Revolution to launch in US by Thanksgiving 2006

Originally Posted by Gamespot

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata tells Japanese newspaper the next-gen console will be in US homes for the holidays.

Looks like Nintendo is gonna pull off the impossible and launch this year. Might Zelda come out around this time, too?

Full article here.



Edit: I'm adding in stuff provided by other posters later in the thread for those who are lazy.

buckeyes1186: Additional Reggie Interview.

Mr. Wonderful: PS3 info.

I don't mind to much... best to enjoy gamecube will it's still alive!

That's all well and good for America, but based on a little trend Nintendo has, games and consoles released in America around their thanksgiving, seem to make their way to an early/mid-spring launch here in Europe. If it does take 14 weeks, and say it gets released in November, it'll probably be in Europe by February (based on the whole "14 weeks" issue, but they'll probably shift it to March for Easter sales ¬_¬). DS wasn't here until March, so whatever.

If they ever say it's be released "worldwide" before Christmas, they'll probably mean Japan and North America, as everywhere else isn't part of the world to them in some way.

Never the less, looking forward to how this release develops, there's still a slim chance it'll slip into 2007 even for America, so I'm not going to say that's it's going to be out in '06 for sure yet, despite what was said. I don't trust them...(Like when they said Europe'd get better treatment, that was a bit of a lie).

Originally Posted by Malloc()

Looks like Nintendo is gonna pull off the impossible and launch this year. Might Zelda come out around this time, too?

Full article here.

AWW! You beat me too it! I was going to post this yesterday, along with the series of articles that have just come out stating how the PS3 won't be out until November as well in the states. Oh well. I've post the other articles anyways.
Source

Pioneer: 4-7 million PS3s to ship in 2006
Senior vice president of Blu-ray drive manufacturer expects huge numbers of PlayStation 3s to drive disc format's success.

Following Sony's unsurprising PlayStation 3 keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show, some pundits prophesized that the console would undergo supply shortages similar to those Xbox 360 suffered last year. Just yesterday, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities gave a sunnier estimate, predicting 1 million PS3s would be available for a November launch. By contrast, Microsoft only moved around 326,000 the week after the Xbox 360 went on sale November 22.

However, Wilson's optimism looks like the Grim Reaper in comparison to Pioneer executive vice president Andy Parson's belief. Speaking with Web site The Digital Bits, Parsons talked about the Blu-ray disc format (Pioneer announced several Blu-ray-compatible players at CES) and how the Blu-ray-compatible PlayStation 3 would shape the success of the format.

"The PS3 is launching right at the forefront of Blu-ray disc," Parsons said. "If Sony ships the kind of numbers we expect them to this year, that will provide a very rapid growth of players out there hungry for titles. We've been hearing between 4 and 7 million [PS3s] could ship."

When its Xbox 360 console launched late last year, Microsoft experienced rampant shortages in the US and Europe. However, it was largely due to supply constraints on some of the system's internal parts. The company originally targeted 3 million units to be out the door in the console's first 90 days on the market, but adjusted its figures to 4.5 million to 5.5 million consoles shipped by June 2006.

Despite Sony's previous announcement of a spring 2006 launch for the PS3, a consensus of industry analysts believes that the PS3 won't ship until later this year in North America, with a possible midyear launch in Japan.

If Sony shipped between 4 million and 7 million units in less than six months (with the likely scenario of several months in Japan only), the company would outpace Microsoft's lofty goals. To do that, Sony would need a near-perfect production process unmarred by supply shortages and hardware issues.

But unless the console has a $699 price tag, there won't be any problem with demand. When Sony launched its PlayStation 2 in 2000 in Japan, it sold 980,000 units in its first weekend. In its first day in US retail, Sony moved 510,000 PS2s. To date, the PS2 has sold more than 100 million units.

Sony had not responded to inquiries from GameSpot as of press time.

Source

Analyst: 1m PS3s to hit US in November
Pacific Crest Securities expects Sony's next-gen console to arrive in force by Thanksgiving, pegs Euro-launch for 2007.

