Nintendo to launch Wii U in time for Christmas

You may have heard the rumor earlier regarding the Wii U’s supposed processing power, but now we have more official news: Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced today that the Wii U will launch right on time for the holiday shopping season.

No specific date was given, but Iwata said that Nintendo aims to have the Wii U out in the US, Europe, Australia and Japan by the year’s end. It isn’t clear at the moment if this means there will be a simultaneous release across all four regions.

Announced at E3 last year, the Wii U recently was on display for press at CES, and Nintendo says it plans to show off the console once again at this year’s E3. Considering that the launch is less than a year away now, Nintendo has said surprisingly little about the console, but that’s set to change come June, when E3 2012 takes place.

While unconfirmed, the latest round of rumors suggests that the Wii U’s processing capabilities will be twice that of the Xbox 360, which would make it quite a bit of a leap of the original Wii. Regardless of how powerful it is, the Wii U will be Nintendo’s first HD console.

A number of third-party publishers have already signed on in support for the Wii U, but we still have no information on what the Wii U’s launch titles will be. Look forward to more information on that come E3.

Source: Reuters