Nintendo Wii to launch on December 8th, GBP 179

Nintendo Wii will launch in Europe on December 8th 2006 and cost EUR 249 / GBP 179, Nintendo announced during a conference in London this afternoon.

The bundle will be the same as in America, with one Wii remote, one Nunchuk and a copy of Wii Sports included.

Wii Play (the mini-games package that includes a bundled Wii remote) and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess will both be there at launch from Nintendo, to be followed shortly after by WarioWare: Smooth Moves.

Nintendo predicts around 15 to 20 games at the European launch, mostly from third-parties, with Red Steel, Rayman: Raving Rabbids, Need For Speed: Carbon, Cars, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz all set for launch.

Games will retail for between EUR 49 and 59 (GBP 34 and 39). Accessories will also be available - Wii remotes will cost EUR 39 / GBP 29, Nunchuks will cost EUR 19 / GBP 14, and the Classic Controller will cost EUR 19 / GBP 14.

Virtual Console will also be available, offering 15 titles during the European launch period, with 5-10 titles added each month thereafter from previous Nintendo consoles along with SEGA systems and TurboGrafx.

Virtual Console games that appeared on-screen included Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past, Super Mario 64 and Donkey Kong. Exact pricing of VC titles was not discussed during the conference.

What we did get was Satoru Iwata delivering the same sort of demonstration of Wii Channels that America and Japan enjoyed yesterday, along with a Wii Sports tennis demonstration involving British tennis players Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski.

A photo-call, interviews with key Nintendo staff and gameplay sessions follow the conference. More soon.