Nintendo has had Wii graphics chips since July @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on September 08, 2006

News: IBM has begun shipping 'Broadway' to Nintendo. Does this mean an October 2 launch is on the way?

Joystiq, Kotaku and many other game blogs had been hyping a major news announcement at midnight tonight. Well, midnight came and went and here's what we know: IBM has begun shipping the Wii's "Broadway" graphics chip to Nintendo. Oh my god! That's huge news!

Wait, no it's not.

With the Wii launch happening any time now, it's not a surprise that Nintendo has begun receiving shipments of the key components. And considering the fact that Nintendo has their own major announcement planned for September 14 in New York City, this is even more anticlimatic.

IBM has said the chip lets off 20% less heat than the "Gekko" chip used in the GameCube. This is no doubt how the Wii can have such a small form factor.

One interesting bit of news on this announcement comes from the Reuters article. According to Reuters, "Nintendo has said it plans to ship 6 million units of its new Wii by year end." Nintendo has previously stated they expect to produce six million Wii systems by the end of their fiscal year (March 31, 2007). So this new production estimate would be a huge increase. Or it may be a typo.

But the biggest fallout from this news may be Joystiq's prediction: "[C]onsidering that Nintendo has had their hands on a large amount of the final Broadway chips since July, we can easily speculate that the Wii could feasibly be released within the next few weeks. Perhaps by the end of the month."

Hmm, the Wii could be in our hands by early October. I wonder where I've heard that before?

Remember, when the Wii launches on October 2, you read it here first.