For a brand new console, the original $249 asking price was a bargain back in 2006 for those looking past bargain/value gaming (ie. buying a system a few years after debut at a significantly reduced hardware price when the soft library is well established and there are many quality "best hits" titles for sale at greatly reduced prices).
For those consumers, I have to question whether the $249 price tag was prohibitive back in 2006, or even in 2007 through most of 2008, when consumers were still hard pressed to find one at actual retail price off the shelf.
While the Wii is a special case in which many of the prior trends in console sales do not directly apply, there is still good reason to believe that the majority of the life time Wii console sales will be seen below $200, which is typical among the best selling console of each generation.
So while we didn't exactly see the Wii being sold out at $199, I still believe the drop will play a role in keeping the hardware moving consistently due to all the new sub $200 console consumers.
I suppose the big question of the effectiveness of the new price, along with the winter soft line up (which is solid and should not be used as an excuse for below expectation sales should that happen) will be answered by whether Nintendo hits its annual hardware projections.
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