Wii Originally Supposed To Cost Under $100

Leave it to Nintendo to think of the craziest idea ever. According to Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo's very own game developer god, the company's upcoming Wii console was originally envisioned as a console that would cost consumers less than $100 a shot; however, due to some R&D costs, the price jumped to the $249.99 price tag we all know and love today. Apparently NAND flash memory "and other pricey parts" are to blame, but seeing as how this console isn't running a next-generation DVD technology inside it's hull, I doubt anything in the Wii truly counts as "pricey." To read what the master of Mario had to say, hit the jump!

"My idea was to spend nothing on the console technology so all the money could be spent on improving the interface and software. If we hadn't used NAND flash memory [to store data such as games and photos] and other pricey parts, we might have succeeded...It [the Wiimote controller] worked just fine in the ideal environment, but bright lights and sunlight interfered with its accuracy. And we had to test it in rooms of all sizes. The final version wasn't finished until this summer."

There ya have it folks; maybe next time around, Nintendo's dream of a sub-$100 console will become a reality. Until that time, we'll sit here playing the Wii.

[via IGN]