Nintendo president increasingly talks of the "year-end sales season"...

Nintendo may be looking towards a Wii U release close to Christmas, as the company increasingly talks about the system's launch in a "holiday" context.

Having had a fairly substantial reveal at last year's E3, some might have expected a Wii U launch not too far into the second half of 2012. However, those hoping for a surprise launch in or not-long-after summer may have to give up hope, with Satoru Iwata today telling investors to expect the system to release at the end of the year.

"I believe that you are most interested in the details of the Wii U. Since the Wii U will be launched in Japan, the U.S., Europe and Australia in the year-end sales season... as we did for previous platforms that were launched in the year-end sales season, we will announce the launch date and price in each market sometime after E3."

Wii launched in North America in November 2006, having had its launch details confirmed in the September of that year. This is the first time Iwata has specifically spoken of Wii U "launching in" the holiday season, rather than merely being on shelves then, so we might be looking at a familiar launch plan for the Wii successor.

Iwata also reiterated that the "final format" of Wii U and its software line-up would be revealed at E3 in June.