Nintendo’s brand new console, the Wii U, will hit shelves on November 18, according to a post on Kotaku today. The post cites an anonymous source claiming to have attended the GameStop managers’ conference in Texas today, where accessory-maker PDP slipped the date into a presentation in which they assured the gathered managers that their Wii U peripherals would be available just ahead of the date.
The source added:
“They changed the subject real quickly once they realized what they said.”
By way of corroboration, the Kotaku post also points to a NeoGAF user making the same claims.
The post received responses from both PDP and Nintendo spokespeople, neither of whom could confirm the date, which is officially still under wraps.
Said PDP community manager Candace Hinton:
“At this time we can’t confirm Nintendo’s dates and we don’t know exactly what was heard, but we simply do not know that this point. We are launching accessories, but the date for the accessories doesn’t mean a confirmation on the hardware. If you seek confirmation on the date that is something that is going to need to go specifically though Nintendo, but we can’t confirm or deny dates on any of their hardware.”
Nintendo’s own response was far more succinct:
“We have nothing to announce at this time.”
As the post also insightfully points out, November 18 is the last Sunday before Thanksgiving weekend, which holds the unofficial American shopping holiday, Black Friday. Add to that the fact that Nintendo’s been making a habit of releasing new products on Sunday (while the rest of the industry is content with Tuesday releases), and there you have it. As for when the release date will be officially unveiled, expect to get both date and price at Nintendo’s New York press conference on September 13.