Rumors were set ablaze the day after Independence Day when CNNMoney.com’s Chris Morris speculated (perhaps irresponsibly) on an early launch for the Nintendo Wii. “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,” Morris wrote.
One area of interest, production of Nintendo’s Wii, was also touched on: “the company appears to be already manufacturing final retail units of the Wii, according to a June 21st analyst’s note from P.J. McNealy of American Technology Research. That would give it a significant head start over Sony, which has yet to begin final manufacturing of the PlayStation 3. Microsoft’s first Xbox 360 did not roll off the assembly line last year until 69 days before the on sale date of Nov. 22.”
To make matters worse for the likes of gaming journalists set on reporting the news, instead of just speculation, Sports Illustrated for Kids printed an actual date for the Nintendo Wii launch, November 6, 2006. Nintendo has said in the past that the Wii would launch in Q4 2006, which puts late September out of play no matter how late in the month it is. At the same time, for those of us that remember the Sega Saturn’s early launch, stranger things have happened than missing a launch window by a matter of days. That said, Nintendo remains mute on the subject, saying that information won’t be released until September.
