Comments further hint at Revolution launching behind rival systems...

In a Wednesday shareholder's meeting, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata was asked for the outlook on when Nintendo's next generation Revolution console would be scheduled for launch. Specifically, the major concern was that it would lag well behind the launches of Nintendo's chief hardware competitors. Iwata responded with a non-commital:

"There is no possibility that the Revolution's launch will fall behind by too much, but there might be some small changes [to its launch schedule]."

The response, while not succint, is the latest piece of evidence suggesting that the Revolution will indeed be the last one to launch. Of course, no certain time periods were given. However we can get a rough idea of when not to expect the Revolution by based on Sony's tentative PS3 launch period of Spring 2006. Whether Nintendo intends to launch close to a competitor as it did with the first XBOX in America or not remains up in the air, but such a possiblity would seem unlikely given the expected strength of demand the successor to the incredibly popular PS2 will command.

Iwata did have reassuring words for investors as well, stating confidently that Nintendo was going into the next-generation with a "long-term plan on what kinds of titles will be released at what stage." Readers will remember that at Nintendo's pre-E3 press conference hints were already dropped on which titles to expect for the Revolution lineup, including popular titles such as Smash Brothers, Zelda and Metroid Prime.

Stay tuned for further details as they arrive.