At the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month, Sony executives delivered a keynote address about its vision for the "digital future." But although Sony touted the PlayStation group as one of the cornerstones of its plan, it gave few new details about the forthcoming PlayStation 3. The only concrete information came in the form of a brief aside from Sony Computer Entertainment America president and CEO Kaz Hirai saying that the PS3 is "a key pillar of Sony growth in 2006."

The death of official information from Sony has forced Wall Street analysts to once again put on their prognostication hats. The latest industry-expert augury comes from Pacific Crest Securities' Evan Wilson, who believes the PlayStation 3 won't launch until November, versus the "spring 2006" window announced at E3 2005. Speaking to the Investor's Business Daily, Wilson also said the "the most likely scenario" is for Sony to ship around 1 million PS3s in North America by the end of the year. That's nearly three times as many Xbox 360s Microsoft sent to US and Canadian stores in 2005.

One reason for the delay--and the greater number of units--is that Sony is almost certain to wait until they gain a greater "chip yield" of its vaunted new Cell processor. In layman's terms, that means the company is waiting until it fine-tunes the manufacturing process to get a maximum number of usable processors possible per batch of silicon. Though such a move would delay the PS3 launch, it might not be such a bad idea. The Xbox 360's launch was marred by massive console shortages--shortages Microsoft executives have attributed to manufacturing issues.

As for other territories, Wilson predicts that the PS3 will follow the model of the PSP, debuting in Japan first, most likely in the summer, followed by the console's North American launch. He believes the PS3 will arrive in Europe last, sometime in early 2007.

Looks like the other two consoles will be entering the race at the same time. Too bad. Though there is nothing like a good competition when you're the consumer, I figure a certain amount of money will be lost by each company buying one console or the other. Oh well.

Good stuff...I wonder when it will hit Oz and New Zealand.
Though I won't be buying one untill they come down in price anyway =P

That has me extremely excited.

The success of the DS had me very optimistic for the Revolution.

Affordability + Innovation = Success

At least, that's what happened with the DS and I'm hoping will happen for the Revolution.

The only thing that would have made that news story even better was a release date for Twilight Princess. But I'll gladly take what I'm given.

If PS3 is to be launched in Japan in Summer, I think there's a big possibilty of it outweighing Revolution dramatically in sales. If America is to recieve it Late Autumn/Winter, and are the first to recieve the Revolution, then Japan may be open for Sony to unleash there machine without threat. I'm aware the 360 launched even earlier, but the brand is not so popular in Japan.

This sounds like a wise business plan on Sony's part, knowing that Xbox 360 has yet to be a threat, and that Nintendo will show up late, they can easily take Japan, which is quite obviously one of Nintendo's biggest markets. But then again, Nintendo isn't really trying to be competitive with Revolution, but rather to attract new audiences, that could build an even nicer fan base for the generation after next (2010/11?).

That has me extremely excited.

The success of the DS had me very optimistic for the Revolution.

Affordability + Innovation = Success

At least, that's what happened with the DS and I'm hoping will happen for the Revolution.

The only thing that would have made that news story even better was a release date for Twilight Princess. But I'll gladly take what I'm given.

The DS' success has been getting me a little optimistic about the whole thing. But I think it's still too early to be predciting it's success. Nintendo will need to pour much more money into marketing the system better then the PS3 if they are sure to be seen as a wise choice by casual gamers and not "omg dat looks kiddeh and ghey".

Originally Posted by Davidius

This sounds like a wise business plan on Sony's part, knowing that Xbox 360 has yet to be a threat, and that Nintendo will show up late, they can easily take Japan, which is quite obviously one of Nintendo's biggest markets. But then again, Nintendo isn't really trying to be competitive with Revolution, but rather to attract new audiences, that could build an even nicer fan base for the generation after next (2010/11?).

I don't believe it's really a business plan, as much as it is about being able to produce enough to meet demands at a price that won't drive Sony bankrupt.

