Seeing the Wii Remote Battery Charger has mixed vibes for me.

On one hand, I've had my Wii since launch, so seeing this feels like Nintendo is late to the game, especially after several third-party companies have offered their own battery chargers for much cheaper than what Nintendo is asking. A battery and a dock are $41. Seriously? The best charger I ever had was $20 back in 2007, could charge two controllers, and plugged into the Wii via USB (provided WiiConnect24 was on, but it saved a wall outlet).

On the other hand, it's great that Nintendo decided to use the Wii Remotes again in this generation (ie: to make Wii U games feel more accessible for everyone; and to help folks with a Wii and several controllers make the transition to the Wii U easier), so it makes sense that if the Gamepad has a rechargeable battery, the Wii Remotes should have them from a first party source as well at this point. This is especially true for new Nintendo customers who buy a Wii U and a few Wii Remotes and expect to be able to charge everything. On that note, I'd like to know when/if the battery and charger will come standard on Wii Remotes, much as the MotionPlus eventually did once it became cost effective to do so (if Nintendo released the Wii Remote with a rechargeable battery back in November 2006, they might not have been able to sell them for $40).

Great to see Nintendo Land come with a Wii Remote. Wii Play was also bundled with a Remote to show off the controller, so I'm curious to see if this bundle will show the Wii U as a social system (a "look what you can do" with a Remote AND a Gamepad, however holistically asymmetric it is, as Nintendo pointed out at E3).

The White 32GB Wii U looks cool, but I've got my eye on a $300 Black 32GB System with Nintendo Land at a Mom and Pop store.

I realize these announcements are currently for Japan and I'm comparing them to US examples, so this could be comparing apples and oranges on some levels. All the same, these are my thoughts.