I walked into Gamestop yesterday hoping to put money down on one of the 32 GB Deluxe versions and the guy said that they only had the 8 GB available. Preorders for the Deluxe version were allegedly cut off within the first 24 hrs. of the Thursday announcement.

I reluctantly put down a deposit anyway, but I really do not want the "basic" one. I just don't understand why Nintendo would bother to make two different versions of the Wii U with pretty significant differences (4x the storage space, free Nintendoland game included, etc.) for only a $50 price difference? I could see if it were a $100 difference, that would be one thing. Why wouldn't Nintendo just focus their manufacturing efforts on the Deluxe version and not even bother with the cheaper, basic one?

The guy at Gamestop did say there might be a possibility that I could upgrade to the Deluxe if more became available between now and the launch date. I am hoping that will be the case.

Serious.

Why not make some money? If people can;t be bothered to pre-order or wait in line than they can pay a premium to buy this.

Worse comes to worse I will simply return it and get my money back. I lose nothing.

I think they just really want to get a system out there for $300, like how MS wanted a $300 Xbox 360 when it launched. I suspect that storage is fairly expensive flash, and Nintendo doesn't sell their consoles at a loss like the competition. The only way they could get it in at $300 may have been to limit the storage.

Edit: whoops, I meant $300 instead of $350.

Flash isn't that expensive. They could have easily added it in for a few dollars.

The dumb pack really should be $250.

Maybe, but look at what they charge for tablets just to go from 8GB to 16GB, or 16GB to 32GB.

TRU has ended pre-orders of the Deluxe now, hopefully means I'll get mine.

You can buy the Wii U alone instead of doing one of their bundles if you use their direct links. I have no clue what would happen if you bought it like this though...

Walmart.com Wii U DELUXE $349.96

Walmart.com Wii U BASIC $299.96

You're paying for color, not memory. The memory doesn't even need to be there because, as Reggie told IGN, they know the people that care will add what they want and those prices decrease every day. Supporting external storage is the one thing Nintendo is doing right.

you are also paying for the Nintendoland Game and the charging cradle, right?

Yeah. As per Gamestop:

$299 -
8 GB internal memory for storage
Wii U Console in White
Wii U GamePad in White
Wii U AC Adapter
Wii U GamePad AC Adapter
High Speed HDMI Cable
Sensor Bar

$349 -
*Copy of Nintendo Land
*(+24gb) 32 GB internal memory for storage
Wii U Console in Black
Wii U GamePad in Black
Wii U AC Adapter
Wii U GamePad AC Adapter
High Speed HDMI Cable
Sensor Bar
*Wii U GamePad Cradle
*Wii U GamePad Stand
*Wii U Console Stand

Weird that there's no Console Stand w/ the $299? Nintendoland's MSRP is $59.99 so I guess it saves you $10 if you planned to buy it, that and you get the additional 24gb of space, the cradle, stand and console stand.

I guess, obviously. But I was addressing the hardware differences as internal 32 vs 8 gb is moot to all players that care about it.

Oh, yeah, other than some minor data speed differences (unless using say a 64gb flash drive, those for whatever reason tend to be slow as hell) there is no major difference between using your own storage and nintendo's built-in storage.

Don't forget that in the 32GB package you are also enrolled in the digital download discount/rebate program, which would end up paying for the difference you pay in the price between the 8GB and 32GB in the long run, if you take advantage of it.

I think the "points" you earn total up to 10% of your digital purchases, so you'd need to spend $500.00 in downloads (before December 2014) for it to cover the full $50.00. That said, the deluxe edition includes Nintendo Land -- if you are able to sell it it's full market value ($60, unlikely) you're actually $10 up.

I think I'm going to buy a few Wii titles before launch so I have more to play, and maybe grab a few points cards; there were a few games I didn't get to buy through the VC that I want to finally play.

Yeah, the Bayonetta 2 exclusive pisses me off. I guess I really hadn't payed attention to this new system news.

They need to find something to use in order to sell them at different price points. Since those tablets are almost always the same other than the memory, there's nothing else they can use for that. It also helps that people understand storage, but may not realize how cheap those chips are at this point.

Maybe this year they will make money.

I think I'm just going to get a regular Wii U. Never paid or downloaded a single thing for my Wii. I'm in for new games only. Don't need anything more than 8GB, and probably will never play Nintendoland since there are decent launch titles.

The charging cradle would've been okay, but i've used cables for my PS3 since day one.

Some various game footage for the lazy (ie - me 10 minutes ago)

Nintendo Land

New Super Mario Bros U

Lego City: Undercover

Tekken Tag Tournament 2

ZombiU


Assassins Creed III


Rayman Legends

Ninja Gaiden 3: Less Shitty Edition

Aliens

Titty Sprinkles:

This system gives me a Dreamcast vibe, which is great for me but terrible for Nintendo.

So, what's the scoop on ZombiU? It's intriguing, but it's one of those games that look like they could be really awesome...or really suck.

That's the scoop! I'm interested, but like you said, it really looks like it could be either really good, or just a flat out stinker.

Right now, we have the Deluxe pre-ordered for my son for Christmas. He's 7 and loves Scribblenauts, Mario and LEGO games. We are pre-ordering Mario U, Scribblenauts, LEGO City and Rayman for now.

I have a deluxe pre-ordered from GS. I plan on just getting the system to start and then see how the games and accessories are. There are plenty of Wii games to keep me busy for a while.

I didn't get to play it, because the line was too long, but it looked really good in person, and everyone that I saw play it seemed like they were having a good time. Well, expect the one dude that got yelled at by the guy running the demo.

I don't think I've ever wanted an unproven game to end up as great as I'm hoping for ZombiU to be. I just keep thinking about Red Steel for the Wii, and how completely let down I was by it at the Wii launch. Come on Ubisoft, prove me wrong. I was going to preorder it but I have decided to wait for the reviews. If the reviews are even remotely positive I'll buy it for sure though. Heck, watch me break down and buy it at launch anyway. The more I see of it the more hyped I get...



I had no clue that Ubisoft's very first published game back in 1986 was called Zombi, how cool...