The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Nintendo Wii to make a splash early?

Production start claims point to September/October release

Cloud based data management

Nintendo will release its next-generation games console, Wii, much earlier than the company has previously announced, it has been claimed. The company is already punching out Wii hardware, it's said, and that means the firm is out to get to market well ahead of Sony.

American Technology Research (ATR) analyst PJ McNealy this week told his clients that Nintendo has now initiated Wii production - rather sooner than he would expect for a machine scheduled to ship when Nintendo has said it will: around the time Sony brings its PlayStation 3 to market.

The PS3 is set to ship in Europe and the US on 17 November. McNealy said he believes Wii could hit store shelves in October and perhaps even late September.

Alternatively, Nintendo is simply making sure it suffers none of the supply problems that have dogged new videogame console launches in the past.

Nintendo Revolution

Nintendo has said in the past that the Wii will retail in the US for $250 or less, and no more than &yen25,000 ($220/£119/€174) in Japan. It also expects to have shipped more than 6m of the machines by March 2007. Sony hopes to ship the same number of PS3 in the same timeframe. ®

Regcast training : Hyper-V 3.0, VM high availability and disaster recovery

More from The Register

Samsung Galaxy Note 8: Proof the pen is mightier?
Sammy’s iPad Mini killer has a stylus to stab other rivals too
Microsoft lures buy-curious vixens, corduroys with a cheap fondle
Surface slab sales latest: Will no one rid Ballmer of these turbulent tabs?
First look: iOS 7 for iPad
No, Apple hasn't released it yet, but that doesn't stop intrepid devs
 breaking news
Curtain drops on Apple Store ahead of WWDC: What lies behind?
Steve Jobs watching from on high. No pressure, lads
 breaking news
Cold, dead hands of Steve Jobs slip from iPhones: The Cult of Ive is upon us
Billionaire biz baron's death clears way for uber-shiny iOS 7
Airbus imagines suitcases that find themselves
Point your mobe at your smalls to track their every move
Surprise! Intel smartphone trounces ARM in power trials
Tests show equal performance while sipping significantly less juice
Samsung plans LTE Advanced version of Galaxy S4
1Gbps download capability could stiffen drooping S4 sales forecasts
Ex-HTC execs launch UK-based smartphone maker Kazam
Startup threatens to 'disrupt status quo' this year