Nintendo to announce Wii U price, release date tomorrow
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Mario maker confirms it will share core launch information for upcoming console during presentation in Japan; same info likely for North American, European events.
Nintendo will officially announce the price and release date for the Wii U tomorrow during a presentation in Japan, the Mario maker has confirmed. Company president Satoru Iwata will reveal the console launch details during a Japanese Nintendo Direct event scheduled for 4 p.m. in Japan (midnight PDT, 3 a.m. EDT, 8 a.m. BST).
North American and European launch details are expected later in the day, beginning with a New York City event hosted by Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime at 10 a.m. EDT. A European Nintendo Direct is scheduled for the same time.
GameSpot and sister site Giant Bomb will be in attendance at the Wii U media event Thursday. News stories and analysis will hit the site as the event proceeds.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
269 comments
yay cant wait its finally coming out. my guess on the release date would be November 20 and the price between $400-$600(AUD). i guess about $499AUD
show me potato salad...
1 Like I hope we can hear the announcements over the chirping crickets. Ah who am I kidding, I'll have one on day one because I'm a video game freak and an idiot. Now excuse me while I go kick my Saturn around and cry about the death of the Dreamcast.
i dont believe gamestops lies , they just want the money we all know every console in history came with the cords the controller and the printed material at least,
no way they would sell the wiiu without at least one tablet controller you must be crazy , of course the pros will be or should be seperate but they shouldnt cost no more then 20 dollars like the wii classic controller pros
if they try selling those for 50 i aint bothering and im quite sure theres alot of people who wil use wiis classic controller pros instead '
another thing that dont make sense is you claim 300 w controller then go on to say they should put a game instead , ya that sounds smart , throw away what is needed to play the games in trade for a game lol
MikeBearman that dont make sense at all no controller with the wii u ya some ones telling you a lie
all wii us come with controllers how else do you expect one to play there is going to be 1 controller for the core system if theres even 3 bundles ill wait til tommorow thank you but gamestop is not reliable 100 dollars for games ya thats so nintendo right? wrong!
not the tablet controller that comes with the system thats common knowledge only a moron would think the system didn't come with a standard controller, it's the pro controller that's extra in the bundle.
In my opinion, please Nintendo, price the Wii U for $299.99 and release it around December.
It's going to be in 3 different bundles at least at gamestop according to the 1 I talked to Saturday when doing some trades.
$250 for system, no mention of game
$300 was the system and a controller, personally I think it's a game instead of a controller makes more sense.
$350 was the system, game, and controller.
looks like you are wrong again sir. How about you shut your mouth next time when you know nothing about what you are saying.
700 really? i really doubt that , this is nintendo not apple or sony or neo geo lol
im going to say $199.99-329.99 to be safe
This comment has been deleted
I doubt that there will be any 250 dollar option. Consider that the Wii was old tech right from the start and had high margins even at 250. Wii U isn't as bad, so I'd say they're going to bump the base price to at least 300. Perhaps 350.
This comment has been deleted
Aside from the Virtual Boy give me one Nintendo system that's flopped, Nintendo has been around for nearly 3 decades, they know what they're doing and even if they make mistakes, they'd rather take a hit to fix it rather than take the safe way out.
1 Like @Cryptic_Shadow That was the most moving and insightful post without letters that I have ever seen. (really)
4 Like Man, I love meta-announcements.
That said...I expect $300, and hopefully they've learned in the last couple years that games = sales. There's no reason to buy a console if there aren't any games for it.
@Holoogamooga_ They have plenty of games for it. They've all been out on the 360 & PS3 for the last few years. ;)
This comment has been deleted
@buccomatic @Holoogamooga_ Um, I think the Wii U can have more value than a smartphone, but I guess it depends how often one travels and if one prefers Mario over Angry Birds.
I know that, but it'd be pretty dumb to only increase the RAM and not improve anything else.
@abHS4L88 @buccomatic Double the RAM is only memory, it's not a critical component of the hardware. Well it is, but you know what I mean.
http://physorac.com/wii-u-final-specs-not-a-real-surprise/
They seem pretty convinced on the info they have and while I'm still waiting to see what Nintendo has to say, what I'm putting out is mainly to counter what buccomatic is saying about the Wii U being 9 year old tech which is complete bull.
