Wii U Launch Information

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And the battle for the Wii U can officially begin on November 18, 2012. You have two differently priced options for this system, they are as follows:

  • Wii U Basic Bundle - $299.99
    • White System
    • 8 GB of Internal Storage
    • 1 White GamePad
    • AC Adapters for both the Wii U and GamePad
    • Sensor Bar
  • Wii U Deluxe Bundle - $349.99
    • Black System
    • 32 GB of Internal Storage
    • 1 Black GamePad
    • AC Adapters for both the Wii U and GamePad
    • Console Stand
    • GamePad Charging Cradle
    • Nintendo Land Game
    • Deluxe Digital Promotion
      • Grants points for digital downloads when can be used for future DLC (planned through 2014).


There you have it, two different systems with two different price points. I honestly don’t see the reason someone will get the Basic bundle over the Deluxe one, but that just means that I am not the target audience of it. They also announced that there will be around 50 games in the launch windows (11/18/2012 - 03/31/2013) for the system to try and make it worthwhile for those early adopters.  Games are going to run around $59.99 each for the Wii U at launch as well. More to come later on which games are planned to come out in this window, but it looks pretty strong, or at least interesting.

That leaves me with two questions.
1) Can Nintendo repeat the success they had with the Wii?
2) Who out there is going to try for a day one (or two) purchase?

 

Nintendo DS Lite Price and Mario Packages

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The Nintendo DS Lite, despite being now at least two iterations behind, is getting a price drop.  The system priced formally around $129.99 will have the MSRP dropped to $99.99 as of June 5. So just in case you missed getting a DS Lite when it came out in September of 2009 you can now get it for a reduced prince, if you can find it. 

Now for the more relevant part of this entry. Six Mario games are going to get custom red packaging to make them easier to spot for consumers.  New Super Mario Bros, Mario Kart DS, Super Mario 64 DS, Mario Party DS, Mario and Luigi: Bowsers Inside Story, and Mario vs. Donky Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem will all have special red packaging.  The plan on this is to make the games stand out a bit more then they already do, seeing as they say Mario on them and have Mario's picture. But these are supposed to also mark fan favorites based on sales, so it works.

Nintendo 3DS: What Does the "3" Represent?

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After being blown away at E3 with Nintendo's new handheld system, the Nintendo 3DS, I couldn't wait for it to hit the shelves.  Well, Nintendo has officially announced the release date and price of the system. 

On February 26, 2011, the 3DS will go on sale in Japan and we can expect the North American release shortly after that, sometime in March.  While there is no specific date in March, we officially know it will be in March.  There were rumors going around when the device was actually going to go on sale, (most people saying March 2011 to begin with) but Nintendo put those rumors to rest.Nintendo 3DS on display at E3.

To many of us out there, the release date shouldn't be too shocking, since most of us in the gaming world figured the release date would be in March.  The thing that shocked me however, was the price.  Upon release, the 3DS will cost 25,000 yen or $300.  That's right, $300!!!  So now we really know what the 3 represents, 300 big ones.  You can check the full article here at IGN's site.

While the technology is bad ass; it's going to be hard for me, and I imagine a lot of people, to fork over $300 for a handheld device.  All that being said, I still will probably try and get my hands on one when it's released.  But when you stop and think of it, the XBOX 360 cost $400 when it was released, just my two cents.

Wait... I need those two cents to help save up for my 3DS!