Target circular advertises $199 Wii

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Nintendo prez on Wii price cuts

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime took time to chat with us about joining in on the video game industry's price-cutting bonanza by reducing the price of the Nintendo Wii Sunday to $199.99 from its current $249.99 price.

The lower-priced game system retain its current bundle of the Wii Sports video game, one controller, a Nunchuk controller add-on and wireless sensor bar. Asked why not substitute in Wii Sports Resort, which admittedly has only been out for two months, he said, "We believe it is important that the first experience consumers have with Wii is with Wii Sports. Certainly, no game has captured the imagination and had consumers literally from 5 to 95 playing together. That is why the configuration continues to include that title. We certainly believe that Wii Sports Resort provides a more precise one-to-one experience leveraging MotionPlus, but we think that is best purchased as an additional title."

Fils-Aime said that Nintendo was responding more to its growth mission rather than economics or competition. "Since the launch of Wii our goal has been to expand the gaming population and get more consumers into this industry that we love. While we have sold more Wiis (21 million-plus in the U.S.; and more than 50 million worldwide) than any home console after 34 months -- and over 100 million DS (systems) -- we think there is still significant opportunity to get more consumers into gaming. Just here in the U.S. we think that opportunity is minimally 50 million consumers in U.S., by continuing to offer more and more value."

As for timing, he said, "it's important that the value change for the Wii console take place right as we lead into those two key launches (Wii Fit Plus, Oct. 4; New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Nov. 15) and as we lead into the holiday seasonality. ... And value is more than just price point, it's the overall benefit you get for what you pay and certainly we believe that the Wii which includes Wii Sports at $199 is a tremendous value."

As for those who recently bought a Wii at the $249.99 price and might feel they deserve a $50 rebate, he recommended that consumers contact retailers. "Most retailers have been very accommodating on that," he said.

To give consumers more chances to try Nintendo video games, the company is conducting numerous events including the World of Nintendo at the Long Beach (Calif.) Comic Con (Oct. 2-4), Philadelphia VGXPO (Oct. 9-11) and New York Big Apple Comic Con (Oct. 16-18) where the public can play games including Wii Fit Plus, New Super Mario Bros. Wii and DS games such as The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks.

Also in the works:
-- DSi Mobile tour (Sept. 10 – Oct. 25) at state and county fairs and at colleges in Utah, Nev., Ariz., Tex., La., and Calif.
-- DSi Fall Tour (Oct. 8 – Jan. 24) in cities in Fla., Ariz., Mo., NY, Ore., Utah, Tenn., Wisc., Calif., and Tex.
-- Wii Fit Plus Launch (Oct. 9 – 26) at various events in Calif., Colo., Fla., NJ, Ariz., Penn., Ill., Tex. and N.C.
-- Wii/DSi Holiday Mall Tour (Nov. 23 – Dec. 19) coast to coast.

For more information, monitor http://www.nintendo.com
By Mike Snider