Wii could feasibly be released within the next few weeks.

[Smoke]

IBM has announced that their Broadway chip custom-designed for Nintendo's Wii console is not only already in Nintendo's hands but has been since July. "We have been shipping well within this quarter (July)," said Ron Martino, director of IBM Technology Collaboration Solutions. "In fact, we have shipped a significant volume in this quarter."

So what does this news mean to gamers who have been waiting patiently for a release date from Nintendo? Well, considering that Nintendo has had their hands on a large amount of the final Broadway chips since July, we can easily speculate that the Wii could feasibly be released within the next few weeks. Perhaps by the end of the month.

When I asked Martino about the power behind the Broadway chip, all he could do was compare it to the Wii's predecessor, the GameCube. "Compared to the Gekko in the GameCube, it's 20 percent more power efficient. It also performs significantly better. The key point is that it is Power Architecture-based and custom-made and optimized for Nintendo," he said. "This is a critical milestone for us at IBM. We have been very pleased with the entire development project."

we fully expect Nintendo to make an official announcement next week during their event in New York City. And as previously mentioned, we expect a release date far sooner than what has been projected.

Joystiq

[Dark Jaguar]

It's all speculation at this point, but I would say that a quick release is a reasonable possibility. Another is just massive numbers so they don't have an MS or Sony problem, and yet another is that even though THESE are done, other parts may still need work. I've heard of issues with the remote they were trying to work out a few weeks ago.

At any rate they really have been focusing on making this launch go as smoothly as possible.

[lazyfatbum]

I had two thoughts on this.

1.) Nintendo wont launch in a few weeks because they want the Wii kiosks in stores to get people interested or make the worriers feel at ease with the controls.

2.) Actually, what's wrong with releasing the kiosks a week or two before launch? It's not like there's not enough hype behind the system. Hell you could even release the kiosks on launch day, people only need ten minutes to decide if they want one or not.

[Great Rumbler]

[A Black Falcon]

Supposedly the bottleneck, if there is one, would be in Wiimote production, but we'll see... a launch in just a few weeks would be surprising because it'd give less time for advertising and stuff, and that is crucial to success, but it's possible... if unlikely.

[lazyfatbum]

If you think about ipod or PC's or other generally accepted electronics, they dont advertize the product until its released. You might see an 'It's coming soon' banner on the website, buit the TV spots wont hit until you can actually go buy the product.

Plus, because of all this hoopla (you can quote me on that) I dont think Nintendo needs to advertize anything. My dad who never played a video game in his life asked me about Wii without me ever telling him of its existence. There were multiple write ups in the local paper, there were Time magazine articles, electronics magazine articles like Popular Mechanics. Everyone who's going to buy a Wii has probably heard of Wii's existence. All Nintendo has to do is release the system and throw out some media coverage and a kick ass TV spot or two.

It's not like they need to generate more hype.

[A Black Falcon]

That is true, so it's possible... too optimistic a prediction for me to support, but possible. :)

[lazyfatbum]

We'll know tomorrow.

I have 3 neck hairs that are vibrating, and that tells me that there's a slight possibility that TP will hit GC first, then Wii will get it a month or two later. Why? to make room for Mario at launch. I seriously doubt Nintendo will pull that mistake twice.

[A Black Falcon]

Now that I don't believe, Mario just isn't ready... anyway though, tomorrow is so close... I want to know now... :)