Because I had to pay close to $100 on eBay for an extra Wiimote, nunchuck at the time since they were "sold out" everywhere. That's why.

I've got 4 Wii-motes, 2 nunchucks and yeah, they're not cheap but it's a controller! You pay round about the same for any remote, so why the problem?

I don't think it's a rip-off at all, honestly. I don't think it's a money grab, either. First off, as Gameboi stated, Nintendo should be allowed to make money making their products. That's a given. Secondly, the fact that Gameboi stated that you absolutely need a Classic controller is hogwash. Just about every game on the VC can be played with the GC controller, and they are a dime a dozen now that the GC has gone the way of the Dinosaur.

Bottom line is that you're going to need both halves to play the vast majority of games on the console. Suck it up. Gaming has never been the cheapest pastime in the world.

I like cheese.

As for the other pieces, it's not a horrible price. The 360 controller costs $40 and the SIXAXIS costs $50 but the 360 and PS3 games both cost $60 while Wii games cost $40-50 so it equals out.

I actually prefer them being sold separately because not every game needs the nunchuck. I have 3 remotes but since I don't really need that many nunchucks, I'm not going to get 3 of them until I actually have a multiplayer game where I need 3 of them.

I have three remotes and 2 nunchucks, with one classic controller. I don't think they were that outlandish. 60 bucks total is high, but its made up for with a cheap console and cheaper than average games.

I have three Wiimote, two nunchucks, two classic controllers and two Wavebirds that I had beforehand. Yeah, the nunchucks and classic controllers are kinda expensive, but I don't think it's a huge deal since I can use all of the Wii peripherals with my PC. So for me, I get my money's worth.

If it is too much for you to afford, or just too much for your taste don't buy it. Next up, Bentley don't cost significantly less than the $250,000 price tag.

I was gonna stop there but I have to add in my 2 cents on business. Between labor, marketing, administration, shipping, taxes and administration to handle paying the shipping and taxes the cost is significantly higher than the cost of the parts. Actually most of the time, even in low wage countries like China and India the labor by itself is sometimes more than the parts. It depends on the product of course, but raw materials and components just aren't that much of a price concern when dealing with anything but super computing, energy, or other high technology.

They are yet to make a game that requires the classic controller. A used GC controller that costs $10 will work just as well as the CC for any games it is compatible with.

That being said, after the Wii craze is over in a few years, I'm hoping for a price drop in both the console and it's controllers. $99 for the console, $15 for Nunchuck, $15 for CC, and $30 for Wii-Remote.

Well, how much were wireless 360 controllers when the box was six months old? $54-$59 at retail, IIRC. That's just about the same as the remote+chuck, which undoubtedly cost more to produce, given the motion sensing and sound capabilities. So is nintendo making more money off of their customers with this price? Probably not. Is it a fair price for a controller? Well, you decide.

I have four remotes, two chuks, and a classic controller.
The whole bunch was less than a PS3, and I got a game to boot. I don't feel ripped off at all, really. I'm thinking about getting two more nunchuks for Madden. I don't think I'll feel ripped off then, either.

While it would be nice to have back the halcyon days of the $20 full-featured, name-brand controller, those days are gone. With the consoles so infrequently making money by themselves, gougeing for peripherals is kind of the industry standard. Extra controllers are especially prone in this particular case, because they enable the multiplayer experience, which is the core value of the Wii. I mean, that's why it's fucking called Wii. Would it have been better for the box to cost $400 and come with four controllers? $500 and come with four nunchucks, too?

These prices are going to come down as the library expands. And we'll start seeing better utilization of the remote, as well, simply because developers are interested in and getting real experience releasing games. I blow a lot of Sunshine up the asses of EA Canada, but I have a great time playing their titles and I have a lot of confidence in them really trying to give Nintendo good third party support. Granted, there's a lot of publishers lined up to give the Wii 3rd party titles, but that's just because of the incredible hype, and the large (and growing) installed base, but I think that the more people developing for a particular system, the better for that system. Even if much of it is licensed crap that's unavoidable across all platforms, or plain old crap for that matter. If only one in a hundred games isn's crap, I'd rather a thousand games come out, instead of four hundred.

Is being able to play four at once with games like Tiger or Madden worth the money I've spent? Well, I don't feel the least bit bad about it. I felt much worse about the $60 I blew on Quake IV. Ick.

JimSterling: I know, but this is a system which is currently dominated by party games and multiplayer games. For the market they are aiming at, I'm amazed there haven't been as many complaints about the price before.

It's such a catch 22. God I hate living in the UK and playing video games.

As for OpTiMaL, what faults? Other than retards throwing them at HDTVs, I can't recall many faults with the controller or nunchuck. Besides which, if either the Wiimote or nunchuck is defected, isn't it Nintendo's responsibility to replace that themselves instead of us throwing more cash their way?

I'd rather pay for a quality controller than use some 'MadCatz' piece of crap for years.

Is the PS3 controller overpriced?

The Wii has rumble? Sorry, must have missed it. All I feel is a slight tingle.

@ Oni: Except for the games that, while they technically work with the Gamecube controller, they aren't practical at all. Example: F-Zero uses B to accelerate, X to turbo boost, and A to brake. That is impossible to play effectively with a Gamecube controller. I even called up Nintendo on launch day to complain to them about it (lot of good that did). If only they let you rearrange the button layout, since you're at the mercy of the original game for that option.

the wii remote also has flash memory in it. not sure how much. but enough to hold about 10 Mii characters.

are u guys f??in CRAZY!??!?

The Wiimote is NOT over charged... that thing is made of Adamantiunm PLASTIC! That shit breaks peoples heads, TV's, Walls...

even fluffy my cat... LOST ALL 7 LIFE TO THE WIIMOTE!

and u guys say is overpriced... its indestructable...

My problem is fourfold:

1) People say you don't have to buy a Nunchuck, but you really do. The Nunchuck is even more essential on the Wii than the hard drive is on the XBox 360. So, the controller is $60, not $40. There's no excuse for Nintendo to sell the two pieces separately.

2) $60 for a controller, and you have to buy your own AA batteries. No rechargeables? For shame.

3) They make profit on the console and game licenses. They don't have the excuse for overpriced accessories that the other manufacturers do. $30 for a cable? $90 for an "official" memory card? Come on -- enough with the "they need to make profit" BS.

4) You can't play Gamecube games with the VC controller, let alone the Wiimote. WTF? The GC and VC controllers are functionally identical!

Oh, I forgot -- people buy it anyway. People WANT what they're getting right now, even though they moan about it on Nintendo's own forum.

Ultimately, the consumer is always at fault. If the controller costs too much, blame yourselves.

Come on. It's got motion sensing technology, a speaker, vibration, pointing ability and just recently we learned that it has built-in voice recognition ready for use with microphone attachments. Oh, and it's durable as hell... believe me I've experienced it first hand. I say it's worth it.

Bah, that's what I get for responding to a thread that was at the top of a search results page, mistaking it for being at the top of the main page. I was wondering why the whole "wiimote is overpriced" shit was rearing its head again. As it turns out: it wasn't. My bad. *shrug*