We’ve just had an anonymous tip, from a local Australian retailer, that Nintendo’s upcoming home console the Wii U will be released in Australia on December 6. In addition, we’ve heard that — in the wake of massive shortages in 2006 when the original Wii first launched — Nintendo is guaranteeing that every pre-order of the console at EB will be met.
We called Nintendo for comment, but were informed that Nintendo had nothing new to announce regarding the Wii U at this time.
The release date makes a lot of sense, for a few reasons. This year December 6 is on a Thursday, which is traditionally the day in which new games/hardware is released in this country. The original Wii was released in Australia on December 7, and that day was also a Thursday. When it comes to release dates Nintendo tend to repeat themselves.
According to a GameStop employee, the Wii U is set from release during Thanksgiving weekend in the US. Thanksgiving is on November 22, meaning that — if the dates are correct — the Wii U will go on sale in Australia roughly two weeks after, which is the kind of delay Australians are used to with Nintendo’s hardware releases.
Of course, nothing has been confirmed but we’d say, at worst, the date is a pretty solid bet, considering Nintendo’s history.
Originally published on Kotaku Australia