NOA confirms that component cables will be available to purchase.

480p a Go For Wii Launch
NOA confirms that component cables will be available to purchase.

From IGN:

October 19, 2006 – Nintendo last month revealed that its new Wii home console would ship with composite cables for standard resolution televisions. However, the company did not specify whether or not high-definition TV owners would be able to separately purchase Wii component cables to run games in progressive-scan, and hence we’ve been bombarded with a steady flow of questions from concerned readers.

Well, today you can finally stop flooding our e-mail boxes because Nintendo of America has commented on the subject and yes, your component cables are on the way.

A spokesperson for the company told IGN Wii this morning that the Wii component cables would be available for purchase with the launch of the console in November. The cables will cost $29.99 and will only be available through online retail outlets, including Nintendo’s store, Best Buy, Circuit City and EB Games.

If you already own GameCube component cables, you’re out of luck because these are not compatible with the Wii console.

Why Nintendo is again only selling its component cables via online retailers — as it did with GameCube — is a mystery, but at least the solution will be available immediately.

Ask WiiNintendo.

What is 480p?
480p refers to “480 progressive”, a form of standard definition digital television broadcast comparable to computer displays but not considered high definition. Each line of the screen is painted before the next line.

Ok, then what the hell is component mean?
A type of superior video input used for DVD players and game consoles. Picture quality is superior to s-video, composite and antenna-in.

How do I know my TV has an input for this?
You will have inputs that look like this:

Nearly all of the 30 or so Wii launch window games run in 480p and 16:9 modes.

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