Nintendo Wii U Announcement on the Way: Price and Release Date?

Nintendo apparently has something up their sleeve, as they're planning a major announcement at an event in the Big Apple this September. Hosted by Nintendo of American's President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime, an invitation sent to select media outlets claimed the event would teach consumers, "more about how the Wii U will change the future of gaming and entertainment."

While no one's sure quite what that means is exactly, it's a good wager that among other things, we'll finally learn the release date and maybe even the price of Nintendo's next console.

Last time Fils-Aime took the stage at a New York event, he revealed the launch date and price of Nintendo's newest handheld, the 3DS. Prior to that, he spilled the beans on the Nintendo Wii. So while nothing's written in stone, it seems logical enough to assume we'll get at least that much info about the Wii U.

Despite some stores attempts to guess at the price of the Wii U, Nintendo has yet confirm or deny anybody's speculations at price. . During E3, Nintendo's global president Satoru Iwata pegged the figure at more than 20,000 yen, the equivalant of $250, saying only "This is not going to be cheap." Granted, "cheap" is a relative term.

Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime also uses the $250 amount as a benchmark of sorts. Comparing the Wii U launch price to other consoles at launch, Reggie thinks that people will be pleasantly surprised. "Nintendo believes in being a mass market product, so unlike our competitors when they've launched historical systems to maybe start at a really high price and work their way down, we don't believe in that...We want to launch at a price that's going to represent an ongoing great value...You look at the Wii. Wii stayed at $250 for a really long time, and so we're going to give that same level of thought to the Wii U."

Hopefully we'll find out at Nintendo's New York event, September 18.