Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told the world yesterday that Wii Fit would descend upon Japanese fitness aficionados on Dec. 1 for about $75 (8,800 Yen).
First of all, having a release date and price in hand is a great thing. Next stop, U.S. and Europe,pricing and dates, please. But there’s the rub, at least for me–what are we Yanks willing to pay for the Wii Balance Board and Wii Fit? Don’t approach that question as a “Am I going to buy it or am I not,” but instead be a little more open about it. Ask, “should someone buy something like this for $75?”
But there’s another rub (a lot of rubbing going on this morning… don’t know how I feel about that just yet). When Japan gets something for $75, we don’t pay that price in the U.S. or Europe–especially Europe, because you guys get hosed on pretty much everything except beer, in my opinion.
For example, the Wii goes for about $213 in Japan, and other various video game things and electronics are usually cheaper there and more expensive here (GameStop listed the board at $99 as recently as September, but that page is 404’d now). Understandable. This pricing adjustment happens; it’s nothing new. But the Wii Fit bundle is a rare exception. It’s unproven. It’s freakishly new and involves Yoga. With the U.S. markup, I’m not so sure about this Wii Fit thing anymore. I like taking care of myself, and I love Nintendo, but $80 and above is pushing it. $99 is just plain out of my price range for something that could easily become the next Virtual Boy.
Once upon a time I paid $80 for Final Fantasy 2, so I could probably do that again with Wii Fit. It’s a weird cost/principal of the thing combo with me however. I’m still undecided, so I’ll revisit the question above: Your personal opinion aside about how “fun” Wii Fit looks, is $80 to $90+ too much for what Wii Fit offers?