Topic: Iwata on Revolution Launch Date

[WindyMan]

We're going to be thankful for a lot more than a turkey dinner come Thanksgiving if Iwata holds true to his claim.

Japanese newspaper Sankei Shinbun had a chance to interview Nintendo president Satoru Iwata about his company's plans for the future.  Chief among those plans is the Revolution console, and Iwata had some useful things to say on that subject.    

The most important thing to come out of the interview is that Revolution will most likely launch before Thanksgiving in North America.  According to Iwata, Nintendo has "no plans to miss out" on the holiday sales rush, for risk of losing retail support.  There was no mention if a Japanese launch would come before or after this time period.    

In addition to the more concrete launch date, Iwata also mentioned that a "nearly finished version" of the Revolution hardware will be shown off at E3.  At last year's pre-E3 press conference, Nintendo showed off a prototype Revolution unit and promised that the finished product would be even smaller than what was there.    

E3 2006 is now less than four months away.

[King of Twitch]

Near-finished? Couldn't they have finished it in the past year?

[Robageejammin]

the countdown starts now

[JonLeung]

I don't think you can really say "Thanksgiving in North America" when Canadians celebrate it in October.

We're a part of North America too, you know!

[IceCold]

Actually, a Canadian Thanksgiving launch (Oct 9) or around there would be really nice. Summer would be too early (both for us and Nintendo - need some complete games..) but the middle of October would be perfect. Students would be settled down in school, and adults would have had time to recover from Summer / School expenses (well, not completely, but still..)

It would sell out its first shipment. Then the next one comes just in time for the holiday, and it will still be a hot item. This is all, of course, assuming that the games will be polished and ready by then, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

[Smash_Brother]

They probably mean US thanksgiving, but I wish he meant Canadian.

When's the PS3 due out? March? I don't like the idea of Nintendo being last to the table. I've already seen some knock-offs of the rev controller. If the competition has all the way until Nov of this year, it would be quite possible to develop controllers similar to the rev's and do as much damage as they can before Nintendo even enters the market.

I hope I'm just paranoid...

-SB

[joeposh]

if the PS3 launches in march, I will be absolutely floored. That's less than 2 months away, with zero build up. I know they supposedly have a major conference coming up in February, but a month turn around? That seems completely unrealistic.

[Guitar Smasher]

"Near-finished? Couldn't they have finished it in the past year?"

There's always room for improvement.  As long as it doesn't require adjustment from the developers.  

[akidnamededdy]

Nintendo's not gonna let anybody rip off their idea.  Patents, patents, patents.

And if the PS3 comes out in March, I'll eat a bus.

[Nephilim]

Sony are going to be saying there date in just a week or two, im sure Nintendo will announce around or soon after

[Mario]

One game Nintendo always wins is the waiting game.

[Smash_Brother]

Quote
Originally posted by: DeadlyD
Sony are going to be saying there date in just a week or two, im sure Nintendo will announce around or soon after

That's a good point.

The PS3 was expected to launch in march, but I too would be surprised if it did. I remember hearing that Halo 3 was going to launch right in the face of the PS3 and the MS exec said it would be in march. Then again, I don't pretend to keep track of the PS3...

However, for those who think patents protect Nintendo, think again...



There's usually always a way to wiggle around patents.

-SB

[WuTangTurtle]

yeah but does that thing come with motion sensing technology like the rev controller?

I don't think so.....

[KDR_11k]

It has SOME motion sensing technology but probably not exactly the same as the Rev controller.

[Pryopizm]

Actually, it has practically zero motion sensing in it.  It's basically an extension of lightgun technology.  It's total crap.

[Smash_Brother]

Quote
Originally posted by: KDR_11k
It has SOME motion sensing technology but probably not exactly the same as the Rev controller.

From what I've been told, it has the motion sensing but it isn't very good.

But that's not even the POINT. The point is that this picture came from around a month ago, and we know a semi-finished Rev will be on display at E3. The crappy knock-offs are here NOW, but the odds that a vastly better knock-off will be available by the time the Rev has launched can't be ignored.

Granted, the support being offered by Nintendo for the controller is what will truly make the concept a winner, but I wouldn't put it past sony or ms to want to be able to say, "Yeah, we've got that, too." when it comes to the controller technology.

Regardless, Nintendo had better be offering 3-5 system sellers at the time of launch. A Mario title, a SSB title, and a Metroid title would be ideal, but something to cover the platforming, fighting and adventure genres would be a solid launch base to start with, along with a FPS which uses the controller to its full abilities.

