The Wii is getting a redesign, or at least that’s what the rumors said. The new console is supposedly a slimmed down version of the Wii that will go on sale on December 7. There was no way to confirm its existence yesterday, but things change rather quickly in the gaming industry.
Canada’s Future Shop confirmed this morning that the Wii Mini is real, and that it will be retailing on December 7 for $99.99. The console itself sports a red and black matted plastic finish and a top loading disc tray.
Of course, the cheap $99 price tag means that Nintendo had to make some sacrifices. Most notably is the fact that the Wii Mini has no way to connect to the Internet. The Wi-Fi has been removed, and it can’t make use of a wired connection through a USB to ethernet port either.
That being said, the Wii Mini could be an attractive piece of hardware for those who only care for games. The lack of Internet is disappointing, but the Wii has a large number of great single-player games that latecomers will surely enjoy.
UPDATE: Nintendo of Canada’s Web site has just gone live with the Wii Mini product page. The link that says “Learn More” takes you to a dead end, but at least Nintendo is now confirming the existence of the device on its own Web site. Now the company just has to explain the rationale behind the redesign.