Although Nintendo released most of this information in Japan a few hours ago and it is not as new and exciting as it could be, here are the official North American release details and wrap-up of this morning’s streaming event.
Update: Nintendo has the whole stream available to watch:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12vyUOdPXbE&w=620]
Some of the biggest news is that there is not a price, but prices. That’s right, there are two bundles to choose from, and here is what will be in both of them:
Basic Set – $299
- Wii U console (with 8GB of storage)
- Wii U GamePad
- AC adapter for each
- High speed HDMI cable
- Wii U sensor bar
Deluxe Set – $349
- Wii U Console (with 32GB of storage)
- Wii U GamePad
- AC adapter for each
- High speed HDMI cable
- Wii U sensor bar
- More memory
- GamePad Charging Cradle
- Stands for GamePad and Console
- Nintendo Land
Reggie briefly mentioned the Deluxe Digital Promotion. You get points per every digital download you make, and those points can be used to make future purchases in the Wii U Shop or whatever it’ll be called. This is only for the Deluxe version as far as I can gather, but more information about the program will come later.
No Wii remotes in the box because you already have them, silly.
The Wii U is set to launch November 18, but we all knew that had to be the date, so this is not surprising.
Here are some notes I jotted down while the show was streaming. More information about these things as it comes, probably in new posts even!
NintendoLand:
- Metroid Blast – Multiplayer game where one player controls Samus’s ship from the air, and the other plays a third person shooter on the ground. Several missions that have multiple waves of enemies. Of course, the characters are Miis. Two other modes are with Metroid Blast: a ground to air competitive mode, and a free for all shootout.
- Also mentioned Balloon Trip Breeze and Pikmin Adventure, but no footage was shown.
New Super Mario Bros. U – One large interconnected world, like Super Mario World! Boost Rush mode: the more coins you get, the faster the screen scrolls and the person with the tablet has to place platforms with aplomb. Challenges: objective based mini-levels like playing through a level without touching the ground. I hope this
Bayonetta 2 – Wii U exclusive from Platinum Games published by Nintendo.
The Wonderful 101 – New title for Project P-100 by Platinum Games.
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate – March 2013, online multiplayer
Activision showed demo reel for Skylanders Giants, 007 Legends, Wipeout 3, Transformers Prime: The Game.
They also showed off Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Multiplayer can be played with one person on the GamePad and one on the TV. Can play the game right on the GamePad away from the TV.
50 games scheduled to come out in the launch window of the Wii U.
Probably the most out-of-left-field announcement was Nintendo TVii (Update: Trailer here). It is software on the Wii U that helps you find and watch television shows among various services. For example, searching for a show will bring up results from Hulu, Netflix, TV, etc., and you can choose which service to watch from. You can personalize your watching experience by using your Mii. Sports scores can be looked up and displayed on little cards, and while watching sports live plays and scores will show up on the GamePad. The Favorites tab shows you all of your favorite shows that are on right now or coming up. It also shows everyone else’s Mii on the system in this Favorites page and their favorite shows. When watching live TV, screen grabs come up on the GamePad that you can comment on. Hopefully Nintendo will detail this out further soon.
And that was the show. The Nintendo site is getting updated with more information, so we’ll have more soon.
Update: A list of the launch window titles can be found here.
RELATED:
I am sure I missed this somewhere along the line, but this thing is backwards compatible, right?
Yes. You should be able to play most if not all of your Wii games on it. They haven’t specified how to migrate data over to the Wii U yet, so don’t throw your Wii out the window. They have also said there is a way to transfer your virtual console games to the Wii U, but it has’t been defined yet.
In fact, I just looked up what they have to say about it and found this: