Our friends at Black Friday Ads just announced that Dell has the Nintendo Wii for $179.99 with free shipping, $20 below retail for the Wii. Retailers are not allowed to advertise the Wii for under MSRP, so you need to add the Wii to your shopping cart to see the discounted price. This deal probably won’t be around long, so act quickly if a Wii is on your holiday shopping list.
ANY discount off the already reduced Wii will be a good deal this holiday season and the Dell deal is particularly attractive if you only want the console. The prediction is that you may find some deals on Wii bundles, but the gaming console alone won’t be discounted at major retailers.
Starting this Sunday, the Wii’s price will drop to $199, in response to price cuts by rivals Microsoft and Sony. The Xbox 360 Elite and PS3 prices have both been cut to $299 and Nintendo hopes this latest move will give a boost to Wii sales as we enter this year’s holiday season. Sales of the Wii console in 2009 are down 10% from 2008’s blistering pace and Sony is gaining momentum with their new PS3 pricing.
While the price cuts may help this years sales numbers, it looks as though 2009 will be the first year since 2004 that the gaming industry will see a year-over-year sales decline.
From our friends at Rock Paper Cynic:
U.S. Sales reaches 500,000 in 9 days
Nintendo recently announced that Wii Sports Resort has reached 500,000 units sold between July 26 and August 3rd in the U.S. and 600,000 in Europe since July 24th. Add in Japan’s 828,000 and you have one of the most successful titles in Wii history. The question will be whether Wii Sports Resort can continue a strong sales pace into the holiday season.
Nintendo has recently applied for a patent on a peripheral device for the Wii that is similar to an inflatable kiddie horse, complete with a set of reins. It is a small inflatable cushion reminiscent of the “Hoppity Hop” that has a dock for the Wii remote. When you bounce or move, the controller registers the movement. Nintendo cites in their patent, the ability to ride bulls, whales, dragons, griffons, unicorns and giant eagles through the use of the inflatable cushion.
Although it is only just a patent with no guarantee of production, I really, really hope they make them if only for the entertainment value - think of all the YouTube videos just begging to be made 
Mark November 12, 2009
Nintendo News | 
Comments Off 
