Nintendo Wii U release date and price announced!

Nintendo’s highly popular Wii console is getting a successor this fall. Announced originally in June 2011, the Wii U is the first entry to the eighth generation of video game consoles, way ahead of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 successors. The Nintendo Wii sold in huge numbers but was considered a casual gamers console owing to its lower hardware capabilities. Nintendo is looking to lure back core gamers with the Wii U. Technically, the Wii U isn’t really as powerful as the rival successors are slated to be, but Nintendo has always relied more on game design than graphics. If the Wii is anything to go by, you don’t need amazing graphics to rope in customers. Just recently, the Nintendo Wii U release date and pricing details were announced, read on for more!

Nintendo Wii U Release date and pricing details:

The Nintendo Wii U is set to release in North America on November 18th and in Europe on November 30th. It will come in 2 variants, which are:

• Basic edition (White 8 GB Wii U console, AC adapter, HDMI cable, one gamepad) – 299$
• Deluxe edition (Black 32 GB Wii U console, AC adapter, HDMI cable, one gamepad and charging cables) – 349$

The Deluxe edition will also come with an online subscription for downloadable Wii U games as well as a copy of Nintendoland. Quite honestly, it’s a slightly expensive price point, specially considering that the hardware isn’t next gen as such. Nintendo has promised over 50 launch titles and everything depends on the quality of the games, rather than the hardware, just like the Wii. Before you make a judgement, let’s have a look at the technical specs and some of the features of the Nintendo Wii U.

Nintendo Wii U – Tech specs and features:

Although not a behemoth in terms of specs, Nintendo says the Wii U will be able to play games in full 1080P resolution. Furthermore, it is backward compatible with all Wii titles and peripherals. Nintendo GameCube and previous console games will be downloadable from the online store and playable. Games for the Wii U will come on a proprietary 12 cm optical disc which can hold 25 GB of data, similar to a single layer Blu-Ray disc.If you’re concerned about the rather low storage space provided, fear not, you can expand it via SD card or even attach a huge USB external hard disk and boost it upto 2 TB or so.

The biggest feature of the Wii U is the GamePad which is basically a large controller with a 6.2 inch touchscreen running at 854×480 px (158ppi). It can be used in tandem with other peripherals, it can be used to supplement the game such as a map display or it can also be used as the sole way to play a game without a television. This versatile gamPpad also has a front facing camera usable for video chat, NFC and motion control. The Wii U will be able to support 2 GamePads at a time. For the gamers who prefer a conventional controller, there’s also a Wii U Pro controller which somewhat resembles the Xbox 360 controller and is available separately. Obviously, the USP is the multi functional GamePad which can also be used for social interaction, transactions and the like. Anyway, here’s the tech specs of the Nintendo Wii U:

• CPU:IBM Power 7 based tri core processor
• GPU: Custom AMD Radeon HD 7 series GPU
• RAM: 2 GB RAM
• Storage: 8 GB or 32 GB, expandable via SD cards or USB hard disks
• Connectivity: SD memory card port, USB 2.0 port, HDMI v1.4 out, Multi AV out, Sensor Bar power port

There you have it, the Nintendo Wii U release date and pricing details. It sure looks like an interesting console, never mind the specs. As we’ve already seen, the Wii has outsold both its competitors from Microsoft and Sony quite comfortably without even being close hardware wise. It could be the same case this time, and Nintendo has a bigger adavantage because of the early release. Let’s wait and watch! Meanwhile let us know what you thought of the Nintendo Wii U, would you consider buying it?