Wii U Arrives in United States on November 18

@toastface said:

I would certainly buy one at those prices, but seeing as I'm Australian, I'll have to pay $349 or $429, and that's pushing it.

Yes just because we don't live in America we pay an extra $100 for everything. And our dollars are equal so they can't use that as an excuse anymore.

Hey, looks pretty good to me. Probably not day-1 but within 6 months of release.

@nohthink said:

Wow 300 and 350 huh? That is more expensive than PS3... I was not expecting that. And I thought they learned their mistakes from 3DS...

You're surprised that it's more expensive than a six year old console?

The price was never the issue for the 3DS. If they had more than 0 games for the first 6 months the price drop would have never happened.

@Link43130:Nintendo is not selling the gaming pad in the US. Ign.com has an article up about it

Alright so I grab a deluxe version and put it on Ebay then when it is inevitably hard to find after launch?

Easiest money I ever made.

a 2012 game console and the best model has 32gb cmon nintendo

@Brandino:

@Brandino said:

@Balex1908 said:

Seriously? Bayonetta is the thing that makes people going from "I dont give a shit" to " OMG DAY ONE" ? Really?

Bayonetta has a strong following and if i wasn't already buying it and was on the fence, this would of sold me. But i could say the same thing about Halo, I don't care for it and wouldn't buy a console for it but millions do. And yeah Bayonetta isn't as huge but it does have it's followers.

this is what's known as a false equivalency friend.

bayonetta to halo???? seriously?

the reason why everyone is talking up bayonetta 2 is it's the only suprise game announced that could be good for that genre.

If anyone wants a deal skip this and get a 3ds at wamart tomorrow for $119 that is a deal (canada anniversary flyer) at least at this point there are a decent set of games available and some sales.

I don't want Nintendo to fail, but I am cautious of them and will be taking a wait and see on this one. Considering how many games they released for wii and the costs of accessories etc I am not overly satisfied with that one. It's alright I just don't think for the 350 plus 2 games and tax that I would spend on Wii U at launch would really justify the enjoyment. I can spend a fraction of that on all the games I am waiting for this holiday instead. Games I want to play far more than any of the Wii U "launch" titles, I will concede it's a new gadget and has novelty but I think people will stare the truth in the face after a week or two with it.

Nostalgia is the main reason Nintendo gets away with much of the stuff they pull. It's good for a new generation of kids to play these classics in updated form, but when you don't cycle through your ip's and you don't curry 3rd party support and don't really do innovative things with your gimmick, LOOK at Motion Plus? So glitchy Grand Slam Tennis, and glitchy Skyward Sword was the best you could do?

What amount of faith am I supposed to put into your tablet controller? I hope they release amazing games every few months and make tablet gameplay fun and engaging in new ways, with a robust online system and consistent strong 3rd party support. I frankly have my doubts. Not to rain on anyones I'ma get a Wii U parade.

The biggest thing that stands out for me is that if the Japanese versions of this are more expensive or with less things thrown in, why would anyone in Japan buy it over just getting a cheaper & better version from the US version?

@maxB said:

a 2012 game console and the best model has 32gb cmon nintendo

It also supports external storage, as many gigglebytes as you want.

@fox01313 said:

The biggest thing that stands out for me is that if the Japanese versions of this are more expensive or with less things thrown in, why would anyone in Japan buy it over just getting a cheaper & better version from the US version?

Shipping charges, the language barrier, region locking?

Nintendo had a good run guys

Why are people whining about the price? It is a new console! It is bound to be more expensive than the current consoles. The basic model will do me just fine. In an ideal world, as I'm living in Asia I would have hoped the system to be region free but Nintendo just ain't that kind. In regards to the purchases on the wii carrying over, as I sold my wii, they take this info from your credit card? It's been so long, but I wants to play me some Street Gangs, aka River City Ransom and Final Fight again. 185 pounds is an ok price to play all the new cool franchise games and 3rd party Japanese support

@Skeetlejuice said:

@Brandino:

@Brandino said:

@Balex1908 said:

Seriously? Bayonetta is the thing that makes people going from "I dont give a shit" to " OMG DAY ONE" ? Really?

