So, the day is finally here. On Thursday, September 13, Nintendo will be finally announcing the Wii U price and release date, and most likely other details about the Wii U.

To join in on the announcement live, visit Nintendo’s Wii U page at 10:00 AM Eastern time.

As is typical with new electronics these days, a lot of rumors have been leaked already. It’ll allow for expansion though SD cards and USB hard drives. It’ll support up to 1080p and 1080i video through HDMI, component, D-terminal, RGB, S-video, and standard composite video connectors. It will supposedly leapfrog the Xbox and Playstation with 1 GB of RAM. It’ll have improved graphics and speed. And of course, it’ll have that new touchscreen controller.

While a lot of the game media are bearish on Nintendo’s chances, remember that these are the same people who scoffed at the Wii and silly ideas like motion control. I’m not quite ready to count the Wii U out yet, particularly before it launches. The fact that it’s backwards compatible with the Wii’s games and controllers (including the Balance Board) AND that new versions of Xbox and PS3 will not be here for at least a year make me wonder if this might do a lot better than the critics are giving it credit for.