Bayonetta would be cool, but she's too suggestive.

They'd tone her down, like they did with Snake in Brawl. Keep in mind that SSB is a teen-rated franchise, too.

Nintendo is now starting to realize that they can't afford to make huge profits anymore. If the 3DS would have still cost $249 today, then the Big N would probably be losing retailers, developers, and most importantly, customers. In my opinion, Nintendo was being extremely arrogant by pricing their handheld at $250 ($50 more than its biggest competitor, the iPod Touch, mind you). One would hope that Nintendo would learn from its mistakes and charge the Wii U at a reasonable price. $249-$279.

All the people who are saying that the Wii U will cost more than $400 have forgotten one critical thing: THEY'RE NINTENDO! Especially after the disaster that was the 3DS launch and even Reggie going as far as saying that they've "learned their lesson", plus the fact that Nintendo has never priced a console more than $300, I highly believe that the Wii U will be less than $300. With the latest rumors saying that the Wii U is about as powerful as a 360, theorizing that the Wii U will cost more than $300 is ludicrous. Here are my main factors as to what the Wii U will cost:

• The Wii costs $149. Yes, I know it's dated hardware, but Reggie has been quoted to say that the Wii will remain on the market for a decent amount of time and that Nintendo is trying to make a "tiered" pricing scheme between the two consoles. What "tier" costs at least twice as more than their lowest option?
• The 360 costs $199, and God knows how much the 720 will cost. Nintendo is the industry's biggest fan of competitive pricing, and with the 720 rumored to hit as early as next year, Nintendo will need to stay competitive. And while the 360's been out for 5 years and its hardware has become pretty cheap to produce because of that, if the Wii U will have similar specs to a 360, then how could the Wii U possibly cost upwards of $400?
• The controller will NOT cost $100 to produce. Trust me, I know what the Chinese electronics manufacturing market is like, and making a New Controller will NOT cost $100 to produce for several reasons. It has a resistive touchscreen. It doesn't have a fast CPU nor lots (if any) of RAM (I'd imagine this would be the case, but nothing's confirmed). It doesn't have Wi-Fi (as far as we know). It doesn't have a MicroSD Card slot. Plus, the controller will be produced by the millions, resulting in a lower price. This Android tablet, for example, has all of the above features that won't be in the New Controller and only costs $58 for one unit (http://www.aliexpres...holesalers.html). The controller may cost Nintendo as low as $35-$45 to produce.

Although I think that $299 is the most likely price, a $249 or $269 price would be better for several reasons:

• More competitive with PS3 ($249) and 360 ($199)
• Less of a blaring price gap with the 3DS (at $299, the 3DS would be nearly half the price)
• Less of a blaring price gap with the Wii ($149), which Nintendo wants to keep alive for a bit more
• More competitive with iPad ($499)
• "Reggie Said" that the price will be competitive with the 360/PS3 and that they've learned their lesson from the $249 3DS launch price
• Who doesn't like cheaper stuff?

My guess is 299$ - 399$. Nintendo knows that it can't be too high (599 US Dollars anyone?), but it also can't be too low because it will mean less power = no solid next gen console.

Anyway, if they stay at that price, the PS4 and Xbox 720 will have to be more expensive to beat that hardware, and it will be too expensive and they will fail.
Fanboys who says that it will be beaten by PS4 and Xbox 720 easily are wrong, it will be too expensive, so as long Nintendo makes it somewhere between 300-400 they will be just fine.

Anything over $300 would be ridiculous. Here's why:

SNES was originally $199, and the Genesis (its biggest rival) cost the same price. The SNES was more powerful than the Genesis.
N64 was $199, and the Playstation was $299 at launch. The N64 was more powerful than the Playstation.
Gamecube was $199, and the PS2 was $299 at launch. The Gamecube was more powerful than the PS2.

Now, if the rumors are true that the Wii U is anywhere from 50%-500% more powerful than a PS3, that doesn't necessarily mean that it will be the most expensive console. Nintendo has never had the most expensive console on the market. Sony learned from the PS3 that consumers won't pay $500 for technology that won't mature for another 3 years. Microsoft knows that the lowest they'll go on a console launch is $299. This means that Nintendo will NOT have a $300 launch price, because they strive for the lowest price (and when they don't-3DS, anyone?-they suffer badly). This leaves my final guesstimate at anywhere from $250-$280.

I hope I don't take a lot of flak from my fellow Star Fox fans for this, but I actually want another game like Assault. I loved that game's hybrid gameplay and awesome multiplayer, and would kill for another game like that with online play.

The controller menu concept looks really nice, but if anything we might get a controller menu like the 360's guide button menu:

This is what I made. Will make a newer version soon, but this is what I've created so far in Photoshop. Hope you like it!

