Nintendo has finally started to announce the pertinent information regarding their upcoming system, the Wii U, that we have all been waiting for. At an event in Japan late last night/early this morning, details regarding the console’s launch date, initial titles, pricing, and bundles in that part of the world were finally revealed.
The Wii U will be launched in Japan on December 8th, 2012 at the price points of 26,250 and 31,500 Yen for what are being referred to as the Basic and Premium bundles, respectively. The Basic bundle will include a white Wii U system, with 2GB of internal memory and 8GB of flash memory. The Premium bundle will include 32GB of flash memory, and a black Wii U instead of white. Both sets include the Wiipad, stylus, cables (including HDMI), and other necessary cables. The premium set will specifically come with a gamepad stand, charger, and Wii U stand.
Owners of the premium bundle will also receive access to Nintendo Network Premium, an internet service seemingly in the same realm as Xbox Live and PlayStation Network Plus. The Wii U Pro Controller was also given a price and release date in Japan; December 8th, 2012 at the price of 5,040 Yen. The Wiipad will be individually priced at 13,440 Yen. Finally, two of the launch titles announced for the system will be New Super Mario. Bros U and Nintendo Land – neither will be bundled with the systems themselves.
[UPDATE]
The Wii U has been detailed as containing the following technical specifications via Nintendo Everything:
- Supports full 1080p
- “GPGPU” used
- Main memory: 1GB
- System memory: 1GB
- Total memory is 2GB
- Games only use 1GB of main memory
- System memory is for the OS
- Can use the browser while playing
- Game discs are 25GB
- Discs run at 22.5 MB/s
- Uses up to 75 watts of electricity
- Typical power usage is 45 watts
- Reconfirmed: import Wii VC and WiiWare games