Remember the buzz surrounding Nintendo’s wiimote, and how the sum of its parts seemed a bit pricey, when compared to what the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 were offering?
Well it appears that the talk is back, thanks in part to a recent story on CNN, which detailed the pricing on major components of Nintendo’s nifty controller. Guess where it came from this time — Nintendo’s own forum. Right now, the thread is already seven pages long.
As many on the thread pointed out, the cost of manufacturing any item is always substantially lower than what the consumer sees on their end. It’s just the cost of doing business, and after all, Nintendo deserves to make a profit off of their consoles as much as the next guy. The million dollar question, it seems, is this: Are we getting gouged on the price of the wiimote?
More on this, as well as answers to the meaning of life, after the jump.
I invite you to take into consideration (once again) that in order to get the entire experience from Nintendo’s console, you must spend upwards of $80. That includes the wiimote itself ($40), the nunchuck attachment, and the classic controller (each going for $20).
Yes the Wii has indeed proven itself as both fun and wildly popular with the general public and the media. That much can’t be taken from Nintendo. However, it’s still questionable among many whether or not Nintendo should have at least bundled some of these items together (wiimote and nunchuck at least), much like they did with the Wii console itself.
The PS3 has been criticized for seemingly “copying” Nintendo’s motion sensing idea with their own version in the Sixaxis controller. Still, the final product is all that is needed to enjoy anything in the PS3’s library — and it’s a grand total of $40. The same can said about the Xbox 360’s controller.
Even if the Sixaxis is missing the rumble feature, and the 360 doesn’t have motion sensing capabilities, they do appear to be be more reasonably priced than what Nintendo is offering.
Looking back on the functionality of the wiimote and its attachments, as well as the costs involved for the total experience — do you still feel like you’re getting your money’s worth?
