Nintendo Wii U is here. Price, launch date, and bundles revealed

Stéphane C.L. Delisle 14 Sep, 2012 at 12:55pm ET Article published in Gaming

Sunday, November 18th, a month before you start doing your holiday shopping (don’t lie to me, I know that just like me you don’t start earlier than a week before), the next generation Nintendo console comes out: the Wii U. With a rather similar design (except for the new Wii U Gamepad), the console is backwards-compatible with Wii games, Wiimote Plus, Nunchuk and other peripheral you’ve probably already bought.

Reggie Fils-Aime (President and COO of Nintendo of America) told us that it will come out in two models for now: a “basic set”, in white with 8gb of storage, will be sold at $299. For $50 more, a “deluxe set”, which is black with 32gb of storage, also comes with a plastic stand you’ll probably never use. Oh and Nintendo Land, a game design to show you what the Wii U and its new gamepad are capable of (so a bunch of minigames just like Wii sports showed us before).

A few games have already been announced, some sooner for the Land of the Rising Sun than other: Nintendo Land, New Super Mario Land U, Bayonetta 2, Ninja Gaiden 3, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and many more to come.

No need to congratulate me on my awesome Paint skillz

The later of these games will even come out as a bundle (in Japan only for now, but hopefully we can have it here too), named the “Premium Set” which, at $500, will contain the “Deluxe Wii U” plus Monster Hunter Tri- G HD Ver (as it’s known in Japan) and a black Wii U PRO controller: an improved version of the improved controller pro.

The Wii U Gamepad will also serve as an alternate screen for your games, like the second screen on a DS: maps, items, character sheets, and more. Remember the the Game Boy Advance with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker on the Gamecube?

Expect the Wii U to be sold out in the first days, and most likely first day. If you really want to get this on day one, you should probably pre-order now.

Comments

14 Sep 2012 ~ 2:10pm Basil It's also getting Darksiders II as a launch title, in a pseudo game-of-the-year edition with the first DLC and pre-order bonuses all bundled into it.

THQ are buying into the whole Wii U GamePad thang with the screen being used for the map/objectives/inventory and gyro controls being added for some in-game actions so it'll be interesting to see if Nintendo's latest controller gimmick is worth it.
14 Sep 2012 ~ 4:23pm Cliff_Forster My primary concern looking at this remote is how cumbersome it might be for my eight year old to handle. I'm just not going to know until we can touch one.
14 Sep 2012 ~ 6:27pm BHHammy The fact that Nintendo's pretty much throwing most of their early chips in with Nintendo Land REALLY bothers me.

Also keep in mind, that "launch" lineup is staggered over the next 6 months.

I certainly won't be an early adopter, at least.
14 Sep 2012 ~ 9:07pm oni_dels yeah most launch titles are for japan... Monster Hunter won't be here until March 2013!
15 Sep 2012 ~ 2:07pm Cliff_Forster I've always said a game sells the console. My daughter and I just decided we must play this! -
16 Sep 2012 ~ 12:04am RahnalH102
I've always said a game sells the console.
Various proof of this all over.

I know for me, MH3U is a MUST !@#$IN' HAVE for me personally (I will convert some of you). So I will definitely be getting a WiiU. Whether that is on launch or when MH3U comes out I don't know.
16 Sep 2012 ~ 11:15am oni_dels @RahnalH102 MH3U comes out in march 2013 for North America, launch for Japan. and it is the only reason why i will by a WiiU!
16 Sep 2012 ~ 1:05pm RahnalH102 I know the release date of MH3U. It was if anything else would interest me enough to before March to buy the WiiU before then. Not that the other games are good or cool per say, but none of them have such a stranglehold on my heart as the Monster Hunter series. (My avatar is also from Monster Hunter for those that don't know.)
16 Sep 2012 ~ 2:45pm UPSLynx I'm buying a Wii U for Lego City: Undercover. That game looks effing great. I love what they're doing with it.

Fun fact - the Wii U is the most expensive Nintendo console in history.
The fact that Nintendo's pretty much throwing most of their early chips in with Nintendo Land REALLY bothers me.

They're essentially doing the exact same thing they did with Wii Sports. That worked out pretty well for them (except with Nintendo Land, it's not technically free, considering you have to buy the better version of the system)
16 Sep 2012 ~ 10:19pm Bandrik I'll be getting one, if only to play the inevitable Mario, Zelda, Metroid, StarFox, Kirby, and Smash Bros. games.

But I highly doubt I'll be an early adopter for this one. Especially at that initial price point.
17 Sep 2012 ~ 9:57am MAGIC Large issue for me; will it play a bluray?
17 Sep 2012 ~ 10:23am Cliff_Forster @Magic - No Blu Ray player, but they do have really cool integration for streaming HD content. The controller becomes a hub for it making it possible to browse netflix and Hulu while your TV is available for something else. I've been avoiding buying into Blu Ray myself, I've been oh so tempted several times, standing with films I already own on DVD in my hand thinking, oh, it's only going to cost me about $1,500 to upgrade the films that matter to me and get a decent player, what's the big deal?? That said I've disciplined myself so far, so Blu Ray on a console strikes fear into my wallet, I could live without it personally.
17 Sep 2012 ~ 10:28am Tushon
Large issue for me; will it play a bluray?
No according to official Nintendo stuff last year and multiple reports this year. It will be able to play 1080p content from Youtube/Netflix.
17 Sep 2012 ~ 10:32am Cliff_Forster Adjusted for inflation the Wii U is actually less expensive than the NES.

In 1986 the NES launched without the silly robot that none of us bought into as kid's for $199.99 (that was the cool system with two controlers, a zapper and the Super Mario/Duck Hunt game, not the more expensive one with the robot).

Adjusted for inflation in 2012 that's aprox $395 USD. The Wii U actually costs less adjusted for inflation than a NES did in 1986.
17 Sep 2012 ~ 10:36am d3k0y My body is ready.

I am thinking this might be my first campout shopping trip.