bosch schrodinger: Nintendo Wii U heading to Japan on December 8th: 26,260 yen for basic set, 31,500 yen for premium

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Nintendo Wii U heading to Japan on December 8th: 26,260 yen for basic set, 31,500 yen for premium

The Nintendo Wii U arrives on Japanese shores on December 8th starting at 26,260 yen (around $340), Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced this morning via Nintendo Direct video stream. A presentation later today in New York City starring Nintendo of America prez Reggie Fils-Aime will reveal pricing and release dates for the rest of the world, but you'd be right in guessing it won't be too far from the Japanese launch.

A basic set and premium set were revealed, with the premium option adding more storage up to 32GB, from 8GB on the cheaper bundle. The Premium set (priced at 31,500 yen, or about $405) will also arrive with additional controllers and peripherals -- including a charging stand for your Wii U GamePad. Those GamePads will also be available standalone for 13,440 yen, which could see American gamers paying around $173 for the luxury.

The Wii U pro controllers are priced at 5,040 yen ($65) each, while the Wiimote will continue to be priced at 3,800 yen (around $50), in a selection of colors -- likewise the nunchuks will come in three color palettes. A GamePad charging stand will also be available to buy separately -- setting you back around 1,870 yen -- around $25. Naturally, there's going to be some international variance in these prices. We'll update once we get those US prices cemented.

We've been given a little more detail on the technical specifics too, with the Wii U packing 1GB of its own ("main") memory alongside 1GB for running games. The hard drive, meanwhile, will house 25 gigs of space. Two titles, New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendo Land will both debut alongside the console -- we're expecting to hear even more software details later today.

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Filed under: Gaming