And now, the news Americans (and Europeans) have been waiting for. Nintendo has announced the North America and European release dates and prices for their black (and white) box o' screens, the Wii U.

Drum roll, please. And...tah-dah! Earlier and cheaper than Japan, but more expensive than I expected!

The Wii U will launch in North American on November 18th, just in time for the holiday shopping season. It'll launch in Europe on November 30th. Like the Japanese edition, the NA and EU Wii U's will be sold in two packages, a white Basic with a gamepad and console for $299.99 and £199 (around $320), and a black Premium with charging and play stands for the gamepad and console, for $349.99 and - our fearless leader Dale suspects - £249. Unlike the Japanese version, both packages on both continent will include two AC adapters and an HDMI cable, as well as a Wii Sensor Bar (but no nunchucks or Wii Remotes).

They also touted a 50-game lineup for the NA launch, including Call of Duty Black Ops II, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Mass Effect 3, FIFA Soccer 13, Tekken Tag Tournament, NintendoLand, Ninja Gaiden 3, New Super Mario Bros. U, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Wii Fit U, Darksiders II, Assassin's Creed III, ZombiU, and Batman: Arkham City. Check out a sizzle reel and the full list of games below. The Big N also announced a couple of hot high-profile exclusives, like Bayonetta 2. 

The Wii U's looking much more attractive to me now that the flood of games has been announced, but it's also much pricier than I had anticipated. Not to be a hardware snob, but given the game's reported parity with the aging PS3 and Xbox 360, I had hoped it would also keep to price parity. And given that Nintendo's key properties like Zelda and Mario have never quite had as much as a hold on me as most gamers, and that I've yet to see the true appeal of its big gimmick, perhaps the Wii U is just not for me...yet. 

But still, it's making a much better case now than a few hours ago. Are you interested?