Wii Mini is leaked by online retailer Best Buy

by Mark Tyson on 27 November 2012, 14:00

Tags: Nintendo (TYO:7974), PC

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At the weekend you might have read rumours here and there about a Wii Mini console being released by Nintendo. Now it appears that the rumours were correct and such a device has been produced and stockpiled by the big N. Retailer Best Buy Canada seems to have prematurely leaked a box shot of the new mini Wii console.

The Wii Mini image appeared in a side panel on the Canadian Best Buy homepage “Introducing the Wii Mini!” it trumpeted, “Coming December 7th 2012, pre-order now.” Unfortunately for we techy types the link led only to the site’s page for Nintendo hardware where there were no further details of the Wii Mini to be found. However in tech terms it’s a Wii, but smaller, that is probably all most people need to know.

How big is Mini?

Looking at the box shot we can get a good idea of the Wii Mini’s size because thankfully there is a picture of the Wii Remote Plus next to the console. Using my measuring tool in Photoshop and a little bit of basic maths I have come to the following measurements for the size of the Wii Mini as pictured on the front of the box; width  = 15cm, height  = 18cm. The picture doesn’t give a lot away regarding the third dimension.

The original Wii was already the smallest of the big three consoles popular under people’s TVs. Also the Wii is the biggest selling current generation console. Nintendo, its strategists and designers must have come to the conclusion that a littler Wii would be an attractive purchase this Christmas and thereafter. Will it be cheaper than the stock of Wiis currently available, or will there be a cute tax? The other questions I have concern the ports on the new device; have some ports/interfaces been chopped from this smaller console? Also there’s a possibility mentioned in the earlier rumours that the Wii Mini will feature an HDMI connection with upscaling, which would be more convenient for many people with LCD TVs. We will find out the full details pretty soon given the leaked release date.

UPDATE: Nintendo now has the Wii Mini details displayed upon its official website! It's $99 and "available exclusively in Canada during the holiday season".

HEXUS Forums :: 8 Comments

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Posted by BiblicalShower - Tue 27 Nov 2012 14:04
Well that's going to annoy some not-so-tech-savvy parents this Christmas when they go into shops asking for “That new Wii”
Posted by Nabobalis - Tue 27 Nov 2012 14:14
I don't see the point in this. Unless they have a massive amount of Wii Hardware to ship.

Also the link didn't work for me. But http://www.nintendo.com/wiimini/ did.

Edit:

Wii Mini is designed exclusively to play Wii games. Its family-friendly design has no Internet capabilities and does not play Nintendo GameCube games.

Wii Mini is available exclusively in Canada during the holiday season. No information is available about its potential availability in other territories in the future. Remember that Wii Mini features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit nintendo.com/wiimini.

Why is it exclusive to Canada? Also a lack of any internet ability. This just seems such a strange move.
Posted by scaryjim - Tue 27 Nov 2012 14:43
It's a cheap, entry-level Wii-disc only console to make money out of people who won't spend on the latest console and don't care about online play or other fancy stuff - they just want to do a spot of Wii bowling or some such. Think of it as a way to persuade people who usually go round a mate's to play on their Wii, to get one of their own. It's priced for impulse purchase territory, it's dropped all the legacy support to cut the size and BOM (I wouldn't be surprised if this is actually selling at a hardware profit!), and it means that any back-inventory they did have of Wii components can be put to good use boosting the sales of Wii hardware. Based on the bundled accessories there's no HDMI, which strongly suggests that they're taking a normal Wii, ripping out anything extraneous, then selling what's left.

Whether it's genuinely a way to clear out excess inventory in overlap with the Wii U, or its a deliberate marketing plan to run two different consoles side-by-side in two different market spaces, I'm not sure - but I like it :D

If it lands in the UK at some point in the future, priced sufficiently below £100, I'd be very tempted to buy one.
Posted by Nabobalis - Tue 27 Nov 2012 14:45
scaryjim
If it lands in the UK at some point in the future, priced sufficiently below £100, I'd be very tempted to buy one.

I would bet it would land here for £100
Posted by M3ltd0Vvn - Tue 27 Nov 2012 17:16
Does it play DVDs? I guess for someone that just had an old DVD spinner die (and they still refuse to upgrade to a Blu-Ray) AND they also want game playing ability (maybe for the RV or at Grandmas house?) AND they already have a huge collection of Wii titles… this would be a good buy at $99….

Thats a lot of what-if scenarios to make this $99 worht it. I'm betting Nintendo has an arse ton of wii parts laying around and this is their one shot at trying to make some money off of those parts.

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