If you’ve been putting off buying that WiiU for the fabled price drop, it’s time to jump on board. Nintendo announced on their Facebook page this morning that they will be releasing a WiiU discount bundle on September 20. The Wind Waker HD bundle will include the system with a Zelda branded tablet controller in black, Wind Waker HD and the strategy guide. The WiiU Deluxe edition is also dropping to $299.99 on September 20th giving us late adopters a chance to buy in if the bundle sells out.
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| Photo : Nintendo’s Facebook |
With Nintendo’s president admitting that WiiU sales have been abysmal it stands to reason that something needed to be done. With the WiiU still not turning a profit for the company you can see that they are really pushing to get some traction on the market. It is also noticeable that Wind Waker HD wasn’t slated until October and is being released early with this bundle, so picking up the console now gives you multiple benefits. We have said on multiple episodes of the Big Shiny Podcast! that a Zelda game is what is truly needed to move the console and this looks to be Nintendo’s all in push. There is plenty of money behind the company to keep them profitable, Pokemon alone can sustain their operations for 20 years. But it is time to stop viewing the WiiU as a “Dreamcast” and push it into the current gen. The price drop also comes right before the PS4, and Xbox One launches which can hopefully give them traction before the two giants hit market.
If you don’t believe that this holiday season is going to be a slug fest then you’re ignoring the signs. We have 2/3 major consoles launching within 2 weeks of each other. (I’m aware Microsoft hasn’t given us a date but we know it has to be before November 20, because once the “holiday” season starts we’re boned.) And then we have Nintendo bundling up and dropping the price to get competitive. This is a great year to be a gamer.
Thomas Winkley is the Gaming Editor for Big Shiny Robot! Find him on twitter: @thomaswinkley, or via email thomas@BigShinyRobot.com