Nintendo’s Wii U Will Offer Two Versions Starting at $300 on November 18

The facts of the Wii U are falling in to place as Nintendo announced a November 18 North American launch date as well as a deluxe version that will sell for  $350 to go with a basic version at $300.

From my perspective the most exciting part of the announcement --aside from the fact that the Wii U Gamepad will be included in the package-- is that the deluxe kit includes the Wii U, TWO Wii U Gamepads, chargers for both and a copy of NintendoLand! Old school gamers know what it's like to get a free game bundled with a new console when that console first launches. Altered Beast and Super Mario Bros 3 were two iconic pack-in games for the Sega Genesis and Super NES respectively and regardless of what we thought of their quality, those damn things were played to death because they were "free."

New Super Mario Bros U will also be available at launch. Other than that the only bit of a surprise is the fact that North America is getting the Wii U on the 18th of November, while Japan will have to wait until December 8. A Japanese company releasing their console in North America first would be unheard of a generation ago.