Nintendo Wii U releases November 18th in the US, 30th in Europe

Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils Aime announced today at a press conference in New York City that the gaming company's Wii U console will be launching on November 18th in the United States. The Basic version will be priced at $299.99 and a Deluxe version available for $50 more. Why purchase the latter? It's black (Basic comes in white only, like the original Wii), has 32 GB of storage (Basic has 8 GB), comes with charging cradles, and includes Nintendo Land. Nintendo will also allow users of the Deluxe edition to earn points for all digital purchases they make with eShop services. As usual, there will be an HDMI cable and power adapter in the box as well. Yes, the Nintendo experience will finally have real high-definition.

Customers in Europe will be able to purchase the Wii U on November 30th. The Deluxe edition has been named "Premium Pack" for this region and includes all the features as the U.S. version. In the U.S., streaming features provided by Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and others are available for users to enjoy more than one form of entertainment. Europe doesn't have these principle three services in all areas, so users will likely be without video streaming from anything but YouTube and SkyNet, should the latter make its way to Nintendo's platform.

There will be several games launching with the Wii U, including Call of Duty: Black Ops II, FIFA 13, Assassin's Creed 3, and New Super Mario Bros. U. Nintendo has given this device a lot of praise for its portability, and while $299.99 may seem like a steep price when compared to a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, the gameplay provided by the Wii U is going to be different, not to mention portable. Sony offers the PlayStation Vita for users who want to game on the go, but the trouble with it is having two different consoles. A Wii U allows for players to continue their game when the power goes out, so long as there's a sufficient charge in the battery.

I've been excited for the Wii U since its announcement, but today's confirmation of a base price is somewhat of a disappointment. The device is a tablet mixed with a game console, so I understand Nintendo charging less than an iPad and more than a Nexus 7. Regardless of pricing, I have to wonder how successful this console will be. First, there's the whole tablet gaming market against it. While those devices aren't equipped to play real console games, they are more affordable and offer many solutions to Super Mario. When I play games, I'm a supporter of true gaming. I don't think tablets have the control schemes necessary to play titles like Call of Duty or Bastion (I reviewed the iPad version) well. They're fine for Angry Birds and Cut the Rope and the lot, but beyond that there's nothing of substance.

Nintendo is late to the tablet gaming party. That's interesting because it's the company that gave us portable gaming with the GameBoy. The Nintendo DS was a different move for the creator and it brought a lot of new capabilities with a touchscreen. Sadly, the implementation was all wrong and it used resistive technology, requiring a stylus. That's not the preferable way to play a game. Buttons, keys, joysticks: these are the elements of a good game console. But Nintendo was still learning, and has proved that it has the ability to bring back portable gaming. The question is, will users care? Or will this end up being another game console meant solely for party-play (local multiplayer)?

Source: Nintendo World Report