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)