Company is determined to learn from the lessons of the 3DS launch

Some more information has emerged about the Wii U console.

And the biggest snippet is the fact that Nintendo’s sequel has been confirmed as launching before the end of 2012.

The company has learned “bitter” lessons from the 3DS launch, which failed to make the Christmas launch window and slipped to March, with sales suffering as a result.

Hopefully they’ll have learned pricing lessons as well, as the 3DS had too steep a price tag for many when it was first out.

The Wii has always been a competitive piece of hardware, of course, but the Wii U boasts higher-end technology capable of HD visuals, not to mention a mini-tablet controller, which will push the price up. Fingers crossed not by too much, though.

One of the other fails with the 3DS launch was the lack of big name games, with punters having to wait until the end of 2011 for the likes of Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart.

The Wii U will apparently be launching replete with a stock of great titles, as it should be.

In other Wii U news, the controller will come with NFC technology as well, apparently. This will allow it to read cards or other objects with chips embedded in them, although again, we’re eyeing that potential price tag nervously.

Another rumour is that Nintendo may be considering a name change to differentiate the console more from the original Wii.

We guess we’ll find out about the name when the official unveiling comes at this year’s E3 in June. Hopefully, some impressive launch titles will be revealed, too.

In other Nintendo news, the company just updated its forecast for a bigger loss for the year running to April 2012. The estimated loss has been upped from 20 billion yen to 65 billion, not good at all.

3DS sales are still underperforming relative to Nintendo’s expectations, even after the big summer price cut. Whereas the handheld was previously expected to shift 16 million over the year, Nintendo has revised that figure down to 14 million according to Bloomberg.

Could the online retail giant be about to light a second fire?

This week saw the launch of Amazon’s new 7 inch tablet, the Kindle Fire.

And quite a reaction it caused, an Android driven device – although admittedly with no 3G option or camera – priced at just $ 199.

The slate is positioned to potentially become the first real rival to the iPad, with no Android or other non-iOS tablet yet managing to make a meaningful impact in terms of market share.

And it has already caused reactions from the likes of Rim, manufacturer of the PlayBook, who cut its QNX-powered slate down to $ 299 from $ 499.

However, the rumours circulating regarding Amazon’s tablet plans over the last few months have always mentioned that the retailer was planning on launching two devices, not just one.

And it would seem that a bigger brother 10.1 inch tablet – the Kindle Bonfire, perhaps – is indeed waiting in the wings ready for launch.

According to the ever-present far east manufacturer-watching sources over at DigiTimes, Amazon will outsource production of the 10.1 inch tablets to Foxconn, and shipments will likely begin before the close of 2011 for “holiday season demand”.

In other words, the Kindle 10.1 could be with us in time for Christmas. Or rather, we should say it could be with the US in time for Xmas, the UK will no doubt still be waiting for the Kindle Fire to launch over here.

If a 10 inch version launches so soon after the 7 inch, is that going to leave some miffed punters who would have preferred to hang on for the full size Kindle tablet?

However, the 10 inch Kindle tablet is obviously going to be more expensive, so perhaps those who are plumping for a budget solution rather than a “true” iPad rival in terms of size – and tech, it may well have a camera, at least a front-facer – won’t be too dismayed when they see the device costs $ 300.

All of this is conjecture, of course, at this stage. We’ll let you know when we hear more on the grapevine.