IBM begins to ship Wii CPUs

The Wii is on it's way. Or, at least, it's CPU is on its way to Nintendo. IBM has begun shipping the processors for the console, which Nintendo has promised for this holiday season. IBM announced shipments had begun yesterday:

IBM, which announced the shipments on Thursday, said the chips use technology that will substantially boost the processing power in the Wii while using 20 percent less energy and throwing off less heat.
While neither exact pricing or exact release dates are available, Nintendo keeps insisting it will be “cheap” and “soon”. With 6 million units planned within the next 7 months or so, Nintendo has a lot to keep them busy. Should Microsoft and Sony worry? Sony has yet to launch the PS3, and a lot of the hype for the 360 has died down. Personally, I'm interested in the Wii. Not because of the name, which I find annoying, but the price point and the initial game selection look quite nice. The price of consoles has gotten out of hand, and perhaps Nintendo can do something about it.