Captain Obvious is at it again as Nintendo have announced that their new console, the Nintendo Wii U, will indeed launch in Europe, North America and most importantly, Australia, by Christmas this year.

Of course, we’ve know for a while to expect as much, but considering history has shown quite a gap in international releases, some may be forgiven to expect the Wii U might not launch this year outside of Japan. This will not be the case, however, as Satoru Iwata, Nintendo CEO, has promised an international launch in time for Christmas.

The specific date was not revealed – that will come at E3 this July – but we can probably expect a September – November time frame. This is just a guess on our behalf, and time will tell for sure. Refreshingly, Nintendo singled out ‘Australia’ in their pledge to put Wii U on shelves – our country is usually forgotten by most international companies.

Nintendo also announced that the Nintendo 3DS handheld console will become profitable by the beginning of 2013 as the company continues to refine manufacturing processes.