Wii to Gain Online Gift Giving Functionality; Nintendo Still Not Planning Price Drop

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A new feature for the Wii's online shop will allows users to gift games to other Wii owners. The function will presumably apply to those games found within the Virtual Console and upcoming WiiWare channels.

Once the gift is accepted, the recipient will begin downloading the software. It is unknown if gamers can loan out titles they already own or if the gifted goods need to be bought separately. The company did not provide an estimate as to when the feature will be implemented.

"We think this will be a breakthrough in encouraging customers to spread news of fun games word of mouth," Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told The Associated Press. "We also hope to spur more users to connect their Wiis to the Internet."

Iwata stated that, as Nintendo senior marketing VP George Harrison previously stated, the company will not be lowering the Wii's price in the foreseeable future. Nintendo will also launch the system in China next year.

"We barely have enough Wiis to meet global demand this year," Iwata explained. "But next year, we can bring the Wii to China."

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    October 26, 2007 9:27 AM

    Clever idea, I suppose. It's not something I ever see myself using, and it's hard to imagine a situation that would come up particularly frequently, but hell, maybe it would be a way for us to make downloadable games part of contest prizes or something.

    • reply
      October 26, 2007 9:37 AM

      Be pretty cool if they let you "loan" out a game for a day or two.

    • reply
      October 26, 2007 9:43 AM

      Its definitely a feature that most people aren't going to use, but its cool in a useful way, as kind of like a surprise or something "dude, you have to check out this game, turn on your wii and grab it" or "you're favorite N64 game just turned up on VC, go check it out" and then its there for them

    • reply
      October 26, 2007 11:00 AM

      I'd use it often.

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