As good as it sounds, it sounds just as weird.
They could charge 250 and still get probably the same number of sales. So, why not make more money out of it and help recoup losses on R&D and make a profit in the future?

It seems less likely than a 350 Wii U.

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=145669&page=1

"Nintendo cash reserves fell from $10bn to $5.9bn in the 12 months to March 2012, that needs to slow down dramatically."

I never did understand the true reason that they'd lost so many cash reserves (although Kowenicki did explain it in that thread, it didn't make much sense to me).

So while they did make a killing with the Wii & DS, they've kind of... lost it, somehow.  Maybe it's better than it looks or something.

With this in mind, I have no idea how they can launch the Wii-U at a loss.

Wow... what the fuck. How did they lose 4 billion? That can't just be Wii U and 3DS investments can it?

Believable. Wii U could cost them around 210$ or something and they make it back with bundles. I mean MS has xbox 360 at 200 and 250 for over 3 years now. I think they make at least 100$ off each console sold+ xbox live people. PS3 same thing except they make about 50$ per console because of complicated cell hardware. All the current gen tech should be sold to consumer at like 100-150 but the demand is still kind of high for them that the prices stay high and companies reap the benefits. So with a tech like Wii U I can see it costing 200 to make.

And in order to fund a $200 price tag in America, here in Europe, it will retail for €500...

There's no way in hell they'd do that unless they really hate money.

Super Mario 64 wasn't bundled at launch, though.

Still, the NES and Super NES had Mario game launch bundles.  The NES had the deluxe package, which came with R.O.B. the robot, the Zapper, two controllers and two games (Duck Hunt & Gyromite); then there was the console/controller package by itself and another with SMB.  Later there was a SKU with the Zapper and the Duck Hunt/SMB cartridge and even one that just came with the Player's Guide book.

This could be a multiple SKU strategy for Nintendo:  

Basic SKU:  $249 for just the console/tablet

Bundle SKU:  $299 with Nintendoland 

Deluxe SKU:  $329 with Nintendoland and a Wii remote plus

People are cray if they think this is true or gonna be true

It seems very unlikely to me but not impossible.

I call bullshit because if it launched at 199.99 I would buy one.