Nintendo Goes Black

The company launches black Wii, red DSi in Japan

Sometimes the difference between low and high sales lies in… colours. No, we’re not talking fashion here or any other field where colour is obviously crucial, we’re talking video games. A whole marketing strategy could actually mean a change of colour, or to be more precise, the addition of one. This seems to be the saving plan for more than one gaming company when sales plunge.

Japanese saw the first black colored Wii console today as Nintendo launched it on the market. From the standard white, the game company thought it would be better to balance it off with a black version.

Nintendo will put the new console up for sale on August 1st along with a matching Wii remote, nunchuck and a Classic Controller Pro. Unlike the coffee set which I’ve just bought and which came with different prices depending on the colour you chose, the new black hardware will cost exactly the same as its white fellow.

But the ‘innovations’ don’t stop here – Nintendo has also started to produce a special red DSi handheld, which will be officially launched on July 11th at the same price as the existing colored models. Japanese can opt for white, black, pink, lime green and metallic blue when it comes to DSi handheld.