Wii U out Nov. 11 for $250?
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Video Product Distributors listing reportedly outs early November release date, three SKUs scaling to $350 for upcoming Nintendo console.
The latest Wii U rumor has arrived. Video Product Distributors - which handles wholesale distribution for Amazon, among other clients - supposedly posted a listing for the Wii U, indicating the console would arrive on November 11 with a base package available for $250.
The VPD website requires a login to access content, but YouTube user H0undd0gg (via GoNintendo) captured the supposed listing, which details three different Wii U SKUs. These include offerings to be available November 11 for $250, $300, and $350. No further information is available, and as of press time, Nintendo had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment.
If the Wii U does have a multi-SKU launch, it will mark a change from Nintendo's previous operation. The Wii (2006) and GameCube (2001) launched with just one available bundle.
Last week, a report stemming from the GameStop managers' conferences in San Antonio, Texas indicated the Wii U would arrive November 18. This report was based on comments made by a representative of peripheral maker PDP.
Nintendo had previously confirmed the Wii U would be on store shelves worldwide this holiday season, but has yet to nail down a concrete date. The Mario factory may do just that next week during a presentation in New York City from Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
601 comments
3 Like emptycow,
No, you don't know what you are talking about. Only people who are hardware illiterate say "Wii U only has 3 cores like Xbox360" and compare 3 CPU cores from 2012 to 3 CPU cores from 2006.
Is 1 Pentium 4 core as fast as 1 Ivy Bridge Core i7? Of course not.Do you even know what you are comparing?
According to Chief Technical Officer of 4A Games, who worked on Metro 2033 (one of the best looking games on the PC and gaming in general), the entire 3 core dual-threaded CPU in the Xbox 360 is only 75-80% as fast as 1 Core i7 Nehalem (Core i7 920 processor) from 2008.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-tech-interview-metro-2033
^ So you cannot just compare 3 cores from 2006 console to 3 cores in a 2012 console.
The GPU in the Wii U is more powerful than the graphics in both PS3 and 360 combined. This is because it's based on some form of Radeon HD graphics card.
The Wii U can run Call of Duty Black Ops II at 60 fps at full 1920x1080 resolution but that game runs below 1024x720 on PS3/360! The Wii U just came out and already it's miles faster than outdated PS3 and 360 without developers even having time to optimize for it vs. 6-7 years of optimizations for PS3/360.
"Wii U's GPGPU Squashes Xbox 360, PS3; Hegalson says coincides with the actual specs of the Wii U, that could put the graphics card at least two generations ahead of the Xbox 360 and PS3 in terms of shader capabilities, shadowing and lighting effects, since neither current gen console is capable of producing DirectX 11 equivalent graphic effects." ~ Unity Game Engine technical developer
1 Like Yes the hardwear is expensive but technically it is an expense that you only do once. What really worries me are the prices of games, $ 80 per game seems very expensive, today most games already arent worth their current price, imagine it at $ 80. ...
It will be $250 Nintendo takes the older tech spins it in circles and makes old tech look and seem new/fresh. By doing so, they can afford to keep the cost low. TADA!!!!
4 Like Looks interesting, but i'm only interested because it's Nintendo, and what titles Nintendo can bring to the table. Hopefully games from: Mario,Zelda, Starfox, Kirby, Smash bros, Donkey Kong, Metroid, Sonic, megaman, etc. I'm personally just sick of FPS and generic, uninspired games coming out on the 360 and PS3, i want to play a game where the tone isn't set by the graphics for once. A lot of new developers are piss scared to take a step outside of the box, that's not saying all, but a lot of them. And some originality and fun gameplay would be so nice to see.That's one of the things that drew me to the WII. I dont even play my Wii anymore, i'm on the 360 much more, but I want to see Nintendo revolutionize the market again, and make games fun again. Is the Wii U going to cut it? I don't know. But I just hope that it isn't dragged down by garbage party games, like the Wii did. I think what killed the Wii, was the garbage third party support. The developers figured "the Wii isn't known for good graphics, so lets not even try at all, slap a crappy party game on it, and there you go, money made", and this seriously hurts the Wii's reputation to. I just hope the same thing doesn't happen with the Wii U. Looks promising, but i wouldn't pay any more than 300$. Maybe 350$, if there's different pack in options. One thing I know, is that Nintendo isn't a stupid company, they know what their doing. So i have hopes for the Wii U, but i'm not setting them high, because who knows. This could end up being the next virtual boy.