Youre an idiot. There have been NO confirmed specs for the Wii U and if you want to listen to developers who say they have "insight' then it will NOT have double the ram. Get your facts straight or dont post at all loser.
So the PS3 right now must be a total rip off because it's currently selling at $250, the Wii U is brand new along with the GamePad and most likely NintendoLand and you want them to sell it at $250? Even if it's "outdated and old" $250 is still too low.
And since you're wrong about the specs (because it's been confirmed that the Wii U at least has double the RAM of the 360) the Wii U should sell at either $300-$350, but like I said in my other post, you're an example of a spoiled shallow gamer that expects WAY too much and bags on if you don't like what you hear.
1 Like They need to announce a killer app at launch. Something very unexpected and new that is available at launch. Without that, even a $250 price tag may still make people hesitant.
This comment has been deleted
Aside from 3D Mario and Zelda games, Nintendo doesn't really make games that are defined as "AAA".
@buccomatic @ciphfer No brand new console ever comes with a game. That stopped after the original NES, lol. And I'm not talking about the tech demo that was Wii Sports. They will NEVER pack in a AAA game at launch.
My predictions:
$250 = A console, a tablet controller , and maybe some sort of game sampler like Wii Sports
$300 = All of the above plus a Wii U Pro Controller.
$350 = Both of above plus a full fledged game Or a console, 2 tablet controllers and the sampler game.
This is correct Gamestop told me they would have 3 pre-order bundles starting Thursday after the announcement. The $350 should be a game and a controller only thing the guy didn't know was what games would be available at launch. They've known for about a week or so about pricing.
1 Like Sorry but you recieved the wrong info. I list and distribute all info going into Gamestop for ALL preorders and SKU's and we have NO reservation details AT ALL and wont have that in the system until at least 1-2 days after this announcement. Although we will be taking pre-orders starting today they wont be matched with an SKU until Friday or Monday. So in closing the information you have recieved is false.
1 Like Looks like you are wrong again. There are no 'MEETINGS" or behind the scenes at Gamestop. The only information they recieve I put out for them to see. Not a single story has been breaking news from Gamestop ever. We NEVER know any inside info because we are just a retailer and are basically hated by the gaming manufacturers and developers(our used sales made it this way). Your 'friend' and his DM are either liars or ficticious. Managers dont even know when a sale or promotion is going to begin or end until most times the morning of. So for the best interest of not so smart people putting wrong information out there stop using a gaming retailer for inside information the they NEVER have. And to think people belive you and your no brain comments like knowing about a system pricing and info BEFORE the company even has their PRESS CONFERENCE to release such info, and now look your tips are over $150 off.
Well this came from a gamestop manager who was informed by his district manager who attended a meeting about this info about a week or so ago. Apparently this info wasn't supposed to be leaked out to employees and the public until after the conference, either way I'll be pre-ordering mine later today.
This comment has been deleted
And yet the PS3 still sells for that much so why would Nintendo sell their new system at a loss?
"what if the controller breaks? how much will it cost to repair or buy a new one? and what if the system only comes with one controller? how much will the second controller cost?"
Have you ever owned a DS? Do you own an iPad or tablet? Have you broken those? Unless you're irresponsible with it, I highly doubt it'll break.
And if it stops working on you, well that's Nintendo's fault and they have to replace it for free so I don't see how the GamePad is where they're going to make money.
How am I talking in circles?
Plus you're contradicting yourself saying that no 3rd parties want to develop for it yet here you are saying "devs who have seen this and are developing for it already have said it's the equivalent of a xbox 360 (that's where the unconfirmed specs come from)." I HIGHLY doubt 1st or 2nd party developers would say that.
Bethesda just said they're not convinced, they never said anything about hardware so stop trying to twist evidence around to support your beliefs.
Fanatical bias? Here's the article about what Blitz Studios said. What you posted is still "unconfirmed" so it holds no bearing on what the truth actually is.
