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It takes a small army to build a Wii Wheel, just ask Nintendo photo

To some the Wii Wheel is just the latest in a long line of useless videogame peripherals to hit the Wii, but as far as Nintendo is concerned, it's serious business. So serious, in fact, that the wheel's lead designer went on record as saying that the $14.99 plastic shell had over 30 prototypes leading up to the finished product.

Apparently more thought went into this than previously known. So much for thoughts of taking a white piece of plastic, and notching out a place to house the Wiimote. Rumor has it that engineers are involved, words such as comfort, weight, and ergonomics are thrown around, and much care and planning are behind its final form factor before release. Maybe this will help convince Nick (and the rest of you) that we're all getting a good deal here. Have you priced an engineer's time lately? They don't come cheap.

[Via Gamespot]


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67 comments | showing # 1 to 50

Novakaine's Avatar
Novakaine at 04/06/2008 10:37
Heh, I love Nintendo and all, but if they put in hours and hours of engineers designing it, you'd figure the wheel would look a little more impressive than that.
Verol's Avatar
Verol at 04/06/2008 10:39
Yep... It's a wheel, but for Mario Kart!
Copyright 2008 Agent Chieftain's Avatar
Copyright 2008 Agent Chieftain at 04/06/2008 10:40
Those engineers should have been defending the intelligence.
Jaren Face's Avatar
Jaren Face at 04/06/2008 10:41
Well, when you put it that way...
...no.
I still think $14.99 is asking a lot. $10 would be pushing it, but seriously? $15?
And aren't there already cheaper Wheel peripherals out there?
Kaspar's Avatar
Kaspar at 04/06/2008 10:41
Could someone make an "invisible wii wheel" lolcat picture please?
Cheeburga's Avatar
Cheeburga at 04/06/2008 10:51
Little armies of children.
Boolean's Avatar
Boolean at 04/06/2008 10:57
IT'S A FUCKING PLASTIC CIRCLE. How ground breaking can it be? I'd just stick with the ones on ebay for a dollar.
Crackpot360's Avatar
Crackpot360 at 04/06/2008 10:58
Meh, Il stick with the classic controller. Relive the good old days of Mario Kart for the SNES. ;)
Holyetheline's Avatar
Holyetheline at 04/06/2008 11:09
I never thought of it like that before... but it's still too damn expensive and I don't want that crap.
Person of Lordly Caliber's Avatar
Person of Lordly Caliber at 04/06/2008 11:13
Well..if pricing should be done, I'm guessing Nintendo didn't have to outsource. So we're looking at $30 US an hour+rights fees of 1-2% Combine that with 30 actual prototypes (which means there were probably over 200 drawn prototypes) and of course...All Mighty Iwata's approval (which i can assure you was the only decision as to what the wheel would be). I would say this was a four month project. 4 monthsX40 hours a weekX30 dollars averageX8 people=$38,400 of work from the engineers up front. Now maybe we should argue how much the injection molders got paid?
tkyy's Avatar
tkyy at 04/06/2008 11:24
Not playing with motion control anyways.
B-Radicate's Avatar
B-Radicate at 04/06/2008 11:25
Doesn't mean it's still not a stupid piece of shit. Anyone who tries to justify this ridiculous price point is a moron. Nintendo included.

Sadly, it'll sell amazingly well.
covah's Avatar
covah at 04/06/2008 11:25
@boolean

I was just about to say, out of all the prototypes they had, they just ended up with a perfect circle
DrXym's Avatar
DrXym at 04/06/2008 11:26
Nintendo's model appears to be sell a unpowered console for considerable markup and then make further money by selling a range of cheap and nasty plastic attachments often bundled with some game. The 3rd party have jumped on the bandwagon too with a range of stupid add-ons like golf / tennis / fishing rod widgets.

It's sad that anyone even thinks of buying this junk but clearly its profitable or they wouldn't do it. The ultimate travesty will be when Wii Fit leaps to #1 in sales in the US because of all the fools thinking a lump of plastic with a few pressure sensors is going to make them fit. Wii Fit truly deserves its own infomercial since it would fit right in with the other fitness junk that makes claims that have no basis in reality.
Jetsetlemming's Avatar
Jetsetlemming at 04/06/2008 11:27
$15 is high? Last time I looked at console peripherals that was the absolute lowest price for anything, and that was for used third party products.
Gen Eric Gui's Avatar
Gen Eric Gui at 04/06/2008 11:33
I still think one of the most fun aspects of the Wii is having to pretend that your remote is whatever it is in the game. Having these stupid peripherals kills that for me completely.

