Nintendo will launch Wii console in November

Nintendo's next-generation game console Wii will arrive on time and at prices lower than its rivals, the company said Thursday.

Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo Co. said on Thursday that Wii will go on sale Dec. 2, costing 25,000 yen ($215.50).

Nintendo also makes Game Boy and Nintendo DS handheld machines, had promised Wii for sometime in the final quarter of this year, and so it's managing to avoid the embarrassing delays announced recently by rival Sony Corp.

Nintendo had already said Wii wouldn't cost more than 25,000 yen. It didn't immediately disclose overseas prices.

Wii--pronounced "we" and meant to conjure the idea of fun for everyone--will be going head-to-head against PlayStation 3, the upgrade from industry leader Sony, to woo game fans during holiday shopping.

Wii is considerably cheaper than PlayStation 3, set to sell for $499 and $599, depending on the features, and 59,800 yen in Japan.

More critically, PlayStation 3, initially planned for earlier this year, has been postponed twice. The decision to delay PlayStation 3 in Europe for four months until March was announced last week.

Plans were unchanged for US and Japan sales, but far fewer consoles are expected to be available at the launch, with about 400,000 PlayStation 3 machines when they go on sale in the US Nov. 17, and 100,000 on the Nov. 11 Japan launch date.

In a demonstration Thursday, Nintendo showed Wii will come with an Internet browser, and can be used to look at and edit digital photos on a TV monitor.

Nintendo's Wii can also be used to get weather forecasts and news reports, features that are meant to widen the machine's appeal to people not used to games, Iwata said. Games for older Nintendo consoles will be offered as downloads, he said.

Another appeal of Nintendo's Wii is that users will be able to create their own game characters. Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto played a game of tennis on Wii with Japanese tennis star Ai Sugiyama, swinging the remote controller like a racket on the stage. And the characters playing tennis on the monitor were created to resemble Miyamoto and Sugiyama.

The handheld controller vibrates in time to the virtual racket hitting the ball, and the slapping sounds are also synchronized with the moves.

Nintendo says Wii, which offers easy-playing games, meant to appeal to people regardless of gender, age or skills, won't be competing directly against PlayStation 3 or Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 because Wii targets a different audience.

Instead of old-style remote controllers with complex buttons, Nintendo Wii has a wireless wand-like remote that can be swung around like a tennis racket or a baton for conducting a virtual orchestra.

Microsoft's Xbox 360, which went on sale last year, could also get a lift from the delay and shortage of PlayStation 3.

A low-end version, already sold as the Xbox 360 Core System in the United States and Europe, is scheduled to arrive at stores here in November for 29,800 yen ($256.00)--about 10,000 yen ($86.00) cheaper than its standard version.