1 Like Wii U is a huge uninspired sequel to the Wii and it will probably not do very well. What's going to happen is that Nintendo will release Wii U Mario Kart, Galaxy, Kirby, Paper Mario, Zelda, Super Smash Bros., and the usual suspects to make people buy a new system to play them. After that, there won't be much 3rd party support.
Guess what fanboys? I got another source that debunks this desperation of Nintendo fans!
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.jeuxactu.com/wii-u-le-prix-et-la-date-de-sortie-82881.htm
Its $350-400 whether you like it or not. Stop deceiving Gamespot, there's a reason why other mainstream game site and Nintendo blog Pure Nintendo isn't taking this article seriously or credible.
Why can't you wait until the 13th before continuing with this? It's next week already. If you're right, then good on ya, if you're wrong, well you know what's coming.
This sounds about right. I wonder what the difference between the SKUs will be? Could those just be various store bundles (as opposed to different Nintendo SKUs)?
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1 Like It is not practical to hook a rig on to my 42" LED HDTV, neither can I play Nintendo games on a rig. Best not to compare a console to a rig :)
2 Like You know the exact hardware of the Wii U? If you don't then you have no right to say that $350 is too expensive.
1 Like Just so you guys know, I'm not a fan of the new gs news. Reason being, I like my news in one place. A round up if you will. I like that you are experimenting with new things but if I tune into the news on TV I don't want to have to change channel 10 times to see each headline. I just want to put it on and watch. Clicking another link each time I want to see another report is not as good as before. Please think about changing it back. TA! X
3 Like @LustForSoul I work retail, Nintendo likes to release first party things on a Sunday ALL the time. So it wouldn't be unlikely.
I'd back what Davimus said if this report is true. Nintendo almost always releases products on Sunday.or Tuesday depending on their quarterly report.
Sounds great,just a little bit put off a day one sale as Nindendo do have a habit of bringing out improved versions of stuff,not so much the wii but defo the hand helds.Not sure my pocket can cope with more,i have bought every major console/Handheld and a top PC i dont think my wife and starving kids will be pleased either lol.
3 Like Yep this is a new system, and it will not gather dust on my shelf. I probably won't even pick it up for at least a year. I got the Wii out the gate, and played it for about 2 months, and it has a foot of dust on it while sitting in the corner.
2 Like I hope this does well, maybe renew my faith in Nintendo. I may get Mass Effect 3, definitely getting Mario, Rayman, and Zombie U. Zombie U reminds me of CoD's Zombies mode, which was the only part of that series I liked. (Holds up shield to block oncoming flames.)
Lol, anyone who flames you for liking something is stupid. I hate what CoD has done to the gaming industry BUT at the same time, I cannot deny that it is a fun game to play. Although I get no joy from playing online, local multiplayer is a blast so why flame someone who just wants to have fun?
Usually, when I tell people that "Zombies" is the only good part of CoD nowadays, some people get a tad upset.
But that's like the best part! Haha, can never go wrong with zombies.
I actually played the Zombie game in World at War and I didn't care for it :P
I really wish they'd stop releasing stuff on Remembrance Day (Canadian version of Veteran's Day)... It's a little offensive to be honest...
7 Like If it is under $300 this is an easy Day 1 purchase for me and I just bought a new gaming PC last month. Getting Mario-U, Pikmin 3, Rayman, AC3 and Darksiders II and possibly ZombiU and Project P-100, if they review well. Thats half a dozen games I want during the launch window. I dare someone to show me a launch lineup where they wanted over half a dozen games. From what I hear, I'm actually glad I put off getting Darksiders II because the PC port is lousy and the PS360 versions are buggy so the Wii-U version is going to be the most polished.
