On Friday, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime appeared on talk show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. He said that the upcoming 3D-glasses-free handheld the Nintendo 3DS will be released "next year". He, apparently, is "mistaken".
Says who? According to sources close to company's Japanese headquarters, the Nintendo of America exec made an error when he stated that the Nintendo 3DS would be out next year. Good thing he didn't do that on nation-wide television!
Oh wait.
Nintendo Co., Ltd. (Nintendo of Japan), however, would still not affirm to our sources that the Nintendo 3DS would be released in North America by this holiday season or not. What's more, the company reiterated that it intends to release the upcoming portable sometime during this financial year as mentioned in the initial press release this past March. This financial year ends in March 2011.
From what our source is saying, it sounds like 3 months has been shaved off the release window for the Nintendo 3DS. When the product was originally revealed, Nintendo stated it would be out this fiscal year in Japan. As previously mentioned, that ends in March 2011. However, if Nintendo of America says that the Nintendo 3DS will be out "next year" (2011) in North America, and Nintendo says that what was stated is a "mistake", that could very well cut January, February, and March out of the picture.
Then again, Nintendo Co., Ltd. could be the one making a mistake. Perhaps, Fils-Aime discussing North America? In the past, Nintendo has given separate launch dates for hardware, so the company might do the same for this.
But if it is a worldwide launch, wouldn't it mean that the Nintendo 3DS could hit store shelves this holiday season?
While this sounds a lot like the right hand not talking to the left hand, Kotaku is following up.