Nintendo rumoured to miss October 2000 launch date

At last May's E3, Nintendo of America chairman, Howard Lincoln, announced the worldwide release date for the company's next-generation console, codenamed Dolphin, as late 2000 - and more specifically, a rumoured launch in October of 2000.

This announcement was met with much scepticism as it defied previous reports that suggested Nintendo weren't planning to ship the console until 2001. Evidently the Dolphin hardware simply isn't ready, according to one developer who has been in talks with Nintendo on the subject. And with finalised development kits not scheduled to be made available until January of next year, not only will the hardware probably not be ready, the software to back it up won't either.

Why then would Nintendo set a release date that it knows it can't meet? "If Sony can say it with a straight face, so can we," was the answer given to more than a few development houses asking the same question. The obvious answer, of course, is to deter potential Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 sales. With initial Dolphin specs and an announced release date made available, jumpy Nintendo loyalists and newcomers to games alike may think twice before buying one of Sony's or Sega's machines. And that's exactly what Nintendo want.

Courtesy of IGN.com