wraggster
January 18th, 2006, 18:55
Shackle your barnacles and brace your britches! Nintendo's head honcho Satoru Iwata (who sadly isn't a pirate despite the nautical opener), has unvieled the most official-sounding indication of the Revolution's release date yet - and it could be a case of happy-happy for our US and Japanese friends and a big fat boo-hoo for us Europeans, possibly.
Speaking to Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun, as reported by Jeux-france.com, Iwata has revealed that a near-complete version of the Revolution console will be on-hand at this year's E3, as widely speculated. However, of far more interest is his proclamation that Nintendo's next-gen console is due to hit the US pre-Thanksgiving and by the end of the year in Japan.
Now, those release dates look suspiciously familiar to us - you might remember Nintendo following a similar pattern for its DS launch in 2004, with the handheld hitting North America on November 21 and, unusually, appearing in Japan slightly later on December 2. Of course, you might also remember that the machine didn't reach European territories until March 11 - could this mean that Iwata's proclamations concerning the Revolution release indicate we won't be seeing the console over here until early 2007, as some industry sources have previously suggested?
Currently, we're holding onto the hope that we'll see the Revolution this side of New Year, but obviously it's all down to Nintendo. To sweeten the potentially bitter pill however, Iwata also suggested in the interview that Nintendo's next-gen console would be priced in such a way that will encourage people to buy it without hesitation. Interesting...
Speaking to Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun, as reported by Jeux-france.com, Iwata has revealed that a near-complete version of the Revolution console will be on-hand at this year's E3, as widely speculated. However, of far more interest is his proclamation that Nintendo's next-gen console is due to hit the US pre-Thanksgiving and by the end of the year in Japan.
Now, those release dates look suspiciously familiar to us - you might remember Nintendo following a similar pattern for its DS launch in 2004, with the handheld hitting North America on November 21 and, unusually, appearing in Japan slightly later on December 2. Of course, you might also remember that the machine didn't reach European territories until March 11 - could this mean that Iwata's proclamations concerning the Revolution release indicate we won't be seeing the console over here until early 2007, as some industry sources have previously suggested?
Currently, we're holding onto the hope that we'll see the Revolution this side of New Year, but obviously it's all down to Nintendo. To sweeten the potentially bitter pill however, Iwata also suggested in the interview that Nintendo's next-gen console would be priced in such a way that will encourage people to buy it without hesitation. Interesting...