Wii Internet Channel no Longer Free
By Andrew on Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 at 11:23 PM PST In Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Games Industry, Nintendo
If you like the free internet channels the Wii provides, you’re going to have to pay Wii points to get them starting June 30th.
Freebies are great, and it’s always a disappointment when they come to an end. But where is the happy medium between receiving a free service or feature you should get when you pay for a console and having to continually pay cash in order to cash in?
I’m getting tired of having to pay very, very small amounts of money for things I should be able to get for free. For instance, have you ever tried to give a gift on Facebook.com? Have you ever tried to give a gift twice?
But that’s beside the point. The Wii costing more money than the $249 price tag is the point.
What’s the point in charging for the channels. We already have to pay for most content. Nintendo (along) with everyone else is nickel and dimeing us to death
If you already have it, you don’t have to pay for it. You are implying that after this date, everyone will have to pay for it if they use it. This is not the case. If you have it, you have it. If you don’t have it yet, you will have to pay 500 points to download it after June 30th.
Your point is it costing more than the $249. Well, for one thing, you pay more in sales tax than you do for the browser (after June 30th). So its not changing the price all that much. Also, its less than most of the VC games. Additionally, it was developed by a third party who has traditionally charged for their web browsers. Not really surprising, but its not as if it is the price of a full game (much like Xbox Live service).
Its also just a one time cost. You imply that you have to pay every time you use the channel.
It’s just a one time cost. It’s not like you’ll be paying monthly or anything. You pay for the channel, not the service. The service is provided already by your internet service provider. The Channel is provided by Nintendo.
After June 30th, you pay 500 points (five bucks) and then you NEVER have to pay that amount again for the internet. This post assumes that you have to make some kind of internet payment as if it’s a bill, and that’s not the case. You buy the channel, but Nintendo isn’t charging you to use the channel. If you already have the channel before June 30th, you’ve got it for free, basically.
I really hope that those of us who got the browser for free aren’t going to have it suddenly tell us to pay for it, and that we can still get updates and such, even if they’re a version behind or something. I wouldn’t think for a second of paying for a cheap Wii browser, even though I love using it. It’s just not necessary, and not worth even 10% of it’s price tag in the end. After all, chances are that most of us have a PC already, and a much better browser on that.
Trust me dont listen to him me and my freinds have spent hours on this going from sites like youtube to ones like myspace its so much fun watching funny youtube clips with my wireless usb keyboard, a 50 inch tv, a wii remtote & 5 of us laughing at youtube clips for a small cost of about £15 (wireless keyboard included) its better than sitting at a tiny PC monitor on your own