The majority of Nintendo fans are awaiting the final release date, and pricing for Nintendo's entry into the next generation with the kind of salivating that Homer Simpson possess when he encounters a forbidden doughnut.
Nothing has made me more aware of this than being at work yesterday, and facing a motley crue of Nintendo fans all demanding the latest news on when they can throw their deposit down to secure themselves in the ever growing Wii pre-order scheme. Now just why is it taking Nintendo so long to inform us of something as simple as a release date, and price point? While the often referred to gamers bible aka IGN revealed yesterday that the Wii'mote' isn't in-fact the final version yet, it now also appears Nintendo hasn't worked out the final design for the rather sleek and sexy sensor bar, which again appears to be unfinished.
Once these designs are completed, and Nintendo feels that users will benefit fully from the Wii experience, then the company has stated it will reveal the final price point and the release date for the console. Now some of you may remember courtesy of E3 reports that some gamer's came away unsatisfied whilst playing a game such as Metroid Prime Corruption at the show, saying the Wii'mote' wasn't as responsive as they hoped, this now appears was due to the sensor bar being incomplete, or just that the respective journalists lacked well needed gaming skills. Either way this problem it appears will be sorted upon release, which the company has gone on record to say will be revealed before September.
I am very surprised by these little tidbits we get… “Wiimote” not finalized, “Sensor Bar” holding Nintendo up… One thing to keep in mind is that these are separate components. So even if the Wii console itself is finalized (and even in production now), the sensor bar and Wiimote are independent pieces of hardware. The details of the way they interact can therefore change without the Wii itself changing.
So my question is — is Nintendo just worrying about technical details that will be effectively invisible to the Wii user, or are they considering different/additional features that *will* affect Wii gameplay mechanics?
Well I’m 99% sure Nintendo are looking to embed a microphone into the Wii’mote’, alongside the already confirmed speaker.
The sensor bar itself just needs a little fine tuning, as Nintendo obviously wants it to be near on perfect.
What you suggested though is a very interesting point…
Hopefully a microphone will be included.
there is no microphone — it has been confirmed