Nintendo Wii unofficially drops to $170

By Geoff Duncan April 18, 2011

Reports have been swirling that Nintendo of America has been getting ready to drop the price of its popular Wii console in the United States from $199.99. And while there is still no official pricing change from Nintendo itself, major retailers seem to be jumping the gun, knocking $30 off the price of Nintendo Wii systems in the inventory and offering the units for $169.99. Brick-and-mortar retailers like Best Buy, Target, and Gamestop seem to have led the charge, with the likes of Amazon almost immediately on their heels.

Nintendo Wii (black) — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The consoles are the current standard black NIntendo Wii starter pack, with a single Wii Remote Plus controller (with MotionPlus technology), a nunchuck controller extension, the original Wii Sports game collection plus the MotionPlus-enabled Wii Sports Resort. Just like other Wii consoles, the system can connect to a home broadband connection via Wi-Fi, and gamers can download WiiWare and Virtual Console games, and Netflix subscribers can stream standard-definition movies to their television via the Wii.

Recommended Videos

The still-unofficial price drop comes on reports that Nintendo is getting ready to announce a HD-capable update to the Wii in June, although the reports don’t have the possible new console reaching consumers until the 2012 holiday buying season.

On the official news front, Nintendo has announced that it’s offering a bundle of Wii Sports Resort and Wii Party for a combined price of $39.99 starting April 25, and the Super NES classic Mega Man X will be available this week for the Wii’s Virtual Console for 800 Wii Points.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Gaming

Nintendo’s new hardware announcement isn’t the Switch 2. It’s an alarm clock

An red Alarmo clock on a wooden bedside table. Somebody is adjusting the white knob on the top.

Nintendo dropped an unexpected announcement on Wednesday -- and no, it's not the one we've been waiting for. In the vein of novelty gadgets like the Labo VR headset, the company will release an alarm clock that can track your sleep and tell when you're still in bed.

The Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo will cost $100 when it releases in early 2025, although Nintendo Switch Online members can preorder it now, but just in the U.S. and Canada. It seems it'll be available at some standard retailers, although like other oddball Nintendo creations, it'll probably be in limited supply.

Gaming

Palworld is coming to mobile despite Nintendo lawsuit

A Tocotoco in Palworld.

Palworld will continue its global dominance thanks to a new partnership with PUBG: Battlegrounds publisher Krafton, which hopes to bring the popular survival game to mobile.

Krafton announced the deal on Wednesday, saying that it wouldn't be just porting the game to mobile. Rather, it will be reinterpreting it for mobile platforms through a licensing agreement. PUBG Studios, a subsidiary of Krafton that is the main team behind PUBG: Battlegrounds, will be handling development.

Gaming

Another Nintendo Switch emulator has shut down

A Nintendo Switch with a list of cloud saves on the display.

Another day, another Nintendo console emulator that has ceased operations. A developer at Switch emulator Ryujinx announced on its Discord that it's shutting down.

The message, shared to X (formerly Twitter) by video game news aggregator Wario64, says that the lead developer on the project, known as "gdkchan," was contacted by Nintendo and told to "stop working on the project, remove the organization and all related assets he's in control of." Nintendo also offered some sort of agreement, although the terms are unknown.