Chris Morris of CNN Money wrote Wednesday that P.J. McNealy of American Technology Research believes Nintendo will release its Wii console during October. McNealy indicates Nintendo is ahead of Sony and already manufacturing final retail units. He said the Wii could even launch as early as September.
Nintendo has responded with a statement to quell rumors of a September-release. The company previously said it would merely announce the release date during September and the console would actually arrive in stores in October, November or December. "There's no change in our plan to release the console in the last quarter of this year," Yasuhiro Minagawa, a Nintendo spokesman told Bloomberg. "We are planning an announcement in September and it may be causing some confusion."
When Wii arrives, it is expected to be at a lower price than competitors. "Our position remains that the Wii could retail as low as $199 instead of $249," McNealy wrote. The two Microsoft Xbox 360 packages currently sell for $299 and $399 while the low-end and high-end versions of the Sony PlayStation 3 will retail on November 17 for $499 and $599 respectively.
Nintendo plans to ship six million units by March 2007. Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft have all faced hardware shortages in the past due to the unpredictability of producing new high-tech electronic devices. Nintendo has indicated that recent shortages relating to the production of its Nintendo DS Lite handheld will have no effect on the production of Wii. Nintendo says the manufacturing lines are completely separate.
Nintendo and third-party publishers will launch Wii with a diverse array of games including The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Red Steel, and Wii Sports. N-Sider will keep you updated.