Wii may be close

In the same release that named 10 new handheld games, Nintendo's PR forces appear to be dying to tell us something. Check this out:

"The fourth quarter of 2006 will herald a new era for Nintendo with the launch of its remarkable new Wii(TM) home video game system. But that's not what this news item is about! How could that be, you ask? Perhaps the secret to the launch information for Wii is somehow encoded in the text of this news item. You might want to pore over it for a few hours before staying up all night to debate phraseology and comma placement with your friends online."

The hint may be in the release dates for many of its upcoming DS games - there's a massive gap in releases from November 13 to December 4, which is not only the busiest shopping time of the year, but also the same timeframe the PS3 is going to launch - you're going to want to already be on the shelves at that point.

Add this to the fact that Wii's been rumored to release in October and it's starting to look pretty clear when we'll be waving wands around the living room. All Nintendo consoles have launched before November, save only GameCube, soan Octoberrelease isn't just possible, it's likely.

Speculation beyond that, we'll leave to puzzle and conspiracyfans. October 2nd? Well, there's nothing else on that date, and the sentence, "One of the two" does show up, so the number twois there. Then again, so is one, so it could be the 1st of the month, the 3rd, the 12th, 21st, 30th, or pretty much any other day. Especially if that isn't the clue we're supposed to noticeat all.

Word is Nintendo plans to update its release plans sometime in September.

July 25, 2006