Wii U Price and Release Date revealed

[Hazy992]

Only 8 or 32GB of flash storage? Are they serious? So they're pushing being able to download full retail games but give you the storage for about 3 or 4 games at most? And if you buy the 8GB version you probably can't even download a full game on the thing!

Is it really so hard to just stick a 500GB hard drive in there? That storage size in 2012 is pathetic.

 

[Treblaine]

I will say though, despite only 1GB being for games, I assume that will increase as time goes by. Just like the other console makers did, they will refine the OS and reduce it's footprint. Seeing as the OS on the xbox only uses 32MB of RAM I don't see why they would need a full gigabyte. Maybe for the browser and other features?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_system_software

Also, comparing it to a desktop? You know that's a futile endeavour, the PS3 had less RAM than my desktop from 2003-2005. (forget exactly when I had it).

Also, the US price is out.

http://vgtoday.net/2012/09/us-and-european-wii-u-launch-details-revealed/#.UFIHfFFiR0Q

Basic packs will consist of a white 8GB Wii U console, GamePad, HDMI cable, sensor bar and two AC adaptors, costing $299.99.

Premium packs will be made up of a 32GB black console, GamePad and charging cradle, HDMI cable, sensor bar, stands for both console and GamePad, and a copy of Nintendo Land, all for $349.99.

So much for your laughable figure of $400.

I've also heard that the 2 models in the Uk will be £210 and £250 according to retailers. I have no link as I was told in person by a guy who writes for a gaming website.

If Wii is truly a next gen console, it should at least be close to PC standards of half a decade. Wii U is much more of a "catch-up" than a truly next gen system. Xbox 360 never used half it's RAM for it's OS on launch, I think WiiU's wireless HD video transfer might be a factor. Wii 1 was a "little better" than original Xbox and in practice the performance was indistinguishable from original Xbox and certainly wasn't a generation ahead in hardware.

$400 is pretty close to $350. And I think it is far too soon to have a definite price for US or UK region without any release date. If you don't have a release date, you don't have stocking arrangements which means final price is not set.

Remember, Nintendo is likely going to delay each region's pricing as long as possible deciding how much or a profit or loss they make on each unit sold.

captcha: agree to disagree

... later

 

[Hazy992]

Only 8 or 32GB of flash storage? Are they serious? So they're pushing being able to download full retail games but give you the storage for about 3 or 4 games at most? And if you buy the 8GB version you probably can't even download a full game on the thing!

Is it really so hard to just stick a 500GB hard drive in there? That storage size in 2012 is pathetic.

Nintendo have said time and time again that you can plug in any external hard-drive that has a USB.

They are the first company to allow you to use non-proprietary storage with your console. Meaning you can go out and get a 500GB external hard-drive cheap as chips, and it will work with your Wii U absolutely fine.

That means potentially, the Wii U could have anywhere up to 1TB or more of hard-drive space. Sorry, but that shits all over anything Sony or Microsoft have to offer.

So to be able to download even a single game I have to buy a bunch of external drives and cards? Remind me again why this is a good thing? Hell even a 250GB hard drive would have been OK and those are dirt cheap, so yeah maybe you can have up to a 1TB of storage, but the only way to do that is by faffing about with external drives.

I'd rather have slightly less storage but still have the option to add more (like the PS3 for example) than whatever the hell Nintendo are thinking. And what do you think it's gonna be like in the next gen Xbox and PlayStation? I bet they're both gonna have something like a 1TB drive, 500GB at a minimum.

Also, loading games off an external hard drive? Say goodbye to your fast loading times.

 

[burningdragoon]

Only 8 or 32GB of flash storage? Are they serious? So they're pushing being able to download full retail games but give you the storage for about 3 or 4 games at most? And if you buy the 8GB version you probably can't even download a full game on the thing!

Is it really so hard to just stick a 500GB hard drive in there? That storage size in 2012 is pathetic.

Nintendo have said time and time again that you can plug in any external hard-drive that has a USB.

They are the first company to allow you to use non-proprietary storage with your console. Meaning you can go out and get a 500GB external hard-drive cheap as chips, and it will work with your Wii U absolutely fine.

That means potentially, the Wii U could have anywhere up to 1TB or more of hard-drive space. Sorry, but that shits all over anything Sony or Microsoft have to offer.

