The rumor mill began buzzing away yesterday evening when an “inside source” at Nintendo was apparently badgered into giving up a tentative release date for the hotly anticipated Wii game console. As rumors go, several people think it might very definitely be November 6th. From Cubed:
Our source tells us that the Wii will be on sale in the USA “well in time for Thanksgiving and well in time for Christmas in Europe”. Details on the Japanese launch were not so clear, but our source did suggest that it would fall very close, if not before the American launch of the systemwe pushed our source a bit further to see if they had an idea of a more exact date. Today, we were provided with the following information… “So, at the moment Nintendo are aiming to launch the Wii on November 6th”
If this is the expected launch date, Nintendo has placed itself in direct Christmas season competition with Sony’s PlayStation 3, which is also scheduled for release around the same time. By that time, Microsoft expects to have 10-million unit lead on both with sales of Xbox 360, which came out a year earlier. Console market analysts will be watching the race closely to see which next-generation console will win the hearts of gamers worldwide. Wii will be half the price of PlayStation 3, which faced pricing problems early on due to the powerfully high-tech system specs.
The Japanese market will be a key indicator of any one console’s success. The Xbox 360 has sold relatively poorly in the Japanese market, outsold by even Nintendo GameCube. All three gaming companies have been predicting ultimate success. Nintendo, according to its financial report, expects to sell about 6 million units by Spring 2007.
Sony has been very confident, suggesting that the pricey PlayStation 3 will sell 5 million units on name-recognition alone. Microsoft has suggested that gamers skip the PS3 altogether and but both an Xbox 360 and a Wii console for the same price.
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