At long last, there's finally something in the way of official confirmation on the Nintendo NX.

It was announced yesterday by Nintendo that the NX is officially confirmed for a March 2017 release. The console, which will be Nintendo's seventh (that's not including the handheld ones), was rumoured back in 2015 when a report surfaced in the Wall Street Journal, of all places.

The NX was launched during Nintendo's annual fiscal earnings report, which confirmed that the next-gen console is being launched and that it will be a "brand-new concept" - whatever that means. No other official information was forthcoming, other than the intended release date and its title.

The so-called leaked controller turned out to be a hoax, however there does seem to be a kernel of truth to rumours that Nintendo has issued development kits to third-party studios and, more pointedly, that the NX will be the most powerful console in the home market to date.

What's somewhat troubling, however, is the fact that the NX will not be shown at E3 - that's the Electronic Entertainment Expo - in June. However, another statement from Nintendo of America clarified that their focus will be on the upcoming Legend of Zelda game, which will launch both on the Wii U and on the NX.

So, thoughts? To be honest, it's more than a little worrisome that Nintendo is churning out the NX when the Wii U was only launched in 2012. That's less than four years. When you consider how long the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 had before the Xbox One and the PS4 came along, it's troubling.

However, comparisons to Sega and the ill-fated Dreamcast seem a bit premature at this stage. Sega was already in huge financial trouble when Dreamcast was launched and flagging sales in the Western market just compounded all of this. While Nintendo hasn't had the same figures as Microsoft or Sony, it still has over one billion yen in current assets.