I probably will use motion controls for Mariokart, but fuck if I'm using that damn wheel.
Gameboi's Avatar
Gameboi at 04/06/2008 11:38
I don't see why people feel the need to own any of these peripherals, but that's just me. As far as I'm concerned, the Wiimote will function just fine, without spending the extra cash.

If you stop to add it up, controllers are where Nintendo makes a killing, as it is.
-PL-'s Avatar
-PL- at 04/06/2008 11:44
I'll get the wheel/game bundle, the wheel looks like a decently made peripheral, even if it is just a plastic shell. It has that nifty button on the back, which has got to be more convenient than inching your finger back and awkwardly hitting the trigger while you're driving.
Scape's Avatar
Scape at 04/06/2008 11:53
You don't even need it to play with the Wiimote. Instead of their engineers spending countless hours going through 30 different models, maybe they should spend those hours fixing their fucking online play.
Mikescool's Avatar
Mikescool at 04/06/2008 12:14
@ Scape

+11111111111111111111111111111111111111

can't agree more.
amalgamut00's Avatar
amalgamut00 at 04/06/2008 12:22
I hope a third party wheel comes out and out sells Nintendo's.
Timmeh's Avatar
Timmeh at 04/06/2008 12:23
Maybe next time they should get some designers involved too. It may be engineered to perfection but it looks a) cheap and b)shit.
SolidRay's Avatar
SolidRay at 04/06/2008 12:24
The only peripheral for the Wii that really impressed me was Guitar Hero...but I don't think that really counts. I could duct tape my own steering wheel together and pretend I'm Michael Schumacher all day for cheaper than 15 bucks. Arts and crafts ftw.
Wexx's Avatar
Wexx at 04/06/2008 12:30
Fuck that noise, I'll use the one that I got for 5 dollars.
AlucardX24's Avatar
AlucardX24 at 04/06/2008 12:30
Spy sappin' mah Wii Wheel!
mistic's Avatar
mistic at 04/06/2008 12:31
since you get it free with the I won't complain!
KamikazeTutor's Avatar
KamikazeTutor at 04/06/2008 12:57
Just love how they're trying to justify the price for that thing.

"Effort was put into it, seriously."
Veck's Avatar
Veck at 04/06/2008 12:59
Yeah, I'm gonna see how it plays when I buy the actual game before I start pissing and moaning. The fact it costs £45 to buy another Wii Remote with nunchuck outrages me more to be honest.
Sabreman's Avatar
Sabreman at 04/06/2008 13:07
As if they couldn't soak up the cost of the design process. So yeah, that no doubt immense outlay is going to trickle down to the consumer of every Wii wheel in future. When they've made their R&D costs back I presume they going to drop the price of it to a more reasonable one based on actual manufacturing costs?
Mxyzptlk's Avatar
Mxyzptlk at 04/06/2008 13:18
One comes with the game. You don't have to buy any extras. Christ, you'd think that Nintendo executives came to your house and pissed in your bed from the outrage some people are displaying over this. There are tons of things I think are overpriced. I don't bitch about it on the internet every chance I get though.
JonDarkwood's Avatar
JonDarkwood at 04/06/2008 13:21
Meanwhile, hackers are doing more useful things with the Wii.

Hooray for hackers!
falsoman's Avatar
falsoman at 04/06/2008 13:25
$15.00 is incredibly high por that kind of peripheral... it's suposed to have some sort of electronics, me thinks, because the game detects when you are using it, but it's still too fucking high for this kind of attachments, if at least would have added a second trigger or something extra it would have been fine, but the went with the cheap route....

I'll buy the game some day (don't think i'll be buying it at launch) and try the wheel, but that price just made it sure for me that i'm not gonna buy a second one.
Fanatism's Avatar
Fanatism at 04/06/2008 13:29
If you all HATE this wii wheel, then why do you bitch and moan about the price? If you wouldn't want it anyway, why do you even CARE?
liquidninja's Avatar
liquidninja at 04/06/2008 13:52
I for one am gonna make all my real life friends either get a wheel or get a copy of this game (which comes with the wheel).

