The gang over at VG Tribune just received this e-mail from Chris Scullion, the Games Editor at Official Nintendo Magazine in regards to the rumored “March 11th 3DS launch date” in Europe that was allegedly in their most recent issue.

I for one am very pleased that VG Tribune got a hold of Chris at ONM on the subject, because even Paul Gale Network was getting comments from readers stating to have “seen the date with their own eyes”…the release date that is.

I posted the news as a rumor, because unless I see something with my own eyes or am told news from a source within a company that I trust 100%, it’s just too hard to prove true otherwise.

I’ve been the one to break big news before like Hideo Kojima updating us on MGS5, the Wii Remote Plus unveiling, and Tekken X Street Fighter updates…all of which were true, and called them news because I had proof. Over the weekend, the 3DS story was a rumor and that’s why it was called such. Without further delay, here’s the word from ONM themselves:

Hi guys!

I’m Chris and I’m the Games Editor for the Official Nintendo Magazine.

Though we can’t fully address this until later (we’re on deadline for issue 63 just now), for now I can categorically say that the article never said March 11 2011 in our magazine. This isn’t just the case with the final version of the page that was sent to the printers, but every version of the document we saved throughout the entire production process of the issue.

If anyone else can provide us with a physical copy of the magazine that says “March 11 2011″ then we’ll happily look into this, but I and the rest of the team would be very surprised because, like I say, the feature (at every stage of the magazine-making process) has always said simply “March 2011″.

I’m not going to start speculating on how this scan appears to show “March 11 2011″ because that’s not for me to do and would be hugely unprofessional of me. However, I hope I’ve made it clear that as far as we’re concerned, we have never given the release date as anything more definite than “March 2011″ and (like the rest of the gaming media) are unable to do so until Nintendo announces the official date.

Any speculation that the magazine was recalled and reprinted with a new date (or that the reason some subscribers got their issues late was because we were busy changing this) is completely untrue, because as far as we’re aware there was nothing there to change.

Hope that clears things up a little!

Chris Scullion
Games Editor
Official Nintendo Magazine