35w ago - Today Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata confirmed Wii U specs (PDF) during a Japanese presentation alongside Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime discussing the Wii U retail bundles release date, pricing, specifications and launch software.

Below are the details and video, as follows:

The Nintendo Wii U will launch in the US on November 18, 2012 for $299.99 for the basic 8GB version and $349.99 for the deluxe 32GB version that comes complete with extra accessories and the Nintendo Land video game.

In Europe Nintendo's Wii U handheld will launch on November 30, and in Japan the Wii U will launch on December 8, 2012 costing 26,250 Yen for the basic model and 31,000 Yen for the premium model and will also have 8GB and 32GB capacity respectively.

This storage will be used for game saves, game data, and other content downloaded from the Nintendo Network. Wii U game discs will be 25GB each so by the looks of it game installs won't be possible, well not on launch at least. Both SKUs will include HDMI cables an AC adapters for the console and Wii U Gamepad. The Wii U measures 46 mm x 172 mm x 268.5 mm horizontally, it can also be placed vertically.

Nintendo is claiming the...

291w ago - So you thought the iPod was expensive in Brazil? It was no secret even before the popular game console was released that its retail price in Brazil would be, well, prohibitive.

Though the high cost can be attributed to many factors, the real explanation lies in the burocracia alfandegária or customs bureaucracy. Getting goods into Brazil inexpensively is no joke; according to the US Department of the Treasury, "Brazil applies a. 60 percent flat import tax on most manufactured retail goods". 60%!!!!

So naturally this means that the same phenomenon inflates the prices of other competing game consoles. The Playstation 3 in Brazil costs a whopping $3,299 reais, or $1,818.82 USD as of this writing. And games are no cheaper either; $200-$300 reais is a lot to drop on a video game when the minimum wage is about $380 per month. So what does this tech-hungry market do? Where do frustrated, Halo-loving teenagers turn?

Pirated software. In Brazil, software piracy has become a socially accepted epidemic, largely as a result of the huge discrepancy between buying power and prices. Vendors of illegally-manufactured PS2/3, XBox and Wii games, HD-DVDs, Blu-Ray discs and movies discourage the use of the word pirata, preferring the generous euphemism paralelo. This 2005 article states that 64% percent of software...