The fuck.... $300?

No. Bad Nintendo Bad. They're milking the public.

It's not going to be 300 dollars.

At least right now,this would be purely speculation on your part.

Besides, even if it is true, isn't that what Sony did with PSP Go? It is actually cheaper than PSP Go's launch price when it's released a year and half later. You are certainly right that they still have a long way to go in order to catch Sony on arrogance.

Sony said it would sell with no games, and Nintendo has been all about getting as many games as they could.

Plus with Nintendo having reduced profits the last few quarters, and their stock suffering, it's not as though they don't have reason to try to get more revenue.

I don't mind companies wanting to make more money. I usually call on them for things that don't follow that (like refusing to make games for the Wii because of the specs, even though that would still mean reduced budgets).

I don't think they upped the price because of the reaction so much as it reassured them the price is valid with the reaction.   Gamespot isn't known for spot on translations.

Besides, PSP launched at $250 in the US and it appears the 3DS will launch at or just above $250 exactly 6 years later.  Hardly unjustifiable.   

And your first line is contradictory.  If people buy, the price is justified.  Price is factor of demand, not cost of manufacturing and all that.  If demand holds up at $250 or $300, then that's a justififed price.  Certainly not everyone is willing to pay that much but that's an issue with everything for sale on the planet.  Price is a factor of demand.  That's not arrogance.   That's economics.

I remember some said that Madworld selling so many copies doesn't count because most of the sales were at $30 instead of $50. What you wrote here reminded me of that, as your answer also applies to it. More people wanted it at a lower price, and the game sold at that.

I was wondering about this. Maybe Nintendo doesn't look at the 3DS as a pure handheld but as a handheld/console hybrid or somehitng like that.

I think Nintendo are getting pretty cocky right now. The 3DS will most likely debut at $250 US, which is still way too expensive. Systems are always priced a good bit lower in the states than in Japan so it`s not a straight rate conversion (so I strongly doubt we`ll see a $300 US 3DS).

For the hardcore Nintendo fans 15 plus (the minority) , I think many of them will be willing to put down $250. Some obviously aren`t given the response we`ve seen online. But many would.

For Nintendo fans under 15, it`s doubtful that their soccer moms will buy a $250 handheld for them. Without the `Nintendo kid` and `soccer mom` demographics, Nintendo is screwed. You can`t rely on only the hardcore 15 Nintendo crowd. Even the Game Cube had to rely on kids to get the support it got and it was the 3rd place console in the west that gen.

Eh $250 is not much. For what it has to offer.

Nintendo will probably bring it down to $200 in about a year anyway. 

If anything, it's a bit of humility on Nintendo's part. They've been admitting that 3rd party support is important, which is a damn sight more humble than i'd be in their position (i'd spit on the people that spat on me, then laugh at their pathetic quarterly statements)

And Iwata was likely just being obtuse with his explanation for why the price is what it is. Iwata is often obtuse