Wii U games will cost $60, hard-drive expandable
"Plug in a full-on three terabyte hard drive if you want."
September 13, 2012 / 06:19 PM EDT / (@salromano)

Nintendo has confirmed two new Wii U tidbits in New York City.

Speaking to The Verge, a Nintendo representative has said that most Wii U games will have a suggested retail price of $59.99. This is what most PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 games currently cost.

And during an interview with Engadget, Nintendo of America president and COO Reggie Fils-Aime said that Wii U’s 8 gigabye and 32 gigabyte flash memory can be expanded with your own alternatives.

“You can plug in a full-on three terabyte hard drive if you want. I’ll love you as a digital consumer,” saids Fils-Aime.

“The reason we did it that way is that the cost of that type of storage memory is plummeting. What we didn’t want to do is tie a profit model to something that’s gonna rapidly decline over time. We’ll let the consumer buy as much as they want, as cheaply as they want.”

Wii U was dated for a November 18 launch today.

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  • Solomon_Kano

    Very smart on Ninty’s part. The game prices were expected though. Y’know, despite the ridiculous rumors of $80-100 games.

  • Acidicsam

    At first, I thought it was pretty stupid that they only had 8gb and 32gb consoles, but I never really thought about the possibility of just buying a bigger, separate hard drive.

    Good move, Nintendo. Thank you for not destroying us with overpriced hard drive expansions.

    • DrForbidden

      I don’t know if you’re being sarcastic or not, but I think that 32 GB on a home console is pretty stupid. Hell, even the Vita’s memory cards go up to that. If I have to pay extra for a separate hard drive, the WII U better be priced to sell. Knowing Nintendo, though, that’s probably not going to be true.

      EDIT: Just read the news about the pricing. It’s okay, I guess.

      • Acidicsam

        It’s good that they’re just letting us use external hard drives if we need more space, but they aren’t requiring us to pay for that extra space up front on the console.

        For example, I’ll probably never need more than eight gigabytes for a WiiU. I buy everything physical. However, there will surely be a person out there that could use 500 gigabytes. Adding a larger hard drive to all WiiU consoles would raise the price of all WiiU consoles. Why should I pay more for something I will never use?

        With this system, it’s nice because I can get my amount of memory, and the other player that needs more can just buy a bigger hard drive(and probably buy it for less than the added price of the hard drive with the console would cost him)

        • DrForbidden

          I understand your point, and I agree with you that it adds flexibility and consumer choice. I just think that the existing memory is extremely low for a next gen console. If there are games that need partial installation on the WII U, 8GB might presumably be a problem if several games need to be installed. Not difficult to overcome, though, just annoying (to me, at least).

          The PS3 comes with a minimum of 160 GB, and still presents the same flexibility and choice to upgrade. Given the low cost of memory today, a bigger capacity will only slightly increase the WII U’s price. IMO, I would rather have more memory than a bundled HDMI cable, which is cheap and doesn’t actually add any value despite appearing to.

          • Dean Winchester

            The PS3 like the 360 were Next Gen consoles and launched with 20gb models at $400 and $500 respectively.

            The 60gb PS3 was $600. The one I bought.
            The 360 elite had a 120GB HDD and launched for $479.

            The Wii-U is a “next gen” system….it definitely is for Nintendo and it comes with a tablet controller that allows for new styles of gameplay as well as allowing you to play a full game entirely on your tablet screen without the need for a TV in some instances.

            It is launching for $299.

            That same price point for the 360 launch got you no tablet controller, no HDD, no memory card, and a system that was all but guranteed to die on you in 3 months with no warranty.

            Surely you can see the value prop in what Nintendo is offering at the price and while you dont see an absolute necessity like an HDMI cable as value add……I dont see an extra 20 to 40gb’s of space as a value add if I will still be working with mere double digits for storage capacity.

            • DrForbidden

              1). PS3 & X360 are current gen consoles. The WII U, despite being next-gen, is only comparable to the other current gen home consoles in terms of hardware specs. It is much cheaper to make hardware with current gen specs today than it was 7-8 years ago. If you want to do a comparison, compare current PS3 and X360 prices with the WII U launch price, not prices from over half a decade ago.

              2). Flash memory was more expensive when the PS3 and X360 launched.

              3). Yes, I understand Nintendo is launching something different, but memory is still used regardless of the play-style, etc. It’s an important component. Yes, I know the touchscreen tablet controller pushes the price up, but I could care less about tablet controllers. I think they’re just an unnecessary and uncomfortable gimmick, for the most part, but I know some people might like it. Good for them, but I don’t personally think it adds any value (considering my personal situation and opinions, of course).

              4). $300 gets you a console with only 8GB of memory. 

              • Dean Winchester

                I can see reasoning with you is impossible.

                Yes, Nintendo are scam artists.

                Dont ever change Mr. Carl Fredrickson, no matter what happens around you.

                • DrForbidden

                  Funny, I was going to say the exact same thing to you, except for the part about Nintendo being scam artists.

                  And I never said they were; that’s just you putting words into my mouth to make me seem unreasonable. I already said that the WII U’s pricing is ‘okay’.

                  Whatever, let’s just agree to disagree, then.

        • AdamBoy64

          Yes. I’ll be getting the 8Gb version – I don’t see the need for 32Gb.
          It’d be nice, but for me it’d be quite unnecessary. Also, I far prefer the white colour.

          I do like the flexibility Nintendo have allowed with the Wii U.

          In saying all of that, if the USB ports are only USB2 – then the internal flash memory could be quite a bit faster.

