Nintendo held their fall press conference for the Wii U, and the released some new information along with re-iterating a lot of what we have heard before. Nintendo’s president, Saturo Iwata, stepped behind his podium to stream the event to viewers online.
The following information is taken from the Japanese part of the press conference, I will be updating the information once the American and European press conference begins.
Iwata started by recapping everything we have already heard about Wii U. Here are the major points just to refresh your memories:
- Wii U will fully support the Wii remote, nunchuk, and balance board. (No word on the vitality sensor.)
- All purchased Virtual Console and WiiWare games will be transferable to the Wii U
- Some games will be able to be played on the controller’s screen while your t.v. is used for other things, i.e. family watching t.v.
Now we can get to the part that we have all been waiting for: pricing. Once again, this is just for the Japanese release of the system, so prices can vary, even after monetary conversion.
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii U and Nintendo Land will be available day one for 6,ooo and 5,ooo yen respectively. (Roughly $77 and $65)
- The Wii U will be shipping with two distinct packages: The Premium package (Black Wii U w/ Gamepad; 32 GB HD; 30,000 yen/$386 pre-taxes) and the Basic package (White Wii U w/ Gamepad; 8 GB HD; 25,000 yen/$322 pre-taxes)
Lastly, Iwata made mention of the Nintendo Network Premium plan. If you purchase the Premium package, you will receive a 10% discount on all downloadable games until December 2014. That may get you thinking, “Well Ryan, how are we supposed to know how much time that gives us if we don’t know when the release date is?” Well have I got a surprise for you! Iwata also revealed the release date for the Wii U in Japan to be December 8th.
Now as someone who has been an adamant pessimist towards the Wii U, this information doesn’t do much to move me from my stance. Nintendo usually sells systems and games for more in Japan than they do in the US even after you convert the yen to USD, but the price may still end up being high, and the launch window may fall after Black Friday, which would have been a ripe time to launch a new system. Stay tuned for continuing coverage on the Wii U, as Nintendo’s American and European press conference isn’t too far off.
You can read Clint’s update on the American presser here.
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