RUMOR #2: The Nintendo Revolution won't be released until Q4 2006.

Source: An article in the latest issue of UK game-trade magazine, MCV.

The official story: "Nintendo does not comment on rumors or speculation."--Nintendo spokesperson.

What we heard: When it showed off a prototype at its pre-E3 press conference last week, Nintendo openly said that its next-generation console wouldn't arrive until 2006. So the question arose: When in 2006? Sony said it is aiming for a spring release with the PlayStation 3, which left Nintendo in a strategic dilemma. Should it go toe-to-toe with the PS3's launch date, or should it wait until the all-important holiday season to build up a critical mass of launch titles? An article in today's MCV indicates that the company has chosen the latter, as it quotes a "senior Nintendo source" as saying, "We're currently looking at mirroring the DS strategy, so Revolution would release in the US first in November, closely followed by Japan. Then we're looking at March 2007 for PAL territories." If true, the MCV article would mean that the Revolution would hit the market six months after the PS3 and a full year after the Xbox 360, which is hardly an envious place to be.