So to be able to download even a single game I have to buy a bunch of external drives and cards? Remind me again why this is a good thing? Hell even a 250GB hard drive would have been OK and those are dirt cheap, so yeah maybe you can have up to a 1TB of storage, but the only way to do that is by faffing about with external drives.

I'd rather have slightly less storage but still have the option to add more (like the PS3 for example) than whatever the hell Nintendo are thinking. And what do you think it's gonna be like in the next gen Xbox and PlayStation? I bet they're both gonna have something like a 1TB drive, 500GB at a minimum.

Also, loading games off an external hard drive? Say goodbye to your fast loading times.

Dirt cheap for a person. Not dirt cheap for a manufacturer to produce . Doesn't really mean it's good or okay, but console hardware really sucks in the whole making a profit thing. Upgradeable harddrive would be better than externalablemakin' up words! harddrive for sure though.

 

[Hazy992]

Only 8 or 32GB of flash storage? Are they serious? So they're pushing being able to download full retail games but give you the storage for about 3 or 4 games at most? And if you buy the 8GB version you probably can't even download a full game on the thing!

Is it really so hard to just stick a 500GB hard drive in there? That storage size in 2012 is pathetic.

Nintendo have said time and time again that you can plug in any external hard-drive that has a USB.

They are the first company to allow you to use non-proprietary storage with your console. Meaning you can go out and get a 500GB external hard-drive cheap as chips, and it will work with your Wii U absolutely fine.

That means potentially, the Wii U could have anywhere up to 1TB or more of hard-drive space. Sorry, but that shits all over anything Sony or Microsoft have to offer.

So to be able to download even a single game I have to buy a bunch of external drives and cards? Remind me again why this is a good thing? Hell even a 250GB hard drive would have been OK and those are dirt cheap, so yeah maybe you can have up to a 1TB of storage, but the only way to do that is by faffing about with external drives.

I'd rather have slightly less storage but still have the option to add more (like the PS3 for example) than whatever the hell Nintendo are thinking. And what do you think it's gonna be like in the next gen Xbox and PlayStation? I bet they're both gonna have something like a 1TB drive, 500GB at a minimum.

Also, loading games off an external hard drive? Say goodbye to your fast loading times.

Dirt cheap for a person. Not dirt cheap for a manufacturer to produce . Doesn't really mean it's good or okay, but console hardware really sucks in the whole making a profit thing. Upgradeable harddrive would be better than externalablemakin' up words! harddrive for sure though.

Hard drives are dirt cheap and that's even more the case for a manufacturers. they only cost a few pence per GB so not including one is absurd. They'd still be making a profit with a hard drive

 

[RomanceIsDead]

nintendo what have wiiu done

 

[Mr.Mattress]

nintendo what have wiiu done

... Did they make you wanna buy it?

OT: I'm very excited for the WiiU! Nintendo sort of lost me with the Wii, but the WiiU has always looked like a winner to me. I sort of want to get the 349$ one, but I may settle for the cheaper one. Can't wait for Christmas!

 

[Hazy992]

...right, clear all my appointments. This one needs some serious enlightenment:

Do you remember when the Xbox 360 launched? It came with a pitiful 4GB hard-drive. Not only that, but if you wanted to upgrade, you had to pay Microsoft an extortionate amount of money to buy a proprietary hard-drive exclusively for the 360.

Ignoring the fact that this was 7 years ago, 4GB was plenty for a good while and Microsoft weren't trying to push the 360 as being able to download full price games.

Besides you could buy a version with a hard drive. 20GB was more than enough for a long time.

The minimum inbuilt hard-drive for the Wii U is 8GB, already twice that for the 360. I imagine that this is targeted towards people who buy their games at retail, not download. If you're more interested in downloading games, then the 32GB is the model you want, not the 8GB.

But 32GB is still not enough is it? You could get 3 or 4 games on it at most.

You wouldn't, I take it, moan about the 360 Arcade model being crap for downloading games, would you?

No but again this was 7 years ago, a lot of storage wasn't really as necessary and they weren't pushing full retail games to download. Sony and Microsoft are only doing that now because they know alot of consumers will have large internal drives.

Lastly, external hard-drives are cheap as fucking chips right now. I can go on Amazon and get a one terabyte[/i] external hard-drive for £60.

Internal drives are even cheaper, so what's Nintendo's excuse for not sticking like a 250GB drive in there?