Bayonetta has a strong following and if i wasn't already buying it and was on the fence, this would of sold me. But i could say the same thing about Halo, I don't care for it and wouldn't buy a console for it but millions do. And yeah Bayonetta isn't as huge but it does have it's followers.

this is what's known as a false equivalency friend.

bayonetta to halo???? seriously?

the reason why everyone is talking up bayonetta 2 is it's the only suprise game announced that could be good for that genre.

If anyone wants a deal skip this and get a 3ds at wamart tomorrow for $119 that is a deal (canada anniversary flyer) at least at this point there are a decent set of games available and some sales.

I don't want Nintendo to fail, but I am cautious of them and will be taking a wait and see on this one. Considering how many games they released for wii and the costs of accessories etc I am not overly satisfied with that one. It's alright I just don't think for the 350 plus 2 games and tax that I would spend on Wii U at launch would really justify the enjoyment. I can spend a fraction of that on all the games I am waiting for this holiday instead. Games I want to play far more than any of the Wii U "launch" titles, I will concede it's a new gadget and has novelty but I think people will stare the truth in the face after a week or two with it.

Nostalgia is the main reason Nintendo gets away with much of the stuff they pull. It's good for a new generation of kids to play these classics in updated form, but when you don't cycle through your ip's and you don't curry 3rd party support and don't really do innovative things with your gimmick, LOOK at Motion Plus? So glitchy Grand Slam Tennis, and glitchy Skyward Sword was the best you could do?

What amount of faith am I supposed to put into your tablet controller? I hope they release amazing games every few months and make tablet gameplay fun and engaging in new ways, with a robust online system and consistent strong 3rd party support. I frankly have my doubts. Not to rain on anyones I'ma get a Wii U parade.

false equivalency? Where did i compare Bayonetta to Halo? I didn't. I simply said Bayonetta has a following like Halo where they both have a group of fans who will buy a console FOR that game, i know plenty of people who weren't sold on the Wii-U and after seeing that announcement immediately changed their minds. The point i am making is that people will buy consoles for one game or no games, look at PS3 launch, look at how many people bought that console for $600 with 0 games, literally had nothing worth spending $60 on for what? Almost 2 years? 360? Same thing. And that's fine if you don't think $350 plus 2 games and tax is worth it to you but it's worth it for a lot of people including myself.

Out of all the launch games i actually want to play and own almost all of them, i can't say that for any other console last gen or for the DS/PSP/Vita/3DS launch.

@cosi83 said:

Why are people whining about the price? It is a new console! It is bound to be more expensive than the current consoles. T

Because technology-wise it's basically a last-gen console. It's got a unique controller, but that's probably not enough, at least for some people, to justify its $300 price for (relatively) old technology.

I honestly feel bad for Nintendo and am quite surprised that it isn't brought up often enough.

The US is coming off of a really bad year after a really bad recession where they are less likely to spend significant amounts of money on a console unless it is a justified purchase. Ironically this helps Microsoft and Sony since they are lagging behind with their new consoles.

So if people are in fact going to get a new console, they have to have significant justification.

Nintendo has always justified their consoles with their games. The Wii U launches with no Mario, no Zelda, no Metroid.

There is no actual reason to go out of your way to purchase this console. It is the Nintendo 3DS all over again, it feels like they aren't learning anything from their mistakes. At least the 3DS saw a Nintendo 64 remake of Zelda 64 months later down the line.

Most of Wii's success was based off of it's Gimmick in the Motion controller. And while motion controls have been around for a very long time, they focused on it and refined it.

However they launched with a Zelda Game, a Gamecube port.

There is no Zelda/Mario/Metroid Launch title and there is no Gimmick in the Wii U, it is a tethered glorified Nintendo DS touch screen. There is no attraction to it like there was to the Wii.

Even if the Wii did not launch with a Zelda game, the attraction to the Motion controls sold the console because it was new and interesting. Wii U's gimmick is a touch screen.

Put that together with a bad economical year for the US where Parents and Gamers are going to be watching their money more, and you are going to have a bad launch...

It almost feels like they are launching this console because they feel obligated to do something. Not because they actually want to. I am absolutely sure they know they can not launch a major console without one of their signature titles. It is almost bad luck to do so.

