I have no doubt sales will increase.  But, by how much?

The problem the Wii has is it is inferior from a technical stand point.  Sure the WiiMote is innovative and cool, but at its core is a sooped up Gamecube.  People are buying it because it offered a new way of controlling the console that made it accessible.  Not because of its price.

I don't know anyone who has been waiting for the price to drop to buy a Wii.  The PS3 and 360 were different stories though.

I think Nintendo has a difficult task ahead.  Argueably, the Wii is a last generation console with a next generation controller.  To join the generation fully Nintendo will end up releasing a new console.  It remains to be seen whether consumers will think that was the best approach.  Meanwhile Sony and Microsoft are simply adding next generation controllers to their next generation consoles making their consoles look like good investments.

Not true. It has certainly helped 360, for instance. The Arcade cut has given them consistently positive year-over-year results all year, and there hasn't really been the kind of console-moving software all year this year for 360 to explain it otherwise.

Fuck Malstorm in the fucking mouth. That guy is a fucking piece of fucking shit. I hate that fucking guy with all my fucking heart. Fuck Malstorm. He is a fag ass piece of cocksucking shit.

If one judges a console solely on its processing power, then, yes, it's inferior.  But the Wiimote makes it superior in another aspect, so I think it would stand to reason that it's as much apart of this generation as the others.

Anyways, to say people buy the WIi for its offerings and not because of its price seems incorrect (I imagine the Wii would have considerably less sales if it cost $40 million to buy, for example).  After all, people buying the HD consoles aren'y buying solely for their price, but for what they offer ((they're games, blu-ray, multimedia stuff), and yet price obviously makes a difference.

My comment on the thread about that article:

The problem with Animal Crossing wasn't a lack of content, it was recycled content; City Folk was essentially Wild World with a couple of extra (and not very worthwhile) bit tacked on; anyone who had played WW, had no reason to bother with CF.

Uh... huh?

It is never the responsibility of third parties to drive hardware sales.

Clearly Nintendo thought Wii Music and Animal Crossing would drive hardware sales. They thought that music was a universal concept like sports and fitness that could be a cornerstone experience of the console. And they thought that Animal Crossing would be a new experience thanks to voice chat, even though it did not feature significant new content. They thought those games would get them through to Wii Sports Resort, which they were planning for a spring release.

So the drought between the Brawl/Kart/Fit triumvirate and the arrival of WSR was due to failed strategy behind 2 games, and a delay of the 3rd. It was not some intentional plan to leave their own fate in the hands of third parties.

As for DS, Nintendo brought Layton to the West, they've had main entries in the Kirby and Pokemon series, they've had Style Savvy and Rhythm Heaven and the Cookbook game and Math Training and most recently Tomodochi. The new DS game in the August NPD data was Fossil Fighters... from Nintendo. And oh yeah, they launched a thing called DSi you might have heard of, with new built in software and downloadable games. The question is not whether DS is being most driven by those games, but whether Nintendo ever intentionally abandoned the fate of DS to third parties. (Hint: they didn't.) And they didn't with Wii either.

I so hope that Wii is gonna crush the holidays and break a new sales record to prove that Malmstrom is rong.

First of all, I believe that Malestrom now thinks since he was generally the only person who predicted "Blue Ocean" that he is the only person who should decide Nintendo's strategy.

My guess is Nintendo wants to reestablish itself, especially as Sony and Microsoft work to market itself to non-traditional gamers. And since those consoles offer more which might be seen as a benefit (i.e., movies), it makes sense to reduce the price before the others are offering similar products, albeit at a higher price.

Still, I would have delayed until next year for a price drop. But I -- just like Malestrom -- do not have all the information that goes into making this decision.

Mike from Morgantown

Nah, he's been talking like this since the Wii-kly days in 2006. Which is part of why I smile when someone calls him a Nintendo fanboy.