August 21, 2006 - In a financial report last week, Tokyo-based Nikko Citigroup forecast that the Wii would retail for $170. Now a big wig at Electronic Arts has thrown his two cents into the discussion, and it seems he concurs with the Japanese firm.

Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, David Gardner, executive VP and COO of EA' s worldwide studios, said, " I' ve heard in Japan that the price is about $170, but I don' t know if the price has been set in Europe yet."

It is unclear whether or not Gardner is commenting directly on Nikko Citigroup' s financial report, or if there is other evidence supporting this price model he' s referring to. Calls to EA were not returned as of this writing.

Gardner also echoed comments made by Xbox boss Peter Moore at this year' s E3 that the Wii will be many consumer' s second next-gen console. " Nintendo has come up with a very clever strategy," said Gardner. " They' ve made a choice which is great for the consumer. Now we' re going to have a choice whereby consumers can buy a Wii plus one other console."

http://wii.ign.com/articles/726/726803p1.aspx

I think you' ll find that he DOES say it' ll be a 2nd system...

" Nintendo has come up with a very clever strategy," said Gardner. " They' ve made a choice which is great for the consumer. Now we' re going to have a choice whereby consumers can buy a Wii plus one other console."

...

The question i ask myself is...

Is downgrading wii worth its cheaper price-tag?
Couldn' t we pay a bit more for atleast a bit more ram into this wii?
Or a small HDD.

Speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz, executive VP and COO of EA' s worldwide studios, David Gardner, has revealed that the publisher believes the console will retail for around US $170 in North America.

as for your QUEZtion , they' ve optimised their performance with cooling solution and power suppliy and everything.It' s close to launch and they' re going to produce their system pretty soon.

additional amount of ram would mean nothing if Wii is tweaked to achieve it' s peak performance by now.

Wii is so small that anything like a " small HDD" put inside, could change size of the entire unit -and force them to redesign it.

It' s not about graphics though so I think making it cheaper is a good idea.

I just hope that EU price won' t be much higher ( DS Lite costs nearly 200$ while it' s 129$ in the US, 114$ in Japan and about 120$ in Australia)

But,look at mario galaxy,you gonna tell me it wouldnt be showed as a show-off for 360/ps3 if it came to their console?

It looks absolutly next-gen and it' s a plattform title!!

Wii can do great things,its proven that with mario galaxy,but perhaps only the most talented developers works on mario galaxy...

I' d pay an extra 75 or so for more memory, but if you' re just using it as a gaming machine/dvd player, which they suggest you will, are you really going to need more than 512mb?

for saved cash you can get an extra SD card, so everybody' s happy.

Majik - this quote could also mean that everyone will get a 360 or PS3 next to their Wii.It' s hard to say what he meant , but I guess it can be interpretted both ways.

Wii can do great things,its proven that with mario galaxy,but perhaps only the most talented developers works on mario galaxy...

It sure looks great , but not far from the best looking Xbox games.

but if you' re just using it as a gaming machine/dvd player, which they suggest you will, are you really going to need more than 512mb?

yeah , but demos, Virtual Console... I think 1-2 GB SD card will be a must eventually.

Or they buy more games for their ps3/xbox360.
Who know.