@algertman said:

WiiU getting MonHun 3 world wide along with the 3DS version. Please don't kill yourself weeaboo sony fanboys.

i'm pretty sure we can live with it, considering they are planning on monster hunter 4 and your just getting milked like a sucker. I have freedom unite on psp and it's cool, but i honestly am not jealous as I passed on Monster Hunter Tri for Wii with Pro controller for like $30 bucks. If you are smart you will wait for 4 and not get sucked in, just slezzin. Fanboy or no.

@FallenAway1511 said:

@Link43130:Nintendo is not selling the gaming pad in the US. Ign.com has an article up about it

Not selling the game pad UNTIL games are released that support two.

@cosi83 said:

Why are people whining about the price? It is a new console! It is bound to be more expensive than the current consoles. The basic model will do me just fine. In an ideal world, as I'm living in Asia I would have hoped the system to be region free but Nintendo just ain't that kind. In regards to the purchases on the wii carrying over, as I sold my wii, they take this info from your credit card? It's been so long, but I wants to play me some Street Gangs, aka River City Ransom and Final Fight again. 185 pounds is an ok price to play all the new cool franchise games and 3rd party Japanese support

Your purchases may be transferred by the person who owns your Wii now. They're tied to your Wii Shop account, which is itself tied to a single machine.

@Seppli said:

Why close the gap to the current generation, if the current generation userbase is hungry for the next generation - have been for years, at least in my case.

That said, as a gamer, I'm excited for what Nintendo and their WiiU brings to the table. Dualscreen & touchscreen & motion control & augmented reality gaming in combination with the classic controller setup - that's got 'Core Gamer' written all over it - and I'd love to see it succeed.

I'm just not excited by the evident lack of processing power. We need a massive increase in processing power & system memory, for bigger and better and more badass games, that no longer have to compromise their vision due to lack of processing power & system memory. The WiiU isn't it. It's pretty much a 360, only it's got to divert processing power to the tablet controller display, which likely makes it less powerful than even a 360, especially if a game takes full advantage of the tablet controller.

Not at launch. Not at that price. Not with that laughable amount of harddrive space. But yes - I am in the market for a WiiU - it's Nintendo's return to the core market, and I'm game for that. Just make me a better offer in a year or two, and you'll get my business.

Sanity at last. To everyone that buys it at launch you deserve as much fun as your purchase should warrant, hopefully Nintendo delivers. I will be waiting for a combination of games and a console configuration that suits my tastes. I never buy consoles at launch but The Wii U and the Vita are the only ones I have not had. Vita is getting closer to tempting me.

The only question in my mind is whether or not it can play dual-layered disks. I didn't buy Xenoblade Chronicles so that it could collect dust on my shelf.

8 GB for $300?? And $50 more only gets you up to 32? This is 2012, Nintendo, people like to buy games digitally and store other media on their consoles, get with the time jeez. Feels like they are releasing this console 3+ years too late and are going to get absolutely smoked in a year or two when Playstation and Xbox release actual next gen consoles, seems wiser to just wait for those unless you are really bored and have lots of cash to throw away.

8 GB means you can hold what 1 or 2 games and no room for other stuff... have fun with that. I had more than 8 gigs of stuff on my Ps3 after 1 day of owning it and more than 32 GB within a few weeks.

The only reason I'm glad this is coming out is that maybe Microsoft and Sony will get off their collective asses and release new hardware. I love my PC, but I like putting the disc in a console and it just fucking playing it.

I am done with consoles.

@darkest4: You can add an external hard drive of any size.

As always the games will be the telling factor on this Console, I will buy this if it has good first party games, simple as that.

NO! Bayonetta 2 is Wii U exclusive? This sucks! Bayonetta was one of my favorite games of this gen and there is no way that I am getting sucked in by Nintendo's gimmick based hardware again.

@LordAndrew said:

@darkest4: You can add an external hard drive of any size.

So what? Every console can use externals. That's just another $xx you have to spend to make this console up to par with Ps3/Xbox360s that come with far more storage included. And running games off an external HDD is not always an ideal experience. If you want to store more than just 1 or 2 games, now you're up to $400~ for a console that doesn't offer much over PS3/Xbox360 which is kind of sad for a 2012 release.