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/08/blitz_forget_the_specs_wii_u_is_getting_developers_excited
You're making assumptions based on this past generation because you've been spoiled by what Sony and Microsoft have had to offer and just because Nintendo did what they had to do to stay in hardware business, you've become prejudice against them.
@ar2_arr @buccomatic @abHS4L88 the WiiU can Handle 1080i and 1080p go look on Nintendo.com and stop getting yalls fax from youtube and blogs
@buccomatic @abHS4L88 even thou nothing is confirmed, it will most likely be like an xbox 360, they are probably following the same buisness model as the wii (which had last gen hw when it came out). With the wii they were able to launch at a low price due to its old hw, here i dont know if they can, cuz the tablet controler probably brings costs up. However i dont think ppl are going to buy smartphones or tablets instead, i mean, sure the markets overlap, but i dont think that much, i dont really care for a tablet, its games arent appealling to me and neither is any other application, however a console is definatlly appealing to me, not just the wii u, a console in general, and the wii u is a console, even thou its control has a touch screen
You see that big text that says "Unconfirmed" yeah, that pretty much means that everything listed is speculation and rumors.
No 3rd parties want to develop for it? So I guess Crytek, Gearbox, Capcom, Namco-Bandai, Ubisoft, EA, Activison (need I go on) are all 2nd parties then?
Blitz Studios creative director even stated that it's not the specs that matter about the Wii U, it's the experience that the Wii U is offering that makes it stand out and exciting for developers. So learn that developers are not shallow gamers like you who only care about "the specs and amount of pixels a console can generate".
I would love to see this source that states that what's in the Wii U is 9 year old tech because I've seen this no where. Although I've seen multiple reports that the Wii U has a far superior GPU with a CPU that clocks slightly slower (to prevent the system from overheating) which makes far more sense than Nintendo making a bonehead move by creating a console that's only as powerful as 5-6 year old consoles, even after Iwata stated that they made sure that the Wii U not only will be able to compete with current gen consoles, but also next gen consoles.
Conversation powered by Livefyre
Content you might like…
-
How Nintendo Breaks New Ground with Familiar Faces
Tom Mc Shea explores how Nintendo Land goes beyond simple casual appeal.
- Oct 29, 2012
Users who looked at this article also looked at these content items.
Hot Stories
Newsmakers
-
Biden: No legal problem with taxing violent games
United States Vice President Joe Biden believes there is no legal restriction on ability to tax violent media. Full Story
- Posted May 13, 2013 12:50 pm PT
-
Just Cause dev promises 'holy f**king sh**' moments in future games
Avalanche Studios co-founder says developer's ambition is for action, not moments that make players cry; steampunk-style game on hold. Full Story
- Posted May 15, 2013 6:33 am PT
Featured Stories
-
Bungie shoots down Destiny for PS Vita rumor
Developer confirms image suggesting version of upcoming shared-world shooter in development for Sony's latest portable is a fake. Full Story
- Posted May 16, 2013 5:08 am PT
-
Ubisoft planning to release games more frequently
Assassin's Creed and Far Cry publisher says its network of 26 studios and over 7,000 developers will allow company to ship major franchises more regularly. Full Story
- Posted May 16, 2013 4:42 am PT
-
Metro: Last Light dev responds to workplace conditions claims
4A Games creative director Andrew Prokhorov thanks Jason Rubin for telling the studio's story, but says, "We deserve the ratings we get." Full Story
- Posted May 16, 2013 12:44 pm PT
-
EA opens DICE LA to make Star Wars games
DICE head would also like to poach top talent from rivals Infinity Ward and Treyarch. Full Story
- Posted May 15, 2013 3:28 am PT
-
EA dropping Online Passes - Report
Future EA games won't require Online Passes; the service is being scrapped after tepid player response. Full Story
- Posted May 15, 2013 8:28 pm PT
Submit News
Related Game
Recent News
-
Layoffs at Defiance dev - Report
Trion Worlds confirms job cuts as part of company reorganization, says 80 percent layoff figure "definitely exaggerated"; development on Rift, future...
