E311 | Wii U to Release Spring or Summer 2012? [news]

I actually hope that isn't true. It's a bad time to launch a console, doesn't get good sales and hype around that time.
And I want some good launch games...

Surprised about no Generations on Wii U.

GC came out in Europe in May (end of Spring) and still broke records for best selling system launch (forget if it was just UK record, or all of Europe), so I don't think it matters too much when it comes out. If people want it, they'll buy it. It more depends on the software available at launch. But I think it's obvious it would sell more in November than say August.

Can't imagine it coming out in Spring. Nintendo DEFINITELY don't want to miss E3 2012 to show off the real stuff and get some massive hype going.

Yeah, forgot bout E3 2012. I'm sure that's when we'll see everything. But I get the feeling they'll want to get the U out as quickly as possible afterwards, because they've got nothing on the Wii once Skyward Sword comes out.

Well, there's still Dragon Quest X on the Wii right? They said that we'll get the first info on that late 2011 so I could imagine that being the Wii's swansong in early 2012.

aww shame, would of made a nice release title, i mean the gamecube got Sonic Adventure 2 Battle which i thought did well so why not this one. :< Assuming the WiiU is just as powerful or more so than the others, theres nothing wrong with a straight port....

I would be really shocked if it came out before E3 2012. We all know if won't be launching before March 31, 2011. That leaves just over two full months (April, May) before Nintendo's 2012 E3 event (June 5), so it really would not make sense to squeeze in the launch during those two months.

After E3, however, any date is fair game whether it is summer or holiday.

Past Launches:
Game Boy Advance - March 2001 (JP), Jun 2001 (NA,PAL)
Nintendo 3DS - Feb 2011 (JP), March 2011 (NA,PAL)
GameCube - Sept 2001 (JP), Nov 2001 (NA), May 2002 (PAL)

There's no rule that says launches have to come during the holiday, and considering how well the Wii U will probably sell, maybe that's a good thing for early adopters.


( Edited 11.06.2011 16:36 by Sonic_13 )

SirLink said:
Well, there's still Dragon Quest X on the Wii right? They said that we'll get the first info on that late 2011 so I could imagine that being the Wii's swansong in early 2012.

Yeah, I too thought that Dragon Quest X would be there for sure. I think that them waiting this long is a bad thing, launching a title when the next console comes out is never a good thing.

I really think that it'll be in the summer. My main reason is this, Nintendo is trying to cater to third party developers. And from what we've seen at E3, other than Ubisoft, there really hasn't been much else. All these companies are just experimenting right now. No one other than Nintendo knows the full capabilities of the WiiU. If it comes out in Spring, developers's won't have much time to come up with quality games. Remember how a majority of the third party games turned out for the initial launch of the Wii?

bornforthis43 said:
Remember how a majority of the third party games turned out for the initial launch of the Wii?

The Wii remote was something unlike anything anyone have developed for before, so it took some time to really learn how to properly develop games for it.

Wii U has two advantages that I see:
1) It will use Wii Remotes which developers now already have plenty of experience developing for.
2) While the Wii U controller is also different than what has been seen on consoles before, development issues will largely be due to creative problems, and not technical problems.

Keeping us waiting till 2012 eh I wish I could time travel because i'm definitely going to buy the wii u. Wonder if I should pre-order already