For the same price, I can only get a 250Gb hard-drive for the 360.

I agree that's overpriced but at least with the 360 there's a version where that comes as standard so I don't have to muck about with external drives.

Not only have Nintendo allowed you to upgrade to whatever memory you want, they've done so in a way which is cheaper and more cost-effective than either Sony or Microsoft.

But with the PS3 it comes with a standard 2.5 inch HDD and I can swap it out easily for a bigger one.

Seriously, how can you not see what a big deal this is? Nintendo are the first company to allow you to use non-proprietary storage to play games. That is a big fucking deal. This is the sort of thing we complain about all the time when Microsoft or Sony force us to buy expensive memory formats such as the Vita's memory cards. Why are you criticising Nintendo for doing exactly what gamers have been demanding for the last few years?

This would be good if it was just an optional extra like 'hey if I run out of storage I can just buy an external drive or swap it out for another one! Great!' but it's not is it? Nintendo have made it pretty much a necessity for you to have an external drive. In 2012 that's ridiculous. An external hard drive should be an optional extra not a necessity.

Also, while load times from an external hard-drive may not be great, the latest specs show that the Wii U's disc-read speed is three times that of the PS3. Meaning that if you play off the disc, loading times are going to be pretty damn quick indeed.

So why are Nintendo even pushing this then? To do it you pretty much have to have an external drive and it's going to be slower than a disc, completely negating the point of digital downloads in the first place. Nintendo have actually managed to make downloading a game less convenient than buying it at retail.

EDIT:

...right, clear all my appointments. This one needs some serious enlightenment

I actually found that rather condescending.

 

[Treblaine]

I will say though, despite only 1GB being for games, I assume that will increase as time goes by. Just like the other console makers did, they will refine the OS and reduce it's footprint. Seeing as the OS on the xbox only uses 32MB of RAM I don't see why they would need a full gigabyte. Maybe for the browser and other features?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_system_software

Also, comparing it to a desktop? You know that's a futile endeavour, the PS3 had less RAM than my desktop from 2003-2005. (forget exactly when I had it).

Also, the US price is out.

http://vgtoday.net/2012/09/us-and-european-wii-u-launch-details-revealed/#.UFIHfFFiR0Q

Basic packs will consist of a white 8GB Wii U console, GamePad, HDMI cable, sensor bar and two AC adaptors, costing $299.99.

Premium packs will be made up of a 32GB black console, GamePad and charging cradle, HDMI cable, sensor bar, stands for both console and GamePad, and a copy of Nintendo Land, all for $349.99.

So much for your laughable figure of $400.

I've also heard that the 2 models in the Uk will be £210 and £250 according to retailers. I have no link as I was told in person by a guy who writes for a gaming website.

If Wii is truly a next gen console, it should at least be close to PC standards of half a decade. Wii U is much more of a "catch-up" than a truly next gen system. Xbox 360 never used half it's RAM for it's OS on launch, I think WiiU's wireless HD video transfer might be a factor. Wii 1 was a "little better" than original Xbox and in practice the performance was indistinguishable from original Xbox and certainly wasn't a generation ahead in hardware.

$400 is pretty close to $350. And I think it is far too soon to have a definite price for US or UK region without any release date. If you don't have a release date, you don't have stocking arrangements which means final price is not set.

Remember, Nintendo is likely going to delay each region's pricing as long as possible deciding how much or a profit or loss they make on each unit sold.

captcha: agree to disagree

... later

Release date in the second link
this is getting funny
Don't jump the gun
Its 2012

Hmm, I missed that release date part. I'll edit that about and STILL there is the issue of:

-relatively minor increase in system memory for a supposed "next gen" system
-Still no actual details on system specs 2 months from release
-$350 price tag in US, with uncertain price in UK.
-How much of a drain there is from the wireless-screen on both the battery life as well as internal processing power.


But let me lay down my prejudices. I know WiiU will do well no matter how overpriced it is, how poor the controls are, how bad the third party support is AND I will want it because of: the FEW first party explusives.

Mario, Zelda, Metroid. Nintendo aren't letting anyone else have them and no one else does what they do. I like Zelda but I DO NOT like Nintendo, I hate how it handles it's hardware, networks or it's development. It's not the plucky little company in touch with it's user, it's whoring Mario out with another "new" mario bros. Zelda has truly stagnated and as much as I anticipate another metroid game I worry Nintendo won't adequately learn it's lesson from Other M.

