Submitted by: kirkland on Monday November 13th, 2006 at 03:14 PM EST

Taking one of its most aggressive moves in its 20+ year history of producing video games, Nintendo has said that it has plans to spend more than $200 million in advertising and marketing campaigns for its upcoming Wii console. The offensive move demonstrates Nintendo's hopes to capture more market share in the new generation, and climb up from its struggling position in last place in the previous console battle.

The massive advertising campaign will kickstart on Tuesday with the first US TV ad and will be be, according to media reports, the biggest ever for Nintendo. The Kyoto, Japan-based company hopes to capture market segments off-put by the expense and intimidation of the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Nintendo, whose long-running campaign has been based on the strategy "We're all about the game," will be the only one introducing a new console without a big slate of multimedia features. Nintendo decided not to include movie playback capabilities or high-definition output, to keep costs low for the Wii. The result is the least expensive console in the new generation. The retail price for the Wii will be $250 when it makes its worldwide debut in the US on November 19. Alternatively, Microsoft continues to sell its Xbox 360 in two versions, priced at $300 and $400, the prices originally set when it launched last year. The PS3 tips the scales at $500 for the base model, with a more feature-packed unit to sell for $600 when it goes on sale in the US this Friday.

» Full story @ TG Daily