@cairnsythebeard,
Alrighty, here we go!
- Will a third party replacement UK mains power cord be good enough to power the console or will it explode in my face?
From my understanding, yes, but I might recommend paying a couple of £ more for an official Nintendo EUR unit; I've had third-party external power supplies be a little flaky. I picked up an official, 220v EUR Wii power supply for my NTSC Wii, and because it's an external power supply regulating the UK current to a 110v device, it works a charm.
I assume you know the general dangers of plugging a 110v device into a 220v outlet. Typically, yes, they will burn out and completely fry the device, rendering your $300 console a paper-weight. I remember many people destroying USA DreamCasts this way back in the day. Always, always check the labelling on your devices; if the power supply is internal (labelled on the console itself) and says 110v, or is external and says 110v, you will need either a step-down transformer with sufficient wattage to handle the console (see @shadowmountain's post), or a localised external power supply for the console. Unfortunately, you'd normally need two step-downs (or two external power supplies) for the Wii U, between one for the console and one for the GamePad...
However, there is an extremely-bizarre exception that concerns the NTSC-USA Wii U that could save you quite a bit of money if you're careful. Both my "110V only"-labled power supplies for both the Wii U console and the GamePad charger are actually dual-voltage inside, and I'm not the only one.
I simply have both adapters plugged into a UK outlet with some cheapo 2 flat-prong to 3-UK prong travel adapters. I would normally never, ever recommend just hooking up a 110v device this way unless I KNEW the console has an internal/external, switching dual-voltage power supply (ala most NTSC PS3 units, believe it or not), but I did some multimetre tests on my own Wii U supplies and they're fine and dandy at 220v. Your milage may vary, so if you're not willing to take the risk, pay the extra for some UK power supplies or get two quality step-down transformers.
- Will a UK Wii U charging cradle be compatible with the US gamepad?
See my previous reply, basically. I'm using my 110v US supply no problem, but you may want to take the safer options mentioned above.
- Will the video signal be compatible with UK TVs? Or is that whole thing a thing of the past?
Though 1080i 50Hz does technically exist here in Europe (and is used on many FreeView HD channels and BBC Blu-rays), the HD era has basically removed the age old PAL/NTSC/SECAM problem in the majority of cases where HDMI is involved. Near as I can tell, everything on my Wii U is outputting at 720/1080p @ 60Hz, so if your display supports that via HDMI (it should!), you're good to go.
Heads-up if you're using an older surround-sound system, though; the Wii U doesn't have an optical out, and only outputs unencoded direct five-channel via HDMI. Otherwise, you'll have to send audio through a classic A/V out cable for Dolby Pro Logic II or pass that through an optical out on your TV (but it won't be true five-channel unless your set can decode and pass that through that in some way).
- Will the US Wii U launch the american eShop in the UK? Or will I have to also use a VPN or other crazy shit?
Thankfully, it doesn't look like Nintendo bother with any IP checks, so as with my NTSC-U 3DS, it sure does! Hell, I was able to transfer my Nintendo Wii Shop purchases and game saves from my NTSC Wii to the internal virtual Wii on the new Wii U, and the USA eShop even recognises the games that I'm eligible for a discounted Wii U upgrade on (such as Super Metroid).
... that was possibly a confusing sentence!
- Can I use my UK billing address to pay for games on the US eShop? Or can I use PayPal? Or will I have to buy gift vouchers?
While I haven't actively tried this on the Wii U yet, this IS normally a problem. You can get away with faking a USA address on the Nintendo Network/Club Nintendo by entering the ZIP code of a Wal*Mart or something, but debit/credit card purchases almost certainly require a real address.
Unlike the USA PSN, which now supports PayPal (though they may do address checks too, so I still stick to points), the eShop doesn't support PayPal quite yet to my knowledge. Once again, I'll second @shadowmountain's recommendation: grab pre-paid USA eShop points cards from eBay or elsewhere. If you like, I can PM you a link to the suppliers I use.
- Will multiplayer games be a problem as i'm playing the US version from the UK? Will it use US servers for example?
I've never had an issue with this on past systems, though I still need to test it on the Wii U (Smash Bros. is still somewhere in the post). On my USA 3DS and Wii, it just connects me to the USA servers, and I login to the Wii U itself through my USA Nintendo Network ID.
- Will I be able to use other apps like Netflix? Will they use the US or UK version?
I think this will apply on an app-by-app basis, but Netflix definitely works, and I assume you'll be able to get most others working somehow. Netflix does do IP checking, so it bounces me straight to the login for my UK Netflix account (complete with "Watch TV programmes and films anytime, just £6.99 a month" ad on my GamePad). I'd be curious to see if something like Crunchyroll would let me through, but I don't have a sub.
- If the gamepad breaks, will a UK replacement be compatible?
I assumed this wouldn't be an issue (accessories are generally region-free, and Wii U Pro Controllers apparently work no problem across region), but I hear that due to some bizarre WiFi standard differences between PAL and NTSC regions, GamePads may now be region-locked. Lame!
Now! For some additional info about costs, and my experience with import taxes...
Living in the UK, you're probably aware that we have to pay import tax at nearly the standard VAT rate on most imported goods.
However, this doesn't apply if the item is cheap enough, and under other conditions. Here's some general advice for importing games:
- Generally, if the item is valued at under $40-ish, customs will leave it alone.
- Items shipped via un-tracked methods (for example, non-courier air mail), while taking longer to arrive, seem less likely to be examined by customs, if you want to risk that.
- Items marked as "gift", with sufficient gift wrapping, can potentially avoid customs altogether (even for expensive items, like family gifts), but we're getting into gray legal territory here, so I'm not going to condone that! ;)
For more expensive items, like a console, you'll generally want to avoid being hit with import taxes at your door at all costs. And I don't mean just for trying to avoid import taxes, but because couriers in the UK generally slap on all sorts of nasty handling charges when taxes are involved! These are often ridiculous, like a £12+ "holding charge" and another £15+ "delivery charge", on top of the actual import tax you may owe.
Thankfully, eBay have a solution (of sorts) for more expensive items: the "Global Shipping Programme". This allows you to pay import taxes up-front, directly to eBay USA through PayPal, and when it gets to the UK, it's simply treated like a UK parcel. Not all sellers offer this, but more and more now do, and this is how I got my Wii U. It arrived in two weeks from the order date, and there were zero customs issues at the door.
If you're curious, here's how the costs break down for my recent NTSC Wii U purchase. Note: I stayed up until 5AM GMT to grab this Black Friday bundle price. They sold out in about eight minutes!
- Wii U 32GB Deluxe Bundle + Super Mario 3D World + Nintendo Land: $259.99 / £167.11
- Delivery charges: $28.87 / £18.56
- Import charges, direct to eBay through GSP: $62.19 / £39.97
- Total (roughly): $351.04 / £225.64
- Two USA to UK travel adapters: something like £5
If you have any further questions, or need clarification on anything I've said here, feel free to contact me.
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