 

[MortifiedPenguin]

Blimey, that controller is expensive for a resistive touch screen!

I'm not really sold, until there are games that I really want that only come out on the Wii U that aren't Mario or Zelda games, I think I'll stay away.

 

[Treblaine]

Dirt cheap for a person. Not dirt cheap for a manufacturer to produce . Doesn't really mean it's good or okay, but console hardware really sucks in the whole making a profit thing. Upgradeable harddrive would be better than externalable (makin' up words!) harddrive for sure though.

What is cheap for one customer buying a single retail is much MUCH cheaper for a business to buy millions of wholesale.

32GB SDD is expensive, but that money would have been better spent with a 250GB HDD instead. It would have cost less and gone further.

SDD speed will be squandered with it's small size 8GB to 32GB is totally inadequate. Game installs were pushing 6GB back in early 2006. In 2012 pushing through 1013 and beyond the demand will be for 22GB and more.

Higher speed blu-ray is no compensation for this.

 

[Treblaine]

Dirt cheap for a person. Not dirt cheap for a manufacturer to produce . Doesn't really mean it's good or okay, but console hardware really sucks in the whole making a profit thing. Upgradeable harddrive would be better than externalable (makin' up words!) harddrive for sure though.

What is cheap for one customer buying a single retail is much MUCH cheaper for a business to buy millions of wholesale.

32GB SDD is expensive, but that money would have been better spent with a 250GB HDD instead. It would have cost less and gone further.

SDD speed will be squandered with it's small size 8GB to 32GB is totally inadequate. Game installs were pushing 6GB back in early 2006. In 2012 pushing through 1013 and beyond the demand will be for 22GB and more.

Higher speed blu-ray is no compensation for this.

It's flash memory, it didn't say it was a normal SSD. A 32GB SD card can be bought for £10.

Well it does say "SSD"

http://www.examiner.com/article/nintendo-reveals-specs-launch-date-and-price-for-wii-u-japan

32GB SSD for £10 that actually works? Never head of that. Lot of con-jobs out there offering 32GB of SSD.

 

[Treblaine]

Dirt cheap for a person. Not dirt cheap for a manufacturer to produce . Doesn't really mean it's good or okay, but console hardware really sucks in the whole making a profit thing. Upgradeable harddrive would be better than externalable (makin' up words!) harddrive for sure though.

What is cheap for one customer buying a single retail is much MUCH cheaper for a business to buy millions of wholesale.

32GB SDD is expensive, but that money would have been better spent with a 250GB HDD instead. It would have cost less and gone further.

SDD speed will be squandered with it's small size 8GB to 32GB is totally inadequate. Game installs were pushing 6GB back in early 2006. In 2012 pushing through 1013 and beyond the demand will be for 22GB and more.

Higher speed blu-ray is no compensation for this.

It's flash memory, it didn't say it was a normal SSD. A 32GB SD card can be bought for £10.

Well it does say "SSD"

http://www.examiner.com/article/nintendo-reveals-specs-launch-date-and-price-for-wii-u-japan

32GB SSD for £10 that actually works? Never head of that. Lot of con-jobs out there offering 32GB of SSD.

Anything using solid state memory is technically a SSD. Did you not read what I said? I said an SD CARD, focus on the CARD bit of it. This reading business is becoming an issue for you.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sandisk-32GB-Secure-Digital-Card/dp/B002G12OBO/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1347569906&sr=8-5

Nintendo don't need 500MB/s read and write speeds so they could put cheap flash memory in the system like the above card and 32GB of space for far less than the minimum price for a HDD in the console. Also it reduces bulk, power usage and lessens the failure rate.

Matthew, stop with the petty insults. It's a minor error, not any excuse for you to be so snide.

The source I clearly provided (much earlier) states SDD drive, so the idea of using SD Card memory is beside the point, you cannot assume SD cards will act equivalently.

Though it is interesting the idea of using SD cards for storage, it wouldn't be ideal for a device like a console that plugs into a TV where physical size is not a serious constraint but the hassle caused by inability to install your games IS!

No optical media (even Blu-ray) can match the read speed and scan times of HDDs today and they have such great capacity for such reasonable prices.