Wii U Release Date Rumors

Gamers have been anxiously awaiting a new home console for years now, and according to a source at GoNintendo, the Wii U might be making its way to US store shelves on Black Friday, November 23rd of this fall.

The source appears to be a GameStop employee in New Jersey who claims that not only is Nintendo's next console releasing on the busiest shopping day of the year, but preorders for the Wii U will start as early as next week. Plus, we have already seen what might be the cover art and box designs for Wii U games, but now we might have a clue for the pricing as well, considering the third part of this report states that some major titles such as Batman Arkham City: Armored Edition will cost $49.99, a ten dollar price drop from most retail releases of the current generation.

An update on the story displays a leaked list of upcoming Wii U releases with possible prices, including the rumored $49.99 price tag for Arkham City, along with the same price for Rayman Legends and Just Dance 4. That said, Nintendo first-party titles are listed alongside the price of $99.99, so either Nintendo is expecting a wealthier crowd for its next generation console, or these are just placeholder numbers until the prices are finalized closer to release. I'd bet on the latter.

Wii U Leaked Prices Rumor

Unfortunately for the international crowd, CVG is claiming that Europe is unlikely to see the Wii U until December. Key to this issue is "the manufacturing of the Wii U Gamepad, a complex controller" that is taking longer to produce than Nintendo had estimated. At one point the European release had even been pushed back to 2013, but since then the production of the console and its controller has apparently picked up enough to deliver as promised before the end of 2012.

So far, none of these rumors have been substantiated by a response from Nintendo, but considering the November 19th launch of the Wii and the still mysteriously unannounced prices for the console and the software for the Wii U, none of these rumors seem too far fetched. Next week would be the perfect time to start gathering interest by offering preorders for the system, right as school is starting and kids are already looking forward to the holidays.

Do you think Nintendo will have the Wii U ready for release before Thanksgiving in the US? How would a month delay affect the European release? Let us know in the comments below.

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Follow me on Twitter @JacobSiegal.

Source: VG24/7, GoNintendo, CVG