Hasta La Gadget!

Eager to get your mitts on one of the Wii U consoles? Well, you can pre-order both the basic and premium bundles from the folks at GameStop starting today in order to be well-prepared for the November 18th release. The gaming retailer is also offering a variety of trade-in credits for those aging kits that you’re itchin’ to get rid of. You can expect to snag $50 for your old Wii and the numbers continue to head north from there for the Xbox 360, PS3 and more. You can pre-order a number of the launch titles as well, should you feel inclined to do so. Dive in to the particulars in the full PR that follows and hit the source link to commit your funds to the cause.

Continue reading Wii U now up for pre-order at GameStop, trade credits outlined for your current gaming arsenal

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Wii U now up for pre-order at GameStop, trade credits outlined for your current gaming arsenal originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 11:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo has announced Nintendo TVii, the company’s take on the smart TV, using the Wii U GamePad as a second-screen to navigate live, on-demand, and DVR content. Built on the fact that, for many, the Wii has been the single way their TV has been hooked up online, Nintendo TVii will offer access to live TV channels, to Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon rentals/purchases, and recorded content on a DVR like a TiVo.

The system is all socially-enabled, so that viewers can see what their friends have recommended or been viewing lately. Movies and TV shows will have links to trailers, IMDB entries, cast information, Wikipedia and more.

Tapping a show or movie will bring up a list of options on how to watch it. That will depend on what’s showing live and what is available on-demand, with the option to access a Hulu Plus premium account or Netflix streaming account if you have one, or to buy the show from Amazon if you don’t. If you’ve recorded it on your TiVo then you can find it there instead.

Sports, meanwhile, shows thumbnails of live scores, and learns from your individual sports team preferences to show those teams earlier in the list.

Each family member gets their own list of favorites and recordings, and there’s a group list that gathers together any overlaps. When you actually start playing a show or movie, on your TV, the GamePad screen shows information on the show itself, allows you to share thoughts on Facebook or Twitter, see other comments, vote in polls, and see other feedback.

The content shown on the GamePad is also synchronized to the show, so that if you join a live program partway through, you’ll see time-linked comments and other information. Similarly, sports information, plays, scores and other details are sync’d to the right point in the game.

Nintendo TVii will be offered in the US and Canada, and the functionality will be included with every Wii U, with no monthly fee.

Nintendo TVii for Wii U smart TV revealed is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Nintendo has confirmed that the Wii U will arrive on US shores on Sunday, November 18, 2012. The console – which was priced and dated for the Japanese market earlier today – will be offered in the same two configurations as previously announced, the Basic and Deluxe versions, with the latter coming with Nintendo Land membership. The Basic will be $299.99 while the Deluxe will be $349.99.

Neither will come with a Wiimote controller, however, or a nunchuck. Nintendo believes most of the people interested in the Wii U will already have a Wiimote or two, though there’ll be Wii U branded versions on sale separately for those coming fresh to the platform.

In the Basic set will be the console and GamePad tablet themselves, together with an AC adapter for each, an HDMI cable, and a Wii U sensor bar. The Premium set will get the same, plus 32GB of storage, stands for the console and the GamePad, and a GamePad charging cradle.

Whether those prices are sufficient to capture the holiday shopping season remains to be seen. Check out our hands-on with the Wii U for more details.

Update: Europe will get the Wii U on November 30, with pricing to be announced by individual retailers closer to launch.

Wii U hits US on November 18 from $299.99 [Update: Europe details] is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Nintendo Wii U will launch in the US on Sunday, November 18, Nintendo America president and CEO Reggie Fils-Aime revealed in a New York City press conference this morning. It’ll arrive in Europe on November 30, though no price was given for our friends abroad. Like its Japanese release, the console comes in two varieties: a base level bundle in white with just 8GB of internal memory for $300 and a premium bundle in black with 32GB of internal memory for $350.

Each version contains the console itself, a WiiPad, a charging stand, a play stand, and a stand for the console. The premium version, however, adds a subscription to Nintendo’s Premium Network, which offers various rewards for digital purchases — it also gets a full 32GB of internal memory, which is a pretty major step up over the 8GB model. It’s hard to imagine either having enough internal storage compared with current-gen consoles, but the Wii U’s memory is expandable via USB.

Fils-Aime also said that Wii remotes are getting rebranded for the Wii U, and will be available in retail shops shortly. Check out the official PR and an additional shot of the basic set after the break.

Joseph Volpe contributed to this report

Continue reading Nintendo Wii U arrives in the US on Nov. 18 in two versions for $300 and $350, Europe on Nov. 30

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Nintendo Wii U arrives in the US on Nov. 18 in two versions for $300 and $350, Europe on Nov. 30 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 10:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata spoke via live streaming video to the whole world straight from Japan on what the Wii U would be bringing the world – in pricing and release information form. There are two sets that have been revealed thus far, one of them being a basic set, the other bring a Premium Set, each hitting Japan on December 8. The Premium Set has been set for 31,500 yen while the Basic Set will cost you 26,250 – roughly converted, that’s right around $350 and $300, but the final prices for the USA will likely be closer to $300 and $250 when all is said and done – and what’s inside each package, you may ask?

The Wii U Premium Set has been revealed in Japan as containing a Wii U console, AC adapter, Wii U GamePad (one unit), GamePad AC adapter, and HDMI cable – with the console having 32GB onboard storage right out of the box. The Basic Set, on the other hand, has that same set of gear but with 8GB of onboard storage instead – and there’s more!

The Premium Set also includes a membership to the Nintendo Premium Network. This membership gives you 10% off of digital software purchases and will have additional benefits listed soon! The Premium Set also includes bonus bits such as stands for both the GamePad and the console itself. Of course each of these accessories are able to be purchased on their own.

NOTE: have a peek at our 2012 hands-on with Wii U as well as our 2011 E3 Wii U hands-on for sweet Nintendo action!

The stands as well as new iterations – new colors, that is, of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk will be available too. There’s also a new Sensor Bar set for a new price coming up too, each of these shown in the gallery below complete with Japan-based cost for now. There’s also a Wii U Pro Controller launching in black and white for 5,040 yen – that being right around $50 USD, and the whole lot will be available at essentially the same time – soon!

In addition to pricing and release information, this short press conference also showed off a couple elements we’d seen a bit of in the past like HUD data and map information on your controller instead of up on the big screen. Also revealed were a couple new games – New Super Mario Bros. U and NintendoLand. The Mario title, said Iwata, will be the first Mario title to launch with a Nintendo home console since Super Mario 64 all the way back in 1996.

Stay tuned to our Wii U tag portal for more information as it’s released throughout the day – there’s still a USA-based press conference on the way!

Wii U pricing in Japan set at around $300 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.