Wii U Japan: 8 December, 8GB/32GB, Up to £250

By Jorge Ba-oh 13.09.2012 17

Wii U Japan: 8 December, 8GB/32GB, Up to £250 on Nintendo gaming news, videos and discussion

Nintendo kick things off in home turf, revealing the launch date and price for the Wii U in Japan.

Today is a rather special one for Nintendo fans; the company is holding a series of presentations and events with one thing in mind: the Wii U. The latest in over two decades of video game innovation is heading to a store near you before the year's end. 

During the presentation company president Satoru Iwata discussed the legacy of the Wii, how the new console game about and Wii U concepts; brandishing a rather gorgeous looking black GamePad. He re-iterated the ability to communicate with others during gameplay using the new peripheral, plus being able to pop off to the loo or play away from the main TV whilst it's in use. 

Both Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros U will be launching in Japan, with the former not included in the Wii U bundle. Nintendo wil lalso release a series of accessories, including a Wii U charging dock and stands.

The GamePad will also be available as an additional unit at a rather wallet-hungry price of 13, 440 Yen (around £100 / $170).

There will also be two models at launch - two configurations of the console - one with 8GB and the other with a more meaty 32GB. It's likely that further models would become available at a later date.

Iwata also revealed Nintendo Network Premium, an additional subscrption service.

Most importantly though, the release date and price for Japan: 8th December 2012 at 31,500 Yen for the 32GB model (£250 / $400) and 26,250 Yen for the 8GB model (£210 / $340)

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250 not bad! i think i paid about that for my n64. in the presentation 23.00 wii u presentation was show. is there another nintendo direct for japan at 11pm?

I'm guessing £280 in the UK, for the 32GB model.

Sounds like they really want to have options for everyone with the launch of the Wii U.

So you're basically paying the rough equivalent of a new game just for 24GB more storage? Who in their right mind would do that when you can get an external USB hard drive with 500GB for the around same price?

If that's it, then the black basic model seems the way to go for me. It's available in black too and not just the 32GB model....right..RIGHT??

SirLink said:
So you're basically paying the rough equivalent of a new game just for 24GB more storage? Who in their right mind would do that when you can get an external USB hard drive with 500GB for the around same price?

If that's it, then the black basic model seems the way to go for me. It's available in black too and not just the 32GB model....right..RIGHT??

The basic model is white, apparently. You have to buy the premium for the black one. That's what I've been hearing at least.

Marzy said:

The basic model is white, apparently. You have to buy the premium for the black one. That's what I've been hearing at least.

Yeah...that's the impression I got too. If true, that's just total BS. I don't need all that other stuff either like the stands or Nintendo Network Premium, I just want a black Wii U.

I'll be getting the black Premium. "Nintendo Network Premium: 500 Club Nintendo points + 10% off digital purchases until December 2014." That will come in very useful for me.

I hope the price translates well..

Here's the presentation in full:


 

 


( Edited 13.09.2012 10:30 by Linkyshinks )

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No complete launch title list yet?

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RudyC3 said:
No complete launch title list yet?

Japan has another event focusing on software coming, so I'm guessing that's where it will be revealed for them. Might be included in our presentations though.

December 8th in Japan? Unless they're releasing in other regions at the same time, it's a bit obvious how desperately they're trying to squeeze this in before the holiday season, I just hope the system doesn't seem rushed.

I'm glad that there will be other models, but yeah the price difference seems like it could be a little much in this day n age.

And fuck Network Premium it had better be cheap as hell.
I hate buying subscriptions for online play HATE.
fuckin.

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SuperLink said:
December 8th in Japan? Unless they're releasing in other regions at the same time, it's a bit obvious how desperately they're trying to squeeze this in before the holiday season, I just hope the system doesn't seem rushed.

I'm glad that there will be other models, but yeah the price difference seems like it could be a little much in this day n age.

And fuck Network Premium it had better be cheap as hell.
I hate buying subscriptions for online play HATE.
fuckin.


The Wii launched early December in Japan and Europe too, with North America getting it mid-November and that system wasn't rushed now, was it? I think it's plausible to see that pattern repeat itself for the Wii U.

There's nothing that in any way indicates that online will require a subscription. Heck, that would completely interfere with all their Miiverse plans. This is more like a weaker Playstation Plus if anything.

SirLink said:

The Wii launched early December in Japan and Europe too, with North America getting it mid-November and that system wasn't rushed now, was it? I think it's plausible to see that pattern repeat itself for the Wii U.
Ah really? I must have forgotten, I assumed it came out in Japan first but I guess it didn't. Either way it's a very similar period to the Wii's, let's hope they can advertise the console as its own thing (not just an add on like many think it is) and that it gets some good sales over christmas like the Wii did.