I always hear those certain comments that always mean to say that a release is to be expected ages away. Thankfully that never seems to happen, I've always seen marked dates for releases and such, but they've always release the products earlier than expected. I don't really see why it would be impossible to release the Revolution in 2006 at all. You could always expect something better than the worst, you know.

Reggie Fils-Aime sat down for an interview with C-Net. Here's a link to the transcript. It's a fantastic interview.

http://www.gamespot.com/pages/news/s...6142598&page=1

I'm really pleased with this influx of information from Nintendo. Here's hoping that it extends into the next few weeks--I'm dying for a TP release date.

Sounds great. Right before the holiday season as well. Granted, I'm probably not going to buy it at launch(seems like an unwise investment, considering all those little bugs and such that everybody whined about after the little Xbox 360). But I guess it's refreshing to hear that it'll be here before 2007. And really, that dosen't seem like forever. Earlier than I would have expected, anyways. But it will be interesting to see how everybody welcomes the Revolution, what with its new concept(well, all told it's not new but certainly on this kind of scale) and all.

It would only be logical for the Revolution to launch worldwide around that time. They confirmed an information blowout at this year's E3, which will undoubtly mark the start of thier ad-campaign. That's plenty of time to build up hype and make the console and it's aim well known. In the mean-time, they could release Twilight Princess and give the GCN one last bang before putting it to sleep.

I think it'd be neat to have Nintendo back on top again. At the start off all this "innovation" talk, I was almost sure Nintendo would run themselves into a hole. The DS's massive success disproves my theory. (I actually want one now) Thankfully. That makes me optimistic for the Revolution. I can't wait until this year's E3.

Originally Posted by Tigerboi

I think it'd be neat to have Nintendo back on top again. At the start off all this "innovation" talk, I was almost sure Nintendo would run themselves into a hole. The DS's massive success disproves my theory. (I actually want one now) Thankfully. That makes me optimistic for the Revolution. I can't wait until this year's E3.

It would be nice for Nintendo to be doing well, but I would really prefer it if all three next generation consoles did relatively well. I don't want to see, with ANY console, the lack of games and third party support my Gamecube had this generation. Think if you went out and spent all that money on a next gen system, just to have it collect dust.

I couldn't agree more. But I honestly just don't think Nintendo cares about the GCN anymore. I trust that nintendo won't do anything absurdly stupid this time around. (Online play is for losers! Gamers want GBA connectivity!)

At this point, I think they've realized that they've run out of feet to shoot themselves in. All this time, It's clear that they've neglected to stop and think what third party support could do for a company. Infact, they just recently started doing things to attract them.

More games equal more sales. That's been proven time and time again. In order to get more games, a compnay has to attract third parties. Nintendo seems to have learned from thier past mistakes, and that's appearant in Reggie's constant trash talking.

Originally Posted by Tigerboi

It would only be logical for the Revolution to launch worldwide around that time. They confirmed an information blowout at this year's E3, which will undoubtly mark the start of thier ad-campaign. That's plenty of time to build up hype and make the console and it's aim well known. In the mean-time, they could release Twilight Princess and give the GCN one last bang before putting it to sleep.

I think it'd be neat to have Nintendo back on top again. At the start off all this "innovation" talk, I was almost sure Nintendo would run themselves into a hole. The DS's massive success disproves my theory. (I actually want one now) Thankfully. That makes me optimistic for the Revolution. I can't wait until this year's E3.

I am still on the sidelines about Revolution. I mean, Nintendo said Nintendo DS was going to be revolutionary, but... it is far, FAR from revolutionary. I honestly think that the DS isn't any better than the PSP. Ds may be selling a lot, but it is mostly children and females that buy it. I am not a child or female, and I hate it. Hopefully Nintendo Revolution comes out with good launch titles unlike GameCube or DS (No, SSBM was not released at launch).

It really doesn't matter what time of the year Revolution will be released if the games are crap, and so far Nintendo hasn't shown us anything! I do not and will not blindly trust in Nintendo (again) untill they actually give us real info and show us games.