Backstage
Weekend of Wii, Part I: Unpacking
The Weekend of Wii is starting early at iLounge: we had literally no idea that Nintendo’s brand-new game console was about to show up on our doorstep this morning, and there’s only one phrase that describes our feelings at the moment: pure excitement. As we’ve said before, Wii (pronounced like “we”) is the game console Apple would have released if gaming was a company priority - wireless, linked to an iTunes Store-like game download service, elegantly designed, and, oh yeah, glossy white.

We’re going to have lots more to say about Wii throughout the day, but we wanted to bring a ton of unpacking pictures to you, showing off the contents of the Wii box, plus shots of its accessory packages, and those for the Legend of Zelda, Excite Truck, and Wii Sports. This is going to be a fantastic weekend. Click below or on the headline for our first volley of photos.





















Comments
If you have a comment, news tip, advertising inquiry, or coverage request, a question about iPods or accessories, or if you sell or market products, read iLounge's Comments + Questions policies before posting, and fully identify yourself if you do. We will delete comments containing advertising, astroturfing, trolling, personal attacks, offensive language, or other objectionable content, then ban and/or publicly identify violators. Wondering why we're talking about something other than iPods? Check the Archives: Backstage has been here and kicking it since 2004.
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1
Opera? Look at the third pic: I had no idea Opera was supplying the web browser for the Wii.
Sweet.
Posted by Ben on November 10, 2006 at 11:55 AM (PDT)
2
NO WAY. The Gods are against me. Another man has a copy of Zelda before me. How much would you be willing to sell this for?
Posted by jiji on November 10, 2006 at 11:57 AM (PDT)
3
Any chance you could give us exact dimensions? Particularly, the height when on the stand?
Posted by Natrino on November 10, 2006 at 12:40 PM (PDT)
4
Why is the inside pitch black? aren’t there ports?
Or did you black it out for some reason? It looks like an empty wii case.
Posted by Crazydog on November 10, 2006 at 1:43 PM (PDT)
5
I seriously hate you guys right now.
But thanks for the sweet pics.
Posted by mattwardfh in Texas on November 10, 2006 at 3:01 PM (PDT)
6
Natrino: The dimensions are around 7 and 5/8” tall by 9 and 1/4” deep by 2 1/2” wide. The height and depth are tricky because of the angled design of the console and stand - it is shorter at the back than at the front, and not uniformly deep.
Crazydog: There are ports inside - the photo doesn’t reveal them especially well. On the front is a SD card slot; the top has four GameCube controller ports and two GC memory card slots.
Jiji: We don’t sell any of the items we receive for review.
Posted by Jeremy Horwitz in East Amherst, NY, USA on November 10, 2006 at 3:06 PM (PDT)
7
Oh! I want one SO bad. Too bad I’m getting a 5.5Gen iPod instead….Ughh that sucks I want them both.
Posted by ddsd on November 11, 2006 at 5:16 PM (PDT)
8
Did you get an install error 2 minutes after unpacking like the ZUNE guy?
Posted by jbelkin on November 12, 2006 at 10:09 PM (PDT)
9
No, but if you try to connect to the Internet with the console now - before Nintendo’s servers are up - the machine does try to update the main screen with Virtual Console and other data, then fails after a couple of minutes, without harming the machine. Games still play without an issue.
Posted by Jeremy Horwitz in East Amherst, NY, USA on November 12, 2006 at 11:17 PM (PDT)
10
Nintendo had said that they weren’t going to put anyone through what Sony is putting everyone through with their hardware shortages and yet here they are only shipping about 4x what Sony is shipping. If you’re serious, Nintendo, you make sure each store have 10-20x what Sony is giving them, otherwise you don’t release the system until you can make those numbers. If you can’t do it by the Holiday Season, too bad! Then you’ll just have to miss the Holiday Season.
Posted by Charles on November 16, 2006 at 7:08 PM (PDT)