Possible Early Release for the Nintendo Wii

ForensicPenguin writes "CNN has an update on a possible early release for the Nintendo Wii console. From the article: 'While Nintendo has not made any formal announcements about the launch date for the Wii, most of the industry has expected the machine to hit retail at approximately the same time as Sony's PlayStation 3 (which is set for November 17). Now, industry observers — and insiders — say they expect the system to be available in October, with late September a dark-horse candidate.'"

Let the fanboy war begin!

[GundamFan]

The editors must love watching the various console fanboys and trolls fight over what will happen 6 to 12 months from now. I am going to wait untill a game I actualy want to play (MSG4: Substance comes to mind and no I don't care what platform it ends up on) is released before I commit to any of these systems. P.S. Someone pease reply to this message with something about how the 360 is out and "the best console ever".

Gamestop Game Release Dates

[HaymarketRiot]

I was in Gamestop and EBGames the other day, and happened to look in the pre-order section for Wii games. Several of the games were listed as being released on October 2nd. COuld this be foreshadowing, or just a made up date?

Confessions

[SimDarth]

I have a confession. I am a Sony fanboy. I am also the target audience for the PS3... older, an "early adopter", professional and informed. I know that the PS3 is the most advanced of the three systems. I also understand that the Xbox360 CAN compete with it, though. Unfortunately, I also have a skill called "fiscal responsibility". That means I won't lay $60-70 bucks to play Oblivion on Xbox360 or PS3 when I can play it for $40 on PC. That also means that my new console for the year will probably be a Wii. After all, I was raised on Atari and Nintendo so I can consider it "getting back to my youth." Either that or the cheapest mid-life crisis ever at $250 or less.

September, eh?

[Jerf]

September, eh?

Maybe they're going to release on September 9th. Dark horse consoles released on September 9th always do well, right? Certainly, getting crushed by a Sony Playstation after release on that date never happens...

Although, ideally, you ought to wait until 2009 for 9/9/9

Re:Speculation

[Anonymous Coward]

Nintendo is a company that (always) trys to prevent long term "selling out" by producing a large enough supply to meet demand; in fact the DS Lite was the only piece of Nintendo hardware that has ever been in a true (long term) shortage position in Japan. With this in mind there are several reasons why Nintendo is starting to manufacture so early:

• They could be planning an early launch in Japan; launching 6 weeks earlier in Japan could reduce demand on system/game sales enough to prevent shortages in North America

• They could be planning a worldwide launch; if you are launching November 1st (to pick a date) in every region you'll probably have sold 1.5 to 3 million units by November 7th depending on the demand of the system. Knowing Nintendo I would anticipate 500k units to be ready for a launch in Japan, North America, and the rest of the world at launch with an aditional 500k being delivered over the next 4-6 weeks in each region; thus if demand is there Nintendo could (in theory) sell 3-4 Million units in 2 months but this would require most of those units being produced before launch.

• Or they could be planning an early launch; if this were the case I would anticipate that Nintendo would announce it 2-3 months before it happened (to allow everyone to prepare)

Personally, I'd bet on a worldwide launch where Nintendo hopes to break records for most consoles sold in a month (or two); that way early in January Nintendo can announce that they outsold Microsoft 20:1 and Sony 10:1 (worldwide) over the holiday period [numbers just to make a point, not real guestimates].

Re:Let the fanboy war begin!

[ZorbaTHut]

I almost always agree with this. I have the Three-Game Rule. Once there are three games I really want for a system, I buy it.

It's looking like the Wii is going to have three games on launch day that I really want, though - so, if I get the option, I think it might be the first console I've ever pre-ordered. I've got to admit, I'm excited about that one.