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Earlier this month, it was reported that Nintendo would be ending production of its fifth generation home console, the Wii, in Japan. While a specific end date was never mentioned, it appears that the platform is now no longer in production, according to Nintendo’s Japanese website.
Wii made its worldwide debut at the tail end of 2006, and went on to become one of Nintendo’s most successful home consoles, selling over 100 million units since its launch. The system also spawned some of Nintendo’s finest first party offerings, including Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Xenoblade Chronicles, and many, many more. Now would be a good time to pick up any of these titles if you haven’t already, especially as Wii’s own successor, Wii U, is backwards compatible with Wii software.
Source: Eurogamer
Truly the end of an era. Wii had flaws and shortcomings (some rather glaring) but provided a tremendous amount of unique and exclusive games to enjoy as well.
On the upside, with almost full backwards compatibility via Wii U and plenty of discounted games remaining on store shelves (not to mention a hefty backlog on my own shelf), the Wii “lifecycle” is far from over… it’s games will continue to be played for years to come.
End of an era! I’ll never forget waiting on a freezing cold October morning in line at Toys R Us to get my pre-order. It was windy and terrible out, and I kept kicking myself for not bring my DS along with me. It was worth it to walk right in past the line a month later in November, though. :)
I’m one of the crazies who camped out that night in November. Had some buddies with, played a lot of Mario Kart DS, got pretty cold, and wound up with a shiny new Wii and Twilight Princess the next morning. All in all, a pretty good night!