This is a rough one. The rational side of me says it is just fine and may only improve my enjoyment of the game. However delays that move a game to the next calender year are dangerous. Brawl was close to being a launch game and got bumped from Q1 to Q2 to Q4. If it really does show up early Feb I will be a little surprised. I went from thnking that next year would be full of surprises to thinking it will be full of delays.
I think Wii fit will get bumped to Feb pushing smash to April, as they will want to launch the mario baseball game in march. Early Q2 will see the download staition in the US and Wii ware if we are lucky. Mario Party 9 hould land about that time pushing Mario Kart to TBD. My guess is that will land for the holidays in November.
So people will probably flame me for loosing heart but I was a firm beiever that Nintendo had some great surprise things up their sleeves to drop in 2008 (Animal Crossing, Pikmin, 1st Part RPG etc.). I will love MK and Smash but those are all we get next year.
Final* Word on Game Delays:
The game will not be any better or include more content then planned. Any commnets that say so are just PR hogwash to make you feel better for having to wait.
Delays are due to lack of proper resources, skill, or adequate planning by the developer.
Do be thankful that they have enough respect for you to delay the game and maintain its intended level of quality.
*naznatips is exempt
