Topic: Sega Exec Dates Wii U for Spring/Summer 2012

[NWR_Karlie]

Could the Wii U be coming our way early next year?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/26798

Sega's executive vice president of marketing, Alan Pritchard, has said that the Wii U will be released next Spring/Summer. 

In an interview with Gamespot, when questioned about the possibility of Sonic Generations being released for the Wii U, he responded that it would not be possible since Generations is set for a November release, while the Wii U is coming out next Spring/Summer.

He also spoke about the Aliens: Colonial Marines footage played during the press conference, saying it was from a prototype but Sega and Gearbox have been working with Nintendo since the beginning, and they have the demo playing on the Wii U development kit.

As this is not a confirmation by Nintendo, and release dates are constantly in flux, a Spring/Summer 2012 release date is just one of many possibilities for Wii U. 

[motang]

Considering Wii is not getting much 1st party support I think this could be legit, but this also means we won't see XenoBlade, Last Story, or Pandora's Tower here in the US. 

[BlkPaladin]

There is still a slight chance, especially if those titles get a European release since the Wii U is backwards compatible. It could be used to pad sales.

[Enner]

A spring or summer launch will be interesting for the industry. I think it will work out well for everyone if it is a somewhat "quiet" launch. That way the early adopting purchasers don't have to compete with fall and winter holiday buyers. Or at least not compete as harshly as before with fall season system launches.

[Chozo Ghost]

when questioned about the possibility of Sonic Generations being released for the Wii U, he responded that it would not be possible since Generations is set for a November release, while the Wii U is coming out next Spring/Summer.

That is a bunch of bull crap. If Sega doesn't want to do it they should just say so, but saying it "is not possible" is a flat out blatant lie. Modern Warfare 3 is also coming out in November, and yet that hasn't stopped EA from promising it for Wii U. So what is Sega's excuse?

[NWR_insanolord]

They just don't see the value in releasing it that far after the others. Especially since it's Sonic; everyone will have realized how bad the game is well before it comes out.

[Xero!]

They just don't see the value in releasing it that far after the others. Especially since it's Sonic; everyone will have realized how bad the game is well before it comes out.

@insanolord
I refuse to let you get away with that comment. I decided to stop visiting ign for my news fix and come here to escape one sided opinions such as those shown in your horrendous comment about Sonic Gen. Not only are you giving the game 0% of a chance to prove itself before saying something like that, but your lack of professionalism even though you are a head writer for this site is appalling. I am not saying whether or not I think the game will suck because it does not matter. What matters is that everything in life deserves a chance. Thank you very much for your time.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Insanolord a head writer!? hahahahahaha

Insano is the n00b on the staff. He still post in the forums regularly and therefore isn't actually working on any articles for the site*. He was being sarcastic BTW*, so lighten up and have a sense of humor.

*(jokes that are actually true probably hurt the worse)

[Enner]

when questioned about the possibility of Sonic Generations being released for the Wii U, he responded that it would not be possible since Generations is set for a November release, while the Wii U is coming out next Spring/Summer.

That is a bunch of bull crap. If Sega doesn't want to do it they should just say so, but saying it "is not possible" is a flat out blatant lie. Modern Warfare 3 is also coming out in November, and yet that hasn't stopped EA from promising it for Wii U. So what is Sega's excuse?

Laziness. Or they are obsessive about keeping their release dates tidy. Whichever makes more sense.
Here's to seeing Activision releasing Battlefield 3 as a launch title.

[NWR_insanolord]

They just don't see the value in releasing it that far after the others. Especially since it's Sonic; everyone will have realized how bad the game is well before it comes out.

@insanolord
I refuse to let you get away with that comment. I decided to stop visiting ign for my news fix and come here to escape one sided opinions such as those shown in your horrendous comment about Sonic Gen. Not only are you giving the game 0% of a chance to prove itself before saying something like that, but your lack of professionalism even though you are a head writer for this site is appalling. I am not saying whether or not I think the game will suck because it does not matter. What matters is that everything in life deserves a chance. Thank you very much for your time.

It was just a joke. Believe me, as an old-school Sega fanboy I would absolutely love for them to figure it out and deliver the Sonic game we've all been waiting for, I'm just not very confident in their ability to do that, given their track record with the series over the last decade.


Also, I'm not the n00b on staff anymore, they've hired a couple people since me. I still post on the forums a lot because we've got the best community on the internet here, and as a college student I have ridiculous amounts of free time, allowing me to work on the site AND frequent the forums.

[cubist]

Activision = MW3
EA = Battlefield 3

[GoldenPhoenix]

They just don't see the value in releasing it that far after the others. Especially since it's Sonic; everyone will have realized how bad the game is well before it comes out.

