Wii-U release and suprisingly reasonable prices revealed...[UPDATED] Specs finally revealed!

Since E3 of this year, Nintendo has held off on giving out concrete details on the Wii U, including the price, release date, and a solid list of launch games. While those questions will hopefully be answered in a number of hours, Nintendo fans in Japan now know when the systems will go on sale, and the price. As revealed in an online stream, two different versions of the Wii U will go on sale December 8 in Japan, one for ¥26,250 and another for ¥31,500, prices that basically translate to £189.99 and £219.99.

Nintendo revealed that the two different colors that were shown since E3, black and white, aren't merely cosmetic differences. In Japan at least, the white system is the basic, cheaper model. Going for ¥26,250, the system will have 8GB of system storage, and also comes with the GamePad.

The black system is the fancier, ¥31,500 model. It has 32GB of internal storage, and the GamePad is accompanied by an AC adapter, a GamePad charger, and an HDMI cable. It also enrolls you in Nintendo Network Premium, a special online program that will offer small bonuses for online purchases.


Nintendo will be announcing the EU prices and release dtes at around 3pm so I'll update this then....

[UPDATE]

Nintendo has officially confirmed the release date and price for its Wii U console. There will be two versions - a Premium/Deluxe (Black, 32 GB memory) and Basic (White, 8 GB memory). The information is as follows:

US release date: 18 November

US price: $349 (Deluxe) and $299 (Basic)

European release date: 30 November

European price: Information TBA via retailer web sites

[UPDATE 2]

Nintendo has finally revealed some more specs for the upcoming Wii-U and you can finally put your fears to one side as it's boasting some better than expected muscle....

- Supports full 1080p
- “GPGPU” used
- Main memory: 1GB
- System memory: 1GB
- Total memory is 2GB
- Games only use 1GB of main memory
- System memory is for the OS
- Can use the browser while playing
- Game discs are 25GB
- Discs run at 22.5 MB/s
- Uses up to 75 watts of electricity
- Typical power usage is 45 watts
- Reconfirmed: import Wii VC and WiiWare games

This might seems a little confusing at first but I'll explain some of these....

First up the GPGPU is the AMD Radeon E6760, Released in 2011it's the first of a series of "discrete graphics processors" it's bsically smaller however it packs some serious punch:

The AMD Radeon E6760 GPU enables an immersive experience with desktop-level 3D graphics and multimedia features:

An advanced 3D graphics engine and programmable shader architecture supports Microsoft DirectX 11 technology for superior graphics rendering.

With an integrated frame buffer, high reliability and small footprint thermal solution, the AMD Radeon E6760 GPU enables designers of casino gaming, arcade and medical imaging systems to quickly deliver products with a compelling competitive edge.

Support for OpenCL provides an industry standard interface to access the exceptional compute performance per Watt for general purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU) applications such as ultrasound, radar and video surveillance.

Featuring multi-display support with AMD Eyefinity technology, the AMD Radeon E6760 GPU supports up to six independent output displays, HDMI 1.4 stereoscopic video and DisplayPort 1.2 for higher link speeds and simplified display connectivity.

128-bit memory interface with 1 GB GDDR5

That's almost on par with up to date gaming PC's!

Next up the RAM:

I thought 2GB's was small and it is when compared to current PC's however I then checked the current 360 specs and the difference is rather large...

The Wii-U uses 1GB just for the OS and the other 1GB is just for games, In comparison the 360 uses just 512MB's for EVERYTHING. What this means is that the Wii-U will act much like a smartphone, You won't have to switch the game off just to check the internet or browse the marketplace you can simply pause the game and switch the application and it'll stay paused until you come back to it. This will open up a huge range of possibilities for developers too!

Finally the discs and drive:

Discs are 25GB's total storage, this is half of the 50GB's that Sony uses for PS3 Blu Ray's however the drive reads at 22.5MB/s compared to the PS3's 9.8MB/s this means you'll never need a mandatory installation plus loading times should be tiny!

[UPDATE 3]

Early RRPs from retailers have offered a variety of different prices for the system - the lowest for now being Amazon, which is asking for £199 for the basic edition.

Rival online retailer ShopTo.net has set a £280 price for the premium edition.

It is speculated, though not confirmed, that GAME and GameStation will charge £210 for the basic model and £250 for the premium.

Nintendo is not permitted to give an RRP for UK retailers. In the US the console costs $299 for the basic model and $349 for the premium edition.

Killswitchmad wrote:prices that basically translate to £189.99 and £219.99.

So probably £219.99 and £259.99......

Nah I'm betting on £199.99 and £249.99

Stills seems reasonable for 360/PS3 spec hardware and a tablet

That's my issue though, Nintendo are getting lazy on the specs front, they could have jumped the gun on the next gen and come up with something more remarkable, The latest reports indicate that it's running a variation of AMDs R700 GPU which is 4 years old(!) and the CPU is a minor variation of the one currently in the Wii....Which would explain the full backwards compatibility.....

Plus it's running only 2GBs of RAM only 1GB of which is available for games....

I know they are trying to distance themselves from the console war between MS and Sony but thats still pretty underwhelming. Nintendo will always sell consoles to Nintendo fans due to their own offerings from Mario, Zelda etc but if they want to truly expand past that then they HAVE to get involved in the console arms race to be able to attract sufficient 3rd party support

I hope this works but I don't feel anywhere near the kind of buzz for this as there was with the first Wii - the 'novelty' advantages are not there this time and I fear it will get completely overlooked when MS & Sony get their next machines out

OP updated, Still no UK price atm Shopto, HMV etc have had preorders running for ages that vry wildly from £229 right up to £399. Expect some clarity on this by tomorrow

The release lineup for the UK has also been revealed:


FIFA 13
Mass Effect 3: Special Edition
Nano Assault Neo
New Super Mario Bros. U
NintendoLand
Rayman Legends
Trine 2: Director's Cut
Toki Tori 2
ZombiU

Nothing spectacular other than ZombiU in there....

OP updated again with stats, much more muscle than anticipated, looking much more exciting now

Not for me. Had every Nintendo console from the NES to the Game Cube (plus countless handhelds) but the Wii never did it for me. Too much exercise for my liking.