Like I said, this console feels 3+ years too late and they seem really out of touch with current trends (lots of people like downloading games, many PSN/arcade games don't even have any option besides downloading, not to mention everything having DLC these days, and thus current gamers need ample storage). If they want people to be willing to shell out $300-350 instead of waiting for Ps4/nextbox, they should be getting somewhat of a next generation experience, instead it doesn't even match up to 6 year old generation in some ways, like storage and game selection (also seems like they aren't focusing on downloadable games once again, I doubt PSN/Arcade indie releases will come to WII U then..).

I don't think the controller alone will be enough of a compelling gimmick to make this console a big success, to me it looked like a distraction from where my eyes want to be looking more than anything else, but I hope the people that do buy it enjoy it of course.

Yayyyyyyyy.

$300 is too much for an impulse buy. I'll wait till there is a game that would be interesting to play.

if the wii u cost 350. how much will the ps4 and xbox720 go for? 400-500?

@cosi83 said:

Why are people whining about the price? It is a new console! It is bound to be more expensive than the current consoles. The basic model will do me just fine. In an ideal world, as I'm living in Asia I would have hoped the system to be region free but Nintendo just ain't that kind. In regards to the purchases on the wii carrying over, as I sold my wii, they take this info from your credit card? It's been so long, but I wants to play me some Street Gangs, aka River City Ransom and Final Fight again. 185 pounds is an ok price to play all the new cool franchise games and 3rd party Japanese support

People are dumb. A lot of the same people whining about the price think nothing of spending $100 on lunches every week, buying a tablet for hundreds of dollars, upgrading their phones every 6 months etc. They somehow forget that a console is a multi-year investment. Hell, I have a guy on my FB complaining about it who bought a $1300 CPU that was worth $200 a few months later.

People don't think.

@darkest4 said:

@LordAndrew said:

@darkest4: You can add an external hard drive of any size.

So what? Every console can use externals. That's just another $xx you have to spend to make this console up to par with Ps3/Xbox360s that come with far more storage included. And running games off an external HDD is not always an ideal experience. If you want to store more than just 1 or 2 games, now you're up to $400~ for a console that doesn't offer much over PS3/Xbox360 which is kind of sad for a 2012 release.

The 360 can't use externals of any size. You also pay out of the ass for the 360s that "come" with far more storage included. About a dollar a gig.

@Th3irdEye said:

NO! Bayonetta 2 is Wii U exclusive? This sucks! Bayonetta was one of my favorite games of this gen and there is no way that I am getting sucked in by Nintendo's gimmick based hardware again.

Just pretend Bayonetta 2 doesn't exist, just like it was before Nintendo decided to take the risk on it.

Sure why not? This seems reasonably priced and I am willing to give Nintendo a shot , the $350 option seems like the way better deal.

It's funny how everyone missed the part that the console is easily expanded storage wise with SD cards or USB hard drive.

@tactis said:

Sure why not? This seems reasonably priced and I am willing to give Nintendo a shot , the $350 option seems like the way better deal.

I have to ask, why do you believe this is a reasonable price? Not to get into a "spec war" but the WiiU isn't exactly a powerhouse that can blow away the competition.

@EXTomar said:

@tactis said:

Sure why not? This seems reasonably priced and I am willing to give Nintendo a shot , the $350 option seems like the way better deal.

I have to ask, why do you believe this is a reasonable price? Not to get into a "spec war" but the WiiU isn't exactly a powerhouse that can blow away the competition.

So from my perspective video game consoles are usually always a great value, u buy it once and then keep it for probably the entire generation or at least 3 years, compare that with me buying a new $200 phone or a new $200 or more tablet which get refreshed every year. Or at least that's what I tell myself lol I think I just like new tech.

@EXTomar said:

@tactis said:

Sure why not? This seems reasonably priced and I am willing to give Nintendo a shot , the $350 option seems like the way better deal.

I have to ask, why do you believe this is a reasonable price? Not to get into a "spec war" but the WiiU isn't exactly a powerhouse that can blow away the competition.

