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The DeanBeat: Nintendo reveals the Wii mini and the opinions fly everywhere

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 3 min

Nintendo surprised the industry this week as it confirmed a leaked story that it would launch a stripped-down Wii mini game console for $99 in the Canadian market. The red console pictured above has the same core functionality as the Wii introduced in 2006, but it will be available on Dec. 7 for $30 less. What’s missing? The machine has no Internet capability and does not play older Nintendo GameCube games. It also has a slightly smaller footprint than the Wii.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.