Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo North America, gave the official green light on the status of the online service for the Wii. It will be free. According to an interview given to USA Today, Fils-Aime said, “We will offer online-enabled games that the consumers will not have to pay a subscription fee for. They’ll be able to enjoy that right out of the box. The Wii console is going to be Wi-Fi enabled, so essentially, you’ll be able to plug it in and go. It won’t have hidden fees or costs.”
Reggie then went on to espouse the wide-ranging appeal of the Wii. In his opinion, the game console will break down previous barriers and walls which separated gamers into different classes-the old and young. “Our goal is to have as many teens and young adults as we have 40-plus-year-olds excited about the platform. We’re trying to expand this business here in the U.S in a way that it really hasn’t been expanded … for the health of this industry… It’s going to be a really provocative sight to be seeing teens and 20-year-olds and 40-year-olds and 50-year-olds talking about how different this experience is.”
Nintendo,s Wii has often been seen as the “second game console.” The tag has nothing to do with the Wii,s overall ranking in the console wars, but to its dubious distinction as being the second console purchased after the first initial purchase of a 360 or PS3. In Xbox 360 circles, this situation has been dubbed humorously as “Wii60.”
