August 23^rd, 2001 (12:00am) - Nintendo has officially annouced that they will be holding off on the release of the GameCube by 2 weeks, changing their launch date from November 5th to November 18th. The Pokemon creators stated their reasoning is to ensure a smooth rollout by allowing for more time to produce enough consoles to meet buyers’ demand.

However, the world’s second-largest home video-game maker stuck to its target of shipping four million of the machines it hopes will be its new flagship by March 31.

This delay means they will be second to launch and the Xbox launch will move into the first position, giving it a head start on the GameCube. Nintendo argues that this delay should not effect their sales, and that this move will secure enough of their product in store for the shopping season.

George Harrison, Senior Vice President of Nintendo’s marketing and corporate communications said, "We looked at the available quantity that we had, and we felt that it’s more important to have sufficient quantity for Thanksgiving weekend and we thought that was a better day to go on sale."

Will Nintendo’s delay hurt their status in the industry? Could this delay give Microsoft a chance to get a head start and even to sway a few Nintendo fans into changing their minds to purchase the Xbox instead? In either case, delays are never good, regardless of how the company tries to come up with a reason for justifying it.

Source: TeamXbox