IBM has been shipping Wii Chips since July

It was a big tease of some important news and while its nothing too spectacular Joystiq (among other sites) has revealed that the Nintendo Wii console and final CPU chips have been in Nintendos hands since July. Ron Martino from IBM says “”We have shipped a Significant volume this quarter. So why should the average gamer care if Nintendo has had there finalised Wii and Wii chips since then? Well for one this means Nintendo already has a large stockpile of the final Broadway chips and theoretically could release within the next few weeks, perhaps even by the end of the month. Read more inside! But its not just IBM saying this, Nintendo has also confirmed that “”The first chips are in our possession,”” and that “”Today’s milestone marks the final stage of our drive to reach both core and non-traditional gamers with an inviting, inclusive and remarkable gaming experience.””
When asked questions about the power of the Broadway chip compared to the GameCube predecessors Martino had nothing more to ad other then say that the chip is 20% more power efficient and also performs significantly better. With this news and the Wii parties planned for next week I think its possible that well be getting our hands on the Wii very very soon.