Yeah, I know: this is far too much to expect, but this would be an ideal launch for the Rev.

-SB

[razorpit]

I'm pretty sure I recently read somewhere that the PS3 won't be out until Thanksgiving as well.  The March date was moved some time ago.  Herre we are in mid-Jan. and Sony still hasn't even comitted to what the PS3 is going to look like.  And no one has seen the finalized controller design yet.  If Sony was ready for March they would surely be beating us over the head with all kinds of ads by now.

I don't think a Thanksgiving release will "hurt" Nintendo.  If anything Nintendo has more than enough time between E3 and then to get any last minute feedback, work out the last few design bugs, start-up production, and actually have enough units to sell for the Christmas holiday season unlike Microsoft's failed 360 launch.

[Strell]

I don't think the PS3 will be out this year.  The only "demo" we've seen that is even close to a real time build is MGS4.  After that, we've seen a bunch of nice movies that Sony is trying to pass off as gameplay, but anyone with half a brain and tell they aren't.

We haven't heard much anything from Sony except a bunch of marketspeak lately.  No "we're coming in December for X amount, so start selling your extraneous organs now."  

I think a Nov. launch is far too long away for me as a gamer, but I think it should work out for them.

[Smash_Brother]

Quote
Originally posted by: razorpitand actually have enough units to sell for the Christmas holiday season unlike Microsoft's failed 360 launch.

That's a valid point as well.

Though, I think MS right now has their next-gen "beta session" until either Sony or Nintendo launches. When that happens, they can drop the price by a ton (angering the hell out of the early adopters, but early adopters are used to that sort of treatment) and launch Halo 3 just to put a dent in any sales Sony or Nintendo would have seen. Plus, they can use this time as a trial to work the remaining bugs out of live before the real system seller hits.

I fully expect the Halo 3 release to be like a second launch for the 360: H3 is the real system seller and everyone knows this (I've finished PD0: it's meant to fill the void until a REAL FPS arrives on the system, nothing more).

Call me a pessimist, but unless the Rev launch DOES include multiple AAA titles (a minimum of 3, ideally more), I think MS currently has the upper hand. By getting into the market first, they have more time to experiment and to plan their key game releases to overshadow the launches of their competitors. I know the system isn't doing all that great right now, but it has time to pick up speed whereas the PS3 and Rev NEED to hit the ground running to keep up.

-SB

[Ian Sane]

"I don't think the PS3 will be out this year. The only 'demo' we've seen that is even close to a real time build is MGS4. After that, we've seen a bunch of nice movies that Sony is trying to pass off as gameplay, but anyone with half a brain and tell they aren't."

That's more than we've seen for the Rev.  So why is it believable for Nintendo to release in 2006 but not Sony?

[Plugabugz]

If America gets October for launch, we're definitely getting it December 22 - the friday before christmas.

Late enough so the late christmas shoppers buy-in, and early enough for it to the be included in the january-sales-that-start-in-december.

[KDR_11k]

Nintendo had better be offering 3-5 system sellers at the time of launch.

Any other wishes? World peace? Or omnipotence?

You're lucky if you have ONE system seller at launch. Lately the tendency has been towards ZERO.

[Kairon]

Amen KDR.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Pale]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
"I don't think the PS3 will be out this year. The only 'demo' we've seen that is even close to a real time build is MGS4. After that, we've seen a bunch of nice movies that Sony is trying to pass off as gameplay, but anyone with half a brain and tell they aren't."

That's more than we've seen for the Rev.  So why is it believable for Nintendo to release in 2006 but not Sony?

Based on reports, certain media people have demoed the hardware out, and based on rumors, the hardware is close to being finalized.  That is much more than we can say for Sony's plastic case and video.

[Ian Sane]

"Nintendo had better be offering 3-5 system sellers at the time of launch."

I'd say for launch they only need one with some really other good games supporting it.  But system sellers are rare so to expect more than one at launch is pretty insane.  3-5 system sellers coming out over the entire life of the Rev would be nice though.  Nintendo needs one really big game that everyone has to have and then they have to follow it up with a steady stream of really good games.  You need the system seller to get the console sale but once you have that consistent quality can do the rest.

I would say they're screwed if they have no system seller.  One of the Rev launch games has to be the most talked about game of the year.  They'll never get people to try their new controller without it.  It's not even an option to not have that.