Sure it's over priced but that doesn't mean I'll have to buy 12 controllers($180).
Kyousuke Nanbu's Avatar
Kyousuke Nanbu at 04/06/2008 14:01
30 prototypes? That seems excessive for something that ended up looking so simple.
Fanatism's Avatar
Fanatism at 04/06/2008 14:05
@kyousuke
they did temper with the weight and such, so probably didn't every prototype alter the design radically.
B-Radicate's Avatar
B-Radicate at 04/06/2008 14:06
@Scape: I'm not sure I would call it online "play" per se, as much as I would say it connects to the internet poorly.
JustLikeBuck's Avatar
JustLikeBuck at 04/06/2008 14:12
Over 30 prototypes he says? Well his compass must be worn out. He drew 30 circles, and that's the reason it costs $15?

It's a steering wheel, for gods sake!

On another note, I just saw the 10 second advert for MKart on tv... Spending 90% of adverts on retards pulling faces as they cream themselves playing the Wii is really getting old. There might have been 1 combined second of gameplay.

Give those clever, hard-working designers and marketing folk a raise!
Syn's Avatar
Syn at 04/06/2008 14:19
I bet I could make a peripheral that works just as good out of paper towel rolls, then I'll sell it for 5$ a piece and make MILLIONS!
brainderailment's Avatar
brainderailment at 04/06/2008 14:24
I second what B-Radicate said.
RAB's Avatar
RAB at 04/06/2008 14:33
15 dollars isn't that much at all

everyone just loves to ride the complain train
Alex Maw's Avatar
Alex Maw at 04/06/2008 14:39
I'm not too happy about it since it puts the price of the game up, I would take a cheaper one without the wheel if the option was there.
John B's Avatar
John B at 04/06/2008 14:42
I'll take the one that comes with the game and let my daughter use it. Me, I'll just use the nunchuck for control. I'm sure that it will be FAR more responsive.
ivhuro's Avatar
ivhuro at 04/06/2008 14:56
It's not 15$, it's 10$... according to this:
Wii Wheel for $10 says Nintendo

Either way, I'm not buying extra Wii wheels.
mykie's Avatar
mykie at 04/06/2008 15:00
I don't why everyone is bitching so much about this, no one really cared about the Wii Zapper costing $20-25 (Even though it comes with a minigame bundle).

Does anyone remember paying $90 for Super Scope, only to be rewarded with crappy Super Scope 6 games, migraine headaches from squinting through the viewfinder and massive shoulder cramps?

Anyways, the construction on this wheel seems a lot more solid than the ones that come bundled with Ubisoft's racing games, and even has a nice extender for the B button.
AgentMOO's Avatar
AgentMOO at 04/06/2008 15:01
You keep your plastic wheels Nintentdo, I'm renting this game and playing with my classic controller.
tincow's Avatar
tincow at 04/06/2008 16:23
Can we stop threads like these? They cause too much stupidity.

Examples:

"I'll just use the $1 Ubisoft Wheel" (Go ahead, but surely you realize it retailed for much more than $1 and Nintendo's wheel will quite possibly be better)

"I just don't understand these things" (It's called fun, and ergonomics. It really is not hard to understand)

"I'll just use the gamecube/classic controller" (Good for you? This product is obviously designed for people who want to use the Wiimote...so why do you care?)

"They should be working on online play" (Yes, I definitely want the team in charge of controller ergonomics and feel fixing Nintendo Wi-Fi. Really, that might be what makes it so unreliable in the first place? Maybe the networking guys should do that!).
BlackSunEmpire's Avatar
BlackSunEmpire at 04/06/2008 16:46
Seems like it must be an exceptionally challenging job to be a peripheral engineer for nintendo. 30 prototypes and they develop a miniature steering wheel to represent a steering wheel.

Ideas like that are priceless. What will they dream up next??
Sockapal's Avatar
Sockapal at 04/06/2008 16:58
Have any of you whiners actually used the Wii wheel yet? Just wondering....
Uther's Avatar
Uther at 04/06/2008 17:12
@Sockapal
Is it really a key to the Holy Garden of Eden?
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