It seems like Nintendo is shying away from their multicolored pre-launch shenanigans by unveiling a black SKU for their forthcoming console, the Wii U. While it took nearly a year+ for the Wii to move beyond the traditional white color scheme, Wii U will be going black right away.

The news comes to us by way of the Nintendo Direct pre-E3 address — which also unveiled a new Xbox-inspired gamepad and the console's new Miiverse feature — and is not that surprising. Most consoles that have launched with a white option have, at some point, added a black SKU (take for example the Xbox 360 slim), but usually not at launch.

Black seems like a bigger step away from the traditional look of the Wii, but it also calls to mind the nightmare that arose from the multiple color options for the iPhone. Rather than split the fan base, the colored device with the smaller inventory was the harder to come by while the main device ended up in most households.

Extrapolating from that it is easy to see that the Wii U's black version, if not stocked in large quantities, will be extremely rare and harder to procure. Add that to appeal of having a console that looks markedly more different than other gamers' and it's going to be much more difficult to find this console.

Unfortunately, besides unveiling that the Wii U would come in black, Nintendo did not announce a price for their console just yet. While some are thinking the console should come in under the $250 price tag, the tech at play with the Wii U tablet controller could inflate the overall cost. Still, it's a black console and who doesn't want universality in the color of their devices?

Follow all of our E3 2012 coverage including all of the big announcements from Nintendo's press conference on Tuesday June 5th.

Which do you prefer: the black Wii U or the white Wii U? Would you be willing to wait if the black console was in greater demand?