Originally a Canadian exclusive, Nintendo's toned down Wii, the Wii Mini, is set to go south for the winter later this month according to Nintendo Life, who reports that Nintendo itself said the console is due in "mid-November," just in time to cause some Christmas confusion.
Priced at $99, the compact console comes with WiiMote, Nunchuck, and a free copy of Mario Kart. It's not a bad price considering the Wii's massive library, however, it does come at a bit of a loss. Namely, it lacks backwards compatability, so better dig your GameCube out of the closet if you want to play some greats from a previous era. There's also another thing lacking...
According to a press statement, the mini Wii is a "family-friendly design" that "has no Internet capabilities." None. So if you have some fond memories of playing "Contra III: The Alien Wars" on your dusty old Super Nintendo, or "Super Mario Bros. 3," and thought you could relive them with the Wii Mini, think again.
Keeping the cost down required Nintendo to make certain sacrifices with this version of the console, one of which, was online capability.
Said Nintendo of Canada's communications manager Matt Ryan to Polygon: "The reason that we took [online] out was that we don't believe that everybody needs that to play games. I mean, a lot of the Wii experiences, and there's over 1,400 of them that are disc-based Wii games, don't require online functionality for you to have fun. Now, when you played Wii, or you played some of those games on Wii U, there's enhanced fun factor when you play them online. But this system isn't designed for the player who's looking to have an online experience. Wii Mini is designed for families, or a late adopter, or someone who maybe isn't even a gamer yet, and maybe doesn't realize they've got a gamer hiding inside of them."
1,400 games is definitely a respectable library of games, but in this day and age, online play is huge. But the big loss is that Wii gamers won't have access to the eShop. But you get what you pay for I suppose.