      • Dean Winchester

        Personally I have about 3 spare 2.5″ SATA HDD’s laying around ranging from 120gb to a 500gb and they do nothing.
        Well, the small one contains my 26gb itunes music library but thats it.

        The 500gb might as well shack up with my future WiiU.

        For as cheap as HDD’s are now days I would think people would complain less.

        Guess I was wrong.
        I guess things would be better with proprietary storage like MS provides so you could pay $1 per GB?

        • DrForbidden

          No, I did not say that. Personally, I do not have spare hard drives lying around, and if I need it for my WII U, I would have to purchase one, in addition to the money I just put down on the WII U. Your condition of having 3 spare HDs lying around does not extend to everybody.

          Yes, memory is comparatively cheap these days, and that’s precisely why more of it should have been included by default in the console. I think that a minimum of 60GB for a next generation console is not too much to ask for, and it would barely impact the existing price of the 32GB WII U.

          • Dean Winchester

            60gb or 32gb, it’s still paltry.

            If it was 60gb out of the box you would not be happy either.

            “they should have given us 120gb standard”.

            I imagine that fancy tablet controller is eating up monies that would have went to having extra storage were the controller not built in its current form.

            Of course most people dont have HDD’s laying around but the point is that storage is easily attainable.

            Could you not say, go out and buy a $50 external HDD or go the even cheaper route and get an OEM HDD and buy a sub $10 enclosure yourself and save a few more bux that way now…then on November 18th you would already have a spare HDD just lying around.

            You see, there are more than 60 days between now and the launch which gives plenty of time to prepare for such a “need”.

            Or….we can just surf the web and complain about how Nintendo is forcing everyone to spend more money. Money they make no profit on btw as they arent providing proprietary storage with huge mark ups.

            Yeah….I think complaining will be most effective here.
            Its what we gamers do. Amirite?

            • DrForbidden

              Can the attitude and sarcasm. It contributes nothing.

              I don’t intend to buy a WII U, but if I did and it came with 60GB of memory I would be much happier with my purchase than I would with a 32GB. I didn’t get the biggest HD capacity for my PS3 and I didn’t even upgrade it, as I don’t really need it. I could buy a HDD at any time but that is entirely besides the point.

              My original point is simply that I think the existing memory on the WII U is much too low for a next gen console. The easy availability of additional memory at additional cost is a separate issue.

  • http://www.facebook.com/wtfits.gardner Cat Flames

    FAIL I am not getting a Wii U after all… price needs to go down for games not up. The HD things is superb do.. ugh maybe I will wait a very long time to get one IF!! I do… needs more games and the only one I want so far is MH which I can play on my 3DS XL.

    • Dean Winchester

      Please explain how the price of games went up exactly?

      $60 has been standard for nearly 7 years.
      For 10 years prior $50 was standard.

      Back in the SNES days games like FF2/3 and Chrono Trigger ran upwards of $80.

      The N64 launched with Mario 64 and Wave Race 64 and both were $80.

      The Wii has been $50 standard b/c the Wii was a repackaged gamecube with motion controls and graphics we had been playing since October 2000.

      The WiiU finally brings Nintendo to the HD era where, as stated above, the standard price of games for the HD generation has been $60.
      Has been since the 360 launch in Nov 2005.

      So please do convince me that the fail here is in Nintendo “raising” the price of games and not in yet another hateful post that really just shows how resistant to change you are within this hobby no matter if it’s good or bad.

      Long time lurker. First time poster.
      I must say, your constantly negative posts have become quite tiresome.

      • http://www.facebook.com/wtfits.gardner Cat Flames

        I can’t believe you took the time to type all that junk LOL! anyways Wii games were $50 and Wii U games will be $60 … 50+10= 60 … that’s a $10 boost buddy. Lika BOUSZ!! I will speak my mind no matter what! don’t like it? to bad.

        • Dean Winchester

          Again, Wii games were subpar and were priced accordingly.

          HD games have been $60 for 7 yrs.

          Wii-U is HD. Thus HD games. Ergo standard $60 price point.

          The more you know.

          • http://www.facebook.com/wtfits.gardner Cat Flames

             You really think a HD disc is worth that much? haha SONY ans MS only price them that high because the tools keep buying them. Like I said.. Nintendo went up $10 end of story they could have kept it at $50 but they know the tools will buy since they pay that for 360 and PS3. Have fun bending over for Nintendo.

            • Dean Winchester

              LoL……have fun shopping bargain bins.

              If one cant afford the $60 price of games then one should find a cheaper hobby.

              Bird watching is pretty cheap I hear.

              I think the time and effort the devs put into making HD games is worth the $60.

              With HD game development costs drastically go up for developers when compared to the ancient technology they were building games for on the Wii.

              I know this generation of gamers feel very entitled to everything and have a hard time acknowledging other peoples hard work so I understand why your vision of the overall picture is so short sighted and limited to only yourself and how you are affected.

              The tools that keep paying such an ungodly amount are the one that keep your hobby alive while you run out and shop used and leech off of that which you feel so entitled to recieve.

      • http://www.facebook.com/wtfits.gardner Cat Flames

         You have been keeping tabs on me btw? eww! CREEPER!! you are one weird guy you know that?

  • Dean Winchester

    Hi Sal,

    Any word on whether or not you can upgrade the storage INSIDE the Wii-u?

    Can I just put any 2.5″ SATA HDD in it or do you “upgrade” the storage externally via usb?

    • AdamBoy64

      I’m not certain, but the way Reggie worded it, “You can ‘plug’ in a full-on three terabyte hard drive if you want.” – makes it sound like it’s external.

      The slightly worrying thing about that is the Wii U is rumoured to only support USB2. I’d be hoping it’d support USB3 for far superior transfer rates.