzard, November 2011) [PS3, 360, PC]
02/—. Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Square Enix, January 2012) [PS3, 360]
03/—. UFC Undisputed 3 (THQ, February 2012) [PS3, 360]
04/—. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (EA, February 2012) [PS3, 360, PC]
05/02. Just Dance 3 (Ubisoft, October 2011)[Wii, 360]
06/04. NBA 2K12 (Take 2 Interactive, October 2011) [PS3, 360, Wii, PC, PSP, PS2]
07/—. Soulcalibur V (Namco Bandai, January 2012) [PS3, 360]
08/03. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Softworks, November 2011) [PS3, 360, PC]
09/—. Twisted Metal (SCEA, February 2012) [PS3]
10/05. Battlefield 3 (EA, October 2011) [PS3, 360, PC]