There's nothing that in any way indicates that online will require a subscription. Heck, that would completely interfere with all their Miiverse plans. This is more like a weaker Playstation Plus if anything.

Yeah I don't doubt that Nintendo Network will be free, but I just hope that those who don't subscribe aren't gimped of many features.
I hate PlayStation Plus too.

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SuperLink said:

Yeah I don't doubt that Nintendo Network will be free, but I just hope that those who don't subscribe aren't gimped of many features.
I hate PlayStation Plus too.

So far all we know is that you'll get a 10% discount on all downloadable software. If there is much more to that, shouldn't they've announced that too to give people more reasons to choose the more expensive model?

Exactly what features are people who don't have Playstation Plus missing out on? I know they periodically get free games which they stop having access to if their subscription runs out and they get (bigger) discounts on some software, which they can keep unlike the free ones but is there anything else major that I'm not aware of?

SirLink said:

So far all we know is that you'll get a 10% discount on all downloadable software. If there is much more to that, shouldn't they've announced that too to give people more reasons to choose the more expensive model?

Exactly what features are people who don't have Playstation Plus missing out on? I know they periodically get free games which they stop having access to if their subscription runs out and they get (bigger) discounts on some software, which they can keep unlike the free ones but is there anything else major that I'm not aware of?


Nothing really major, it's just the whole philosophy of an online system where people who pay a subscription get things that others don't. It's like dlc, it's not that the people who pay get more, it's that the people who don't pay get less.

(still nothing's as bad as XBOX Live subscription, I seriously hope they offer a reasonable free version soon)

Bump

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Dudes you say the extra buck isn't worth it for the bigger Wii HDD, but it also comes with a charger and some stands, the stands sound a little pointless but a charger would probably be like £15 or more in retail to begin with
so that's not too bad.

( Edited 13.09.2012 13:30 by SuperLink )

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ARG
Very bad.
No Wiimote sold with it? Say goodbye to all precision aiming and 1:1 movements. Grrr. Things that dont come with the system are never used much at all.

They have also chucked away the market that bought the Wii for WiiSports too. Also its very pricey at first for multiplayer too - another market of initial buyers lost.
I really dont think this will sale well at all Smilie

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Darkflame said:
ARG
Very bad.
No Wiimote sold with it? Say goodbye to all precision aiming and 1:1 movements. Grrr. Things that dont come with the system are never used much at all.

They have also chucked away the market that bought the Wii for WiiSports too. Also its very pricey at first for multiplayer too - another market of initial buyers lost.
I really dont think this will sale well at all Smilie


I think the market who wants that already has Wiimotes, they'll be happy to know they can still be used on this new system I think; I'm also sure there will be deals for Wiimotes, compatibility will be assured, the WiiU is largely marketed towards Wii adopters as well as gamers who were drifting away from Nintendo.

Most systems ship with one controller, the pricing of this would be crazy if there was a wiimote as well as the expensive as fuck pad.

Tbh the pad is like, half of the console's price almost, that's a lot. They're likely making this thing at a loss if it uses modern hardware and is sold at well under £300.

( Edited 13.09.2012 13:36 by SuperLink )

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Darkflame said:
ARG
Very bad.
No Wiimote sold with it? Say goodbye to all precision aiming and 1:1 movements. Grrr. Things that dont come with the system are never used much at all.

They have also chucked away the market that bought the Wii for WiiSports too. Also its very pricey at first for multiplayer too - another market of initial buyers lost.
I really dont think this will sale well at all Smilie

1) In the US 100 million Wii Remotes have been sold, so it's not like they are a rarity.

2) Why do you think they chucked away the market that bout Wii for Wii Sports? Please explain this more.

I think £280 sounds a little steep, they should take the edge of a little, £260 or £279-ish and I'd probably consider it. Some of the games look fairly appealing, and I'm sure the more hardcore-orientated Nintendo games are coming (like Pikmin) in the future - but also can't help thinking: the price will lower considerably by the time of Sony and Microsoft's next systems, and also: delaying until then would allow a good catalogue to build up and hardware and extras to potentially decrease in price. This info should have been revealed at E3, it's fairly tempting the way it's shown off here.

I'm now considering buying the console, which a month ago I wasn't. But I don't think your average 360/PS3 gamers will feel overwhelmed to buy in. It will be interesting to see how the next year pans out for the console. But I still can't help thinking the better option would have been to make the 3DS handheld device connectable to the Wii-U, the pad hasn't proved that much 'uniqueness' - feels like the 'three-pillar' era the way they push it in your face!

Tom Barry [ Reviewer - Editor - Resident Sim-Racer @ Cubed3.com ] 

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