Nintendo Wii U debut at E3 sparks rumours about release date, price

While we've known about the Wii U since E3 2011, at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo we got to see exactly what Nintendo is planning for its new console and what games we can expect. But it seems like there are more questions than answers as speculation runs rampant on exactly how much the Wii U will cost and when we can expect to take one home.

During the Nintendo keynote presentation, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime debuted NintendoLand, one of the launch titles for the system. The game, which brings together multiple Nintendo worlds in an amusement park, is meant to really showcase what the Wii U is capable of. Nintendo did the same thing at the launch of the Wii, when it was Wii Sports that best demonstrated how to use a Wiimote.

Fils-Aime announced the launch of NintendoLand to be coming at the same time as the Wii U, during "Holiday 2012." That certainly narrows down the launch window, but gamers likely want something more specific.

Ubisoft, who is working on Rayman Legends for the Wii U, says its game will also be released at the same time as the Wii U's launch. According to Digital Spy, a spokesperson who was pressed for the information thought the launch would be around November. It still isn't a specific date, but certainly better.

Electronics retailers Best Buy and Future Shop are offering Canadian customers the chance to pre-order titles for the Wii U, but there's currently no information on the site about when they expect it to launch other than "2012." All the available games have an expected release date of 12/31/2012 listed, but chances are that will change once a firm launch date is announced.

Neither retailer has put up a price for the Wii U, but two European retailers seem more confident in how much the new console will cost. Swedish retailer GAME.se lists the Wii U console for release in Winter 2012, with a price of 4995 Swedish Krona (about $720 CAD). They also list the Wii U gamepad at 1499 SEK (about $216 CAD) and the Wii U Pro controller at 699 SEK (about $100 CAD). U.K.-based retailer ShopTo seems more optimistic about the Wii U's pricing, setting the pre-order price at £279.85 (about $445 CAD).

Both prices currently sound on the high side and not exactly in line with Fils-Aime's claim that consumers will be "pleasantly surprised" by the Wii U's launch price.

"We want to launch at a price that's going to represent an ongoing great value," Fils-Aime told IGN. "If you look at the Wii, we stayed at $250 [$279.99 in Canada] for a really long time, so we're going to give that same level of thought to the Wii U."

Ignoring the notorious markup that European countries typically have on video game consoles and games, it would still be shocking if Nintendo actually launched the console at $700. Whether we'll be paying $400 for the Wii U at launch remains to be seen.

Oh, and one last big rumour, to appease those upset about the lack of big name games coming for the Wii U: MCVUK is reporting that a Zelda game for Wii U is in the research and development stage. So don't expect to see it come out at the Wii U launch, but we might be seeing some hint of it by E3 2013.