@insanolord
I refuse to let you get away with that comment. I decided to stop visiting ign for my news fix and come here to escape one sided opinions such as those shown in your horrendous comment about Sonic Gen. Not only are you giving the game 0% of a chance to prove itself before saying something like that, but your lack of professionalism even though you are a head writer for this site is appalling. I am not saying whether or not I think the game will suck because it does not matter. What matters is that everything in life deserves a chance. Thank you very much for your time.

It was just a joke. Believe me, as an old-school Sega fanboy I would absolutely love for them to figure it out and deliver the Sonic game we've all been waiting for, I'm just not very confident in their ability to do that, given their track record with the series over the last decade.


Also, I'm not the n00b on staff anymore, they've hired a couple people since me. I still post on the forums a lot because we've got the best community on the internet here, and as a college student I have ridiculous amounts of free time, allowing me to work on the site AND frequent the forums.

To be fair Sega has seemingly been doing a much better job with Sonic since Sonic 4, ever since they admitted themselves that the series had fallen greatly in quality. Sonic Colors was supposed to be quite good (never played it but have heard positive things). So I am hopefully it will be a quality title since Sega seems to be taking Sonic a bit more seriously

[ShyGuy]

I'm hyped for a new system only 12 months away!

[Mop it up]

I don't really understand why people are taking a comment from a third-party as anything indicative. What makes this statement credible? To me it sounds like the person was just tossing out an estimate as to the earliest possible date the Wii U will launch, which we know it is the earliest because Nintendo stated it will be launching in the next fiscal year.

[Chozo Ghost]

The only reason he said that was to have a bullshit excuse for why Sonic Generations isn't going to come to the Wii U. He probably doesn't really know anything more about it than we do.

[broodwars]

It's unbelievably odd for me to see Sega of all companies announcing a potential Nintendo console release window.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I don't really understand why people are taking a comment from a third-party as anything indicative. What makes this statement credible?

Maybe because if you were investing millions of dollars on creating software for this hardware, you would want to know when it was gonna be launched so you can plan accordingly for whether to aim for launch or not.
If Sega says it's supposedly gonna launch between April 1st & August 31st, then that is probably because Nintendo told them it was going to.

[Mop it up]

Even Nintendo doesn't seem to know when it is going to, so I doubt anyone else knows. That's an assumption, and to me, assumptions aren't newsworthy.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Well If Nintendo planned on launching in Summer of 2012 then they would want to tell their 3rd party partners to have their software ready by Summer 2012, so then yes we can all make the assumption that Nintendo has every intention of launching this hardware in Summer of 2012.

Why wouldn't that be newsworthy?
I want the new system and I would like to know how long I have to set aside funds for it, so it seems pretty news worthy to me. Now I know to expect this thing sometime around 1 year from today. I know not to plan it as a b-day present in Q12012 or as a Xmas present in Q42012, but as a Summer purchase in late Q2 or Q3 2012.

[Mop it up]

Yes, you can make that assumption, but it isn't a fact and it has no real evidence to support it. This is from Sega, not Nintendo, so I don't see how this is an indication that it is coming out in the summer. To me, it sounds like this person is just making a guess.

Now, if any other company has made a statement about the Wii U launch window that matches up with this one, then I think we might have something there.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Original rumors that have more or less been proven right have said the same exact thing. June 2012 was the targeted release date. I am pretty sure their leak was from Ubisoft, so that is more than one source being told the same thing. Summer 2012.

[ThePerm]

it makes sense from a temporal standpoint, theres just Skyward Sword and a Handful of games on Wii to keep us busy in the meantime. Expect some sort of extra announcement in a couple months with more details in the fall, a showing in June next year and then a release.

also i always wondered what sk was working on for sega

http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/adventure/eternaldarknesssr/news/6120940/sega-signs-next-gen-pact-with-silicon-knights

[Kairon]

He may be right, he may be wrong. But you'd like to think that a Sega VP who's responsible for budgeting out his company's marketing spends a year out would have a little more insight into this issue than your average joe on the internet, wouldn't you?

[ThePerm]

he doesnt have enough insight to shut his mouth

[Xero!]

Sorry about my above comment. Sonic is such a touchy situation these days that even jokes get to me apparently...
On that note, I've seen nothing bad about Generations. Sonic only gameplay, check! Classic Sonic has Genesis physics, check (although the lack of this didn't stop me from enjoying Sonic 4 ep. 1)! Visually stunning graphics and no bugs seen so far, check! Every mistake Sega made the past few games are absent (so far) so your joke just seemed a bit ill placed. Sorry again and I'll be a bit less hasty next time.