Wii launching in September?

With Nintendo still keeping schtum regarding Wii's price and launch date - and with an official announcement not expected until September - speculation is, unsurprisingly, running rife on the 'net.

Now, those pesky analysts have stepped in to fan the flames further. It seems that P. J. McNealy of American Technology Research has suggested Wii may actually launch before the generally expected November release, hitting shelves around October or even late September.

In his analyst's note from June 21, McNealy stated that Nintendo already appears to be manufacturing final retail units of its Wii console, noting that "October is a reasonable time-frame [for the console's launch]". Indeed, this seems to be generally accepted amongst those in the know, with website CNN Money referencing similar expectations for a September/October launch from undisclosed industry 'insiders'.

Such a launch would give Nintendo a significant advantage over Sony - both in terms of the number of retail units the company would have amassed come release-day and by beating the PS3 to shelves by almost a month. Obviously, there's no official word from Nintendo yet but, with that announcement expected in September, we don't have too long left to wait.