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With only 11 days until the launch of the Wii U in the States, it was time that Nintendo blow the lid off all the console has to offer. So to help facilitate an easy transition between the arguably bare-bones features of the Wii and the now robust, competitive ones for Wii U, Nintendo has put together some handy instructional videos that showcase all that comes in the Wii U retail box, explain how to set up a Wii U user account, and demonstrate the new video chat feature.

It's some pretty basic stuff — especially the unboxing — but nonetheless there are some important pieces of information covered in each of the 3 videos. The first (seen above) walks gamers through the process of unboxing the Wii U and explains all that comes packaged in with the Premium 32GB Set.

Now, most gamers are not going to be unboxing their Wii U in quite the same fashion as Iwata — especially not while wearing white gloves — but nevertheless it's quite fascinating to see each item revealed in such a precise manner, and presented like Simba in The Lion King.

As we've already detailed, the Wii U Premium Set comes with a black Wii U console (of course), one game pad, a stand for the game pad, a stand for the Wii U, a charging stand for the game pad, associated cables including an HDMI cable, and a copy of Nintendo Land (not pictured). This is, however, the more robust retail option and retails for $349.99. The relatively less expensive Basic Set ($299.99) comes with a white Wii U, has no console or game pad stand, and doesn't feature a charging base for the game pad.

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The second video focuses on the 'Account' feature of the Wii U, which allows up to 12 players to create their own user account for personal use. The associated 'User' will be attached to the console via their respective Mii and while logged in they will be able to access their unique game and save data, bookmarks for the Wii U's browser, and play history.

After setting up a personal User Account players must then register themselves for a Nintendo Network ID so they can access the Miiverse, Nintendo eShop, and video chat functions. Essentially, the Network ID is your personal identity when playing in another game's multiplayer space. It's standard online account set-up, but a first for Nintendo -- Nintendo Network ID's are the new friend codes.

 

Nintendo Network IDs will also be used to help players access their account while away from their Wii U, typically whilst using a mobile device. Once again, this type of feature has been available for a while on other consoles, but it's new to Nintendo.

When players fire up their Wii U for the first time they will be greeted by a rather large update that the video claims will load the Internet Browser, Miiverse, and the Nintendo eShop onto the console. No mention of important secondary apps like Netflix or Hulu, though, but we're sure they are in the pipeline.

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And finally is a video walkthrough of the Wii U's video chat feature — Wii U chat — which functions as gamers might expect. The Wii U uses the game pad's camera as a web cam and allows them to chat with another user on their Television. However, with the added touch capability of the Wii U game pad users can also draw messages for their contact to see.

Gamers are still a few days away from getting hands-on time with the Wii U console, but getting helpful explanations regarding the Wii U, Accounts, and the video chat will provide a leg up on day one. Hopefully you were able to pre-order one before they started selling out.

What do you think of the implementation of the User Accounts and the Nintendo Network ID? Would you ever use the Wii U chat feature?

The Nintendo Wii U launches on November 18, 2012.

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Source: Nintendo