This. I think that ArnarFB's design looked great, but it just didn't look Nintendo enough. I could see his design being the PS4's menu, but not the Wii U's menu. I think that your design is the perfect blend of Nintendo-ness and modern-ness. If I could change anything in your design at all, I'd...

• Remove the disc menu icon in the bottom segment and replace it with a Nintendo Network menu icon
• Replace the "New at Nintendo eShop" space with a space for playing disc games. You could even have the disc swing in like the Wii
• Replace "Top Games" with "My Games"; leave it a space for downloaded stuff. I liked the Wii Shop Channel's design where it would show on the channel icon what's new in the eShop
• Show your Nintendo Network info somewhere, including your Mii, new messages, and achievements
• Add arrows to the bottom section so you can scroll through the app icons

Other than that, it looks great! Certainly better than what I could ever do!

Yep that looks like the controller menu.

I'm still sticking with the idea that the controller menu will be very minimal.

In all honesty, I think we'll be lucky if we get a proper media player for stuff on external memory. I think it's much more likely that we'll have Netflix, Hulu Plus, Spotify(fingers crossed) and Youtube (gigantic fingers crossed)

So, this is probably Euro stuff, as far as pricing and release date goes, but the Wii U launching at 350 euros on Black Friday? Heck no. There is no way that I am camping out at GameStop the night of Black Friday. (Plus, I'd have to get whatever I want from Walmart on Black Friday, then run across the shopping center to pick up my Wii U and run out of there)

There are both SD and USB ports for a reason. I'd imagine that the Wii U would have a small amount of memory (~8 GB) that, if wanted by the consumer, could be expanded via SD or USB 2.0. In my opinion, the USB 3.0 adoption rate is too low for Nintendo to spend the extra money on including it.

On a semi-related topic, why is Nintendo giving us FOUR USB ports when the only confirmed accessory that uses it is the New Controller? If they really are going to allow only one NC at a time, then why include four ports? Controlled, anyone?

MY GOD. Those are some graphics. I wonder what video to show to Wii U haters now?

I hope the Wii U doesn't use those recycle cases. I mean it is nice to save the plastic, but it makes the cases flimsier.
The games deserve to be put in a quality case!

I don't have a problem with the Eco-Cases. Yeah, they may feel flimsy, but on a shelf, they fit in fine (and it's only the disc that really matters, not the case)

Mother 4. Zing!

This happened Friday? How the heck did I miss this? But on a serious note, it's funny that not only is there a "porn curtain" mode, but there is also a private browsing mode. But anyway, this is pretty great news!

No. Just... no. All I want is StarFox Assault 2 HD Online with 4 vs. 4, Star Fox vs. Star Wolf team deathmatches over Nintendo Network. Now, Retro, shut up and take my money.

<- Just imagine this... in 1080p... 8 player online.... mmm...

That's good news. Nintendo needs to future-proof the Wii U both as economically and appealingly as possible.

I'm thinking of using your Club Nintendo account as a "gamertag" and that way you can get "coins" with some sort of "achievements".

That's what I've thought ever since CN launched in the States. And especially with the start of redeeming coins for DLC, I think that's how they'll do it.

I think that Microsoft will cut the 360 down to $179 (Or, as Pachter suggested, 360 and Kinect for $199) and really promote their existing hardware. We'll see a lot more "platinum hits" come out, and I think Microsoft will advertise the fact that the 360 has more games than any other console.

We're. done with everything in my AP French class, so I'll be watching this that day And you betcha that I'll be on the chat.

The dark blue adds a more mature feel to it. Me gusta. (Now all they need is a black console available on launch day...)

agreed

the black ones should have a more hardcore look of the logo too , a different font maybe

Absolutely not. You don't want to confuse the consumer too much; enough people are confused by the "U" already.

It probably costs Nintendo only a few cents to make a Wii sensor bar, so there's no point in changing it and adding to the cost. Plus, if you look at THIS video at the 28 second mark, the ports are identical to the Wii's (aside from the HDMI), so the sensor bar will stay the same.

With the launch of a new console, there's always a flood of games, accessories, hardware, controllers, and just general stuff put out to cash in on day-one buyers. Given that a large percentage of the members of this forum will be buying a Wii U on day one (including myself), I thought this would be a fun thread.

Feel free to copy my format below:

Hardware

• 1 Wii U (in black, if available)

Software

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (if available); if not available Ghost Recon Online
• Pikmin 3 (if available)
• Wii U Play (probably going to be a pack-in title, but whatever)
• Assassin's Creed III
• Whatever crazy-good launch titles Nintendo puts out
• Whatever crazy-good launch titles third parties put out
• Killer Freaks From Outer Space

Accessories

• If there's a new Classic Controller they put out, I might pick that up
• A headset (if the U isn't compatible with my current headset)

Other Stuff

• A $20 eShop gift card
• Energy drinks and lots of sweets to keep me awake