Honestly, I don't look for a console to "blow away the competition", I'm getting a console cause it has an experience that only it alone can provide me. In this case it's Nintendo exclusives, a fun looking and original gimmick and Bayonetta 2 so far.

Then again, I ended up owning all the consoles and I enjoyed my time with the Wii very much this gen. I mean my 360 is my main console due to beinga dirty achievement whore and most of my friends are on XBL, but discounting Blu-Ray movies I don't think I spent a signifigant amount of difference timewise between my PS3 and Wii when it came to enjoying their exclusives.

@darkest4 said:

@LordAndrew said:

@darkest4: You can add an external hard drive of any size.

So what? Every console can use externals. That's just another $xx you have to spend to make this console up to par with Ps3/Xbox360s that come with far more storage included. And running games off an external HDD is not always an ideal experience. If you want to store more than just 1 or 2 games, now you're up to $400~ for a console that doesn't offer much over PS3/Xbox360 which is kind of sad for a 2012 release.

Like I said, this console feels 3+ years too late and they seem really out of touch with current trends (lots of people like downloading games, many PSN/arcade games don't even have any option besides downloading, not to mention everything having DLC these days, and thus current gamers need ample storage). If they want people to be willing to shell out $300-350 instead of waiting for Ps4/nextbox, they should be getting somewhat of a next generation experience, instead it doesn't even match up to 6 year old generation in some ways, like storage and game selection (also seems like they aren't focusing on downloadable games once again, I doubt PSN/Arcade indie releases will come to WII U then..).

I don't think the controller alone will be enough of a compelling gimmick to make this console a big success, to me it looked like a distraction from where my eyes want to be looking more than anything else, but I hope the people that do buy it enjoy it of course.

?

The 360 uses a proprietary hard drive, and to expand the PS3's hard drive space, you have to go through the process of copying data to a new drive and swapping drives out of the console, which I haven't yet bothered to do with my 80GB model because I don't feel like going through that effort.

If I want more hard drive space on the Wii U, I can get an external drive, plug it in, maybe put it through a system format, and I'm done.

The reason why I ask that question is that with new consoles around the corner (in multiple classes) saying "$350 is a good deal" is kind of suspicious. I understand the "it has a game I want to play" angle but at this moment there isn't enough to WiiU in the launch window to justify the price tag where both the Vita and 3DS where bitter pills to swallow they tried to sweeten with the "big stuff coming" promise.

To be explicit I am not suggesting never buying one but I am suggesting waiting. I wouldn't turn one down as a Christmas gift but I wouldn't rush out for one either.

Looks good, though I think they it would be better received by slashing $50 of each price point in this recession.

@EXTomar said:

The reason why I ask that question is that with new consoles around the corner (in multiple classes) saying "$350 is a good deal" is kind of suspicious. I understand the "it has a game I want to play" angle but at this moment there isn't enough to WiiU in the launch window to justify the price tag where both the Vita and 3DS where bitter pills to swallow they tried to sweeten with the "big stuff coming" promise.

To be explicit I am not suggesting never buying one but I am suggesting waiting. I wouldn't turn one down as a Christmas gift but I wouldn't rush out for one either.

At the very least, it can play Wii games as well, and there are Wii games I own that I have yet to play fully. Even if there might not be too much on the Wii U-specific front immediately upon release, I'll have games to play in the meantime.

Peripherals make me horny

Everyone should always wait to purchase a new system since none ever launch with killer apps anymore. Nintendo can afford to price these SKUs so high because they know the hardcore will buy it at just about any price on launch day.

Considering the technology in the controller I don't really find the pricing unreasonable, and thanks to the head start they might be able to get a price drop in before holiday 2013.

@patrickklepek said:

It's $299 for the basic set, and $349 for the deluxe set.

Nope! You just got suckered by the old "99 cents" mind trick, son.

@SoothsayerGB said:

A foot-note in video game history.

That's exactly how I reacted to the Gamecube

@Imsorrymsjackson said:

@geirr: I just checked at my local game shop, its £310 for the deluxe bundle. I think I will skip this one.

Well there you go. The 3DSXL costs $300 here at its cheapest and that's a good warning sign.

Prices seem reasonable to me.