Jumping The Gun On Release Dates | GKick Network

September 7th, 2012 by Nickie Williams

I walk past a gaming store every day on my way to work and the other day I had to do a double take. There is a poster in the window of the store and it states as gospel that the Wii U will be coming this Christmas.

Now, I am wondering if gaming stores are actually allowed to do this when the general public doesn’t actually know when the release date is? There’s been no actual press statement from Nintendo quoting this as truth and to me it just seems like false information and building the public up for something that might not actually happen. At this point in time, it’s just assumed that the console will be released at Christmas. The Nintendo Wii is coming to the end of it’s natural life cycle, gaming houses are running out of ideas and so many more fresh, new games are coming out for the Wii U instead.

Even Nintendo itself seems to be focusing more on the Wii U rather than the original Wii console. With the promotion of staple house games- such as Super Mario Bros, Pikmin and Zelda already being rolled out by the Big N- it’s almost certain that the console is looking for a release to the general public, and soon. But like always, Nintendo is keeping the date very close to their chest until their major press conference on September 13th in New York City. Maybe at that point, we shall actually know for certain the date of the fabled machine.

A Christmas release for Nintendo would spell nothing but financial lottery for the company. With the Wii U, they beat out both the Microsoft XBox 360 and the Sony Playstation 3 for the bulk of the public sales. They jumped the gun and beat the other companies to the punch with the motion control hardware- which without the Wii would seriously have been nothing special. They tapped into the previously-unclaimed social market with this console, enabling groups of people such as schools and retirement homes to play games like bowling and tennis. Can Nintendo do this again or are they going to attempt to climb the ladder of gaming once again? Aiming for the dizzying heights of console gaming?

Who knows? Watch this space and let’s see what Nintendo says…