For Project Cafe, is June 2012 a smart release month?

[NightDragon83]

SaviorX said:

NightDragon83 said:

SaviorX said:

I'd imagine that at E3 2012, Nintendo would showcase the software, only to say that in a mere two weeks, it will be on shelves.

Replace E3 2012 with 1995 and Nintendo with SEGA and you have the formula for the Saturn's US launch.

How'd that work out again?

Thing is, they revealed it....this year, 1 year in advance. 3rd parties already have an assumed timeframe of when its coming out. Most probably have had dev kits for a while in preparation for a  Q3 2012 launch.

So?  Apparently you don't understand the point I was making.  The Saturn had already been revealed a year earlier as well prior to E3 '95.. in fact, it had already been released over in Japan in Nov '94.  SEGA had already announced a launch date of Sept 2nd 1995 (similar to the hypothetical Q3 2012 projected release date for Project Cafe), which was the target date for 3rd parties to have their launch software ready.

When SEGA announced at E3 that year that the system would be on sale immediately, 3rd parties had no clue about it, and were scrambling to get their software ready.  They also released the Saturn at a time when the demand just wasn't there yet, and any advantage they thought they'd have by releasing early was lost because of a lack of software, demand, and a high initial price point.

In short, it would be a disaster for Nintendo to announce any kind of "surprise launch" that would take place mere days or weeks after their latest trade show appearance.  Nintendo already has at least a year advantage over the competition's next-gen platforms (no way Sony or M$ release a new system by next year), so there's no reason for them to blow their load prematurely at E3 2012.