Nintendo is going to do well at $250. Selling gaming experiences on tablets is not a zero sum game. People will put two and two together and this thing will sell. Tablet interface + HD Mario = Sales. It really is no more complicated than that. Sweeten the deal with robust online connectivity and services, and some 3rd party hits like COD, LEGO CIty, FIFA, Madden, Scribblenauts, Tekken, etc... well then you have a success. Toe everyone screeching about PS4 and Xbox720, well those systems haven't been announced yet. The masses don't live in the future, they live in the now and right now Nintendo has a new powerful system, more powerful than the PS360 and Mario looks amazing in HD.
@Stonecutters908 I sacrificed my anxiety to buy Darksider II so I could buy it for WiiU to although my temptation to go rent it never ceases
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5 Like So yeah, I get it, there are people who don't like Nintendo and don't see a reason to getting a Wii U. What I don't get is this overwhelming notion that just because you hate something, apparently no one else is allowed to like them, because you know we're all robots so whatever you feel and prefer we have to feel the same way otherwise we're stupid or fanboys.
I don't see what I'm not allowed to get excited for the Wii U. I'm actually really interested to see what Sony and Microsoft come out with next also but if their consoles don't interest, then whatever. You're not going to see me on the new XBox articles saying "Why should people get this? Only fanboys would get it."
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I hope this is just a bad rumor because you can't get sh** for $250 in terms of hardware, especially with a controller that is basically half a DS.
@cheamo actually you have been bamboozled the parts that go into these devices are not that expensive but they are marked up to maximize profit. which is why nintendo always in the past made there own stuff same as sony. they can through the right channels get the components to put together a cheap machine. its current console tech which means 4-5 years behind available tech, even the tablet uses old parts no mullti touch?
but with all that said it is experiences that make gaming fun not how real the guy on the screen looks. we can have these experiences now but devs are lazy and put to much focus on how pretty they can make something which is why next gen has to use blu ray because pretty take up a lot of disc space.
@deathblow3 I'm not sure I want to buy a new system with 4-5 year old tech, besides if it is current console tech that's more like 7 or 8 years.
And sure it is the experience that counts, but I can go have lots of great experiences on a SNES or something, but that doesn't mean I want them to release something with the same specs as that next month.
8 Like @cheamo I love it. Now the Wii-u is too cheap. The Bull$h1t people will arrive at to flog Nintendo is becoming funnier every day.
10 Like Even Reggie Fils-Aime stated that apparently no matter what they do, people will always white and complain. Give us this game! Okay here's the game. NOW WE WANT THIS GAME! Well you're going to have to wait because we just finished the previous game. We want an HD console! Here it is. NO IT HAS TO BE LIKE A SUPER COMPUTER BUT STILL AFFORDABLE! Now that's just silly :P
Someone else brought up an excellent point also, stating how Sony and MS would put in all these multimedia features into their consoles (because you know I didn't have a DVD player before the 360) that would drive up the prices which consumers complained about, so Nintendo decides to leave out these features to cut costs and they get ridiculed for it (because again, I go to my console to listen to music).
@bananaclawz Architecture isn't everything. You think an 8800 gtx or even gts can't keep up with a 7750 8-) ? And that's not necessarily the same or worse than what will end up in the Wii U since all that's been rumored is that it has something based on the 7000 series. And processor specs could be just about anything at this point, but if that is the price I'm not expecting much.
@abHS4L88 @Stonecutters908 I would rather spend $600 on something that actually keeps up with today's technology than waste $250 on some outdated system that can't even keep up with the computer I had six years ago.
I really don't think all that much money is saved by not having as many multimedia features. It still needs a disk reader, and I would personally think it would be more expensive to develop and build a proprietary one than to mass-buy a decent existing one. I found it to be quite an annoyance that Wii didn't have a DVD player, although these days that probably matters a lot less.
We'll see the truth behind all these rumors once Nintendo makes their press release, and once the system gets released, but I'm not holding my breath. I have never been so excited for or let down by a product as I was by the Wii, and I won't make that mistake again.
1 Like You can if you are using the higher priced SKUs to subsidize the $250 one, while this isn't how Nintendo has traditionally operated they have probably learned from the 3DS launch that they have to be a bit lower on their launch prices and this allows them to do it while still potentially making money.
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