March 27^th, 2006 (4:18pm) - Nintendo won’t necessarily attempt a simultaneous worldwide launch of Revolution, despite Sony and Microsoft’s next-generation console tactics, according to president Satoru Iwata.

Speaking to Bloomberg at GDC last week, Iwata said, "We don’t think it’s necessary to do the simultaneous worldwide launch simply because others are doing this."

Nintendo has previously said that it plans to launch Revolution this year. The company has not announced a solid release date, although Iwata said on Thursday during his keynote that Nintendo would soon announce how it planned to "disrupt console gaming" - believed to be a reference to the firm’s anticipated pre-E3 press conference this May.

Iwata also told Bloomberg that the company aims to resolve problems with console shortages in Japan by the end of April.

"I’m hopeful in the latter half of April we can get rid of the terrible, terrible shortage situation that we are facing with the Nintendo DS right now," he said on Thursday, admitting that demand was "unpredictable" due to a widening demographic.