It's not official, but let me assure you that it's from a very reliable source. One thing that i have learnt from Rob from almost a year of forum friendship, is that he is very honest :) which is why he is a forum administrtor mind you...

I was tempted to post this as a rumour... But I find it all very very believable... Read on for some very tasty details of what us Australians have in store in the nest coming months!!!

This is completely unofficial, and might end up being incorrect in part, but I got some word from Nintendo Reps in Perth, Australia, last night about Nintendo's launch and marketing plans. Headquarters are apparently being very secretive (nothing new there), but here's a couple of titbits that were thrown my way.

First, the marketing/advertising strategy: the reps said that Nintendo are waiting for the X-Box launch to be out of the way before they start going full throttle. Basically, the idea is that once the X-Box has been on the market for a couple of weeks, there's nothing much more to say about it. Nintendo can then start their advertising run without having to compete (so much) with all the X-box press releases and so on. I was told that from April 1 we can expect (in Australia) some serious advertising and promotion to begin. I'm not just talking tv ads and so on -- apparently many of the commercial current affairs programs have been gagging to do stories on the cube's release. It sounds, then, like Nintendo's current silence will easily be matched by the noise that they are soon to make!

Second, launch details: the reps told me that they have a list of at least 30 to 40 games that could easily be listed as launch titles, and that they are just waiting for word from HQ to let retailers know which titles will be listed as launch titles. Now, of course this doesn't mean that there will be 30 to 40 launch titles. What it means is that there should be at least 15 launch titles, and (perhaps more importantly) there is a very long list of games that can be released very shortly after the launch. Basically, we (in Australia, at least) can expect to have 40 titles available within 1 or 2 months of the cube's launch! The reps also told me that retailers are now being provided with more information -- so I reckon you can hit the shops during the next couple of weeks and expect to get some answers at last!

Remember that this is all unofficial, but it is a drop (maybe a bucket!) of encouraging news in the sea of ignorance in which we've been swimming for the last few months. And I see no reason why much of what is planned for Australia shouldn't apply to Europe as well.

Being an Australian myself, this brings music to my ears! Thanks a million Rob!