Wii – Launch Date Roundup
NintendoÂ’s new revolutionary console has been receiving a lot of hype both the company itself (Nintendo) and all the press surrounding the Wii. This press generally comes in a positive outlook on the console, whether it be itÂ’s motion sensing controller or itÂ’s downloadable content and service (WiiConnect24). However, with the full specs of the console known and what it is capable of, we still do not know what the exact price of the console nor the launch date.
There have been a handful of rumors surrounding an October launch, but what is surprising is the amount of solid rumors surrounding one date in October. This one date is none other than the notorious October 2nd release. Nintendo has made note of an official announcement this month (probably at the Lietzpurg Show) along with the price, so will it be this suprising date that comes only a few days after TGS in Japan? Read about the rumors after the jump!
NintendoÂ’s new revolutionary console has been receiving a lot of hype both the company itself (Nintendo) and all the press surrounding the Wii. This press generally comes in a positive outlook on the console, whether it be itÂ’s motion sensing controller or itÂ’s downloadable content and service (WiiConnect24). However, with the full specs of the console known and what it is capable of, we still do not know what the exact price of the console nor the launch date.
There have been a handful of rumors surrounding an October launch, but what is surprising is the amount of solid rumors surrounding one date in October. This one date is none other than the notorious October 2nd release. Nintendo has made note of an official announcement this month (probably at the Leipzig Game Covention) along with the price, so will it be this suprising date that comes only a few days after TGS in Japan?
The strongest rumor of them all comes from a Game Stop employee “leak” that contained release dates for many Wii launch titles. These titles included Rayman 4, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Sponge Bob Square Pants: Creature from Krusty Krab Although, this alone does not support or show a launch date of the Wii seeing how games usually are released before or on the date of a console’s launch. However, the fact that the games are being released so early is a shocker to us all who expected a traditional November launch.
A few weeks after the Game Spot leak, a Wii title appeared on Walmart’s website indicating an October 2nd release date of Sponge Bob Square Pants: Creature from Krusty Krab. Since this was consistent with the Game Spot leak, sparks flew in the rumor mill as these speculated release dates became more consistent with each other. When I asked for Walmart to confirm this release date and possibly the Wii launch date they failed to comment and instead told me about the GBA version of the game – failing to comment on my original question or remarks.
About a week after Walmart announced the October 2nd release for the Sponge Bob game, a more interesting piece of the puzzle fell into our laps. Nintendo released a press announcement that contained release dates for upcoming games and an “encrypted” message. Everyone jumped on the press announcement at once seeing how it could hint to a Wii launch date. Currently there are two estimations at what the launch date could be from this message, and both lead to the same conclusion – October 2nd.
So, with a Game Spot list leak, a scheduled release of October 2nd for Sponge Bob at Walmart and an encoded press release from Nintendo themselves. All of these point to one date, October 2nd. Nintendo would surprise everyone if this were to be the date of launch, being only about a week after the TGS (Tokyo Game Show) and very earlier in the last quarter. I hope this is the launch date, but usually when things seem to be too good, they are too good to be true.