The Nintendo Wii U will launch in Japan on Saturday December 8th and will come in two bundles on opening day.
The “basic” bundle will come with the console, a controller and an 8GB HDD. This set will retail for ¥26,250. The “premium” bundle will sell with an HDMI cable, power cradles for your Wii U pad and a 32GB HDD and will sell for ¥31,500.
The systems come with 2GB of on board memory, 1GB for the system and 1GB for games. The Wii U will also use a proprietary 25GB game disc.
The Wii U will support 720p and 1080p high definition.
Extra Wii U GamePads will retail for ¥13,440, though only two can be used with one system at a time. One thing to note is that an extra GamePad will set you back nearly half as much as the entire Wii U console itself!
The GamePad contains:
– 6.2″ LCD Touchscreen
– Two analogue sticks
– an accelerometer
– gyro sensors
– NFC reader
A Wii U Pro Controller will be released at the same time as the system, looking much like an Xbox 360 controller. This controller will retail for ¥5,040. The wireless controller can be charged via USB with up to four being used on one system. They will come in black or white at launch.
Other accessories that are available for sale include:
– Wii Remotes – ¥3,800
– Nunchuck controllers – ¥1,800,
– Wii U system stands – ¥315,
– Wii U GamePad dock and stand – ¥1,890
– Wii Remote + Nunchuck + Sensor Bar – ¥5,250
Iwata revealed that not only will the Wii U be compatible with all Wii software titles, but also existing Wii peripherals such as the Wii Balance Board will work right out of the box.
Also WiiWare and Virtual Console titles downloaded on your existing Nintendo Wii can be transfered to the Wii U, similar to the way upgrading from a Nintendo DSi to 3DS allowed downloaded content to be transfered.
One thing that Iwata noted was the plus of having a ‘second screen’ with the Wii U Gamepad. This will allow for less clutter on your television screen. I’m mostly excited about the possibility of local multiplayer without being forced to play split screen.
The system’s physical dimensions were revealed as well to be 46mm x 172mm x 268.5mm.
Iwata also confirmed that New Super Mario Bros U and NintendoLand will be launch titles, with more titles being announced at their software briefing later today. Both titles will also be available for purchase download, with Mario retailing for ¥5,985 and NintendoLand retailing for ¥4,935. Gamers who download the titles will get a redemption code for 500 Nintendo Points through a new reward system called Nintendo Network Premium.
Of course these details are specific to Japan and therefore dates and prices will likely vary for the rest of the globe. Nintendo of America will also hold their launch announcement Nintendo Direct conference today at 10am EDT, though despite the leaked dates of early November it’s unlikely that the console will ship to North America before Japan.
Stay tuned!
