Image Source: nintendo.com

Nintendo Revolution Penned for Late 2006
"Possibly even Spring 2007 for Europe

The current word on the street is that Nintendo's next-gen Revolution console will launch towards the end of next year in North America first, followed shortly after in Japan and lastly the European PAL territories:

'With Xbox 360 out later this year and PS3 slated by Sony for a spring ’06 launch, Nintendo refused to be drawn on its own timings during last week’s pre-E3 conference call.

But speaking to MCV after the event, a senior Nintendo source outlined the company’s current thinking. 'Revolution will launch towards the end of next year,' the source said. 'We’re currently looking at mirroring the DS strategy, so Revolution would release in the US first in November, closely followed by Japan – then we’re looking at March 2007 for PAL territories.''

Entering the race last on nearly all territorial fronts has lead to fears that the Revolution will be playing a deadly game of marketshare catch-up in an uncomfortable position behind its competitors, like the PlayStation 3 which will debut earlier that year. In Nintendo's defense, it's still not clear just when Sony's console will actually hit North America after its planned Spring 2006 launch in Japan (if it even makes that), and no real reassurance has been given regarding PS3 for Europe by 2006 to boot. The Revolution will definitely trail Microsoft's Xbox 360 by practically a year, however; Microsoft is betting on a global launch for their console by Q4 this year.

Will the revolution Nintendo hopes to deliver to their faithful be able pull them through Sony and Microsoft's launch titles? Q4 2006 might be considered fashionably late for North America and Japan, but Spring 2007 is definitely a long way for our friends in Europe."

Related Links:
Spring ’07 launch for PAL Revolution