Wii U Price Drop 2013: Nintendo Cuts Cost $50 Effective Sept. 20

With rival video game consoles launching soon, Nintendo has decided to encourage demand for the Deluxe version of its Wii U by cutting the cost of it by $50. Effective Sept. 20, the U will sell for $299.99 in a bundle which will include a black Wii U console with 32 GB of storage, a tablet-style Gamepad and the game "Nintendo Land". The basic bundle, which didn't come with a game and provided only 8 GB of storage as opposed to 32, will no longer be produced by the company.

"It was critical for us to have a strong software lineup to support Wii U," Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told USA Today. "With that in place this holiday season, we believe providing consumers that extra incentive in terms of a $50 price cut is really going to help drive momentum." The announcement comes as Nintendo prepares to release a host of new first-party games for Wii U - including Super Mario 3D World and Wii Fit U - which the company hopes will boost the console's sales.

The cut in price, said Fils-Aime in an interview with IGN, was "pretty straightforward". "Really, the focus on heightening the value for Wii U is now that we are in a position where we've got a regular pace of great software," he said. "Pikmin 3, New Super Luigi U that just launched physically, Wonderful 101 in September, and then Wind Waker. Then we've got strong third-party content coming for the holidays as well. Scribblenauts, Skylanders, Sonic Lost World, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Assassin's Creed IV, Watch Dogs. So, strong pace of first-party, strong third-party content. Now's the time to make the Wii U even more affordable and heighten the value."

According to IGN, the new price will occur simultaneously with the release of a new bundle - the Wind Waker HD bundle, which will also go for $299.99 and include a 32 GB hard drive, a Zelda-themed GamePad, a digital copy of "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD" along with a digital version of the Zelda Hysrule Historia book. Fils-Aime also called the Hysrule Historia "phenomenal", saying, "You could look at it through the GamePad. You can look at it on your big screen, turn the pages, search for specific items. It's essentially a digital version of the book that you'll be able to access through the GamePad, that you'll download onto the system. It'll be resident on the system. It's really cool."

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