Nintendo could have launched at 300 and made an ish-load of money.

This will be the generation of lost opportunity costs. I mean, if Nintendo launched at 300, they'd have an extra 1.5 billion in profit (since they sell the Wii for a profit anyway). ~30 mil * 50 bucks.

That's crazy.

Combined with the reported 1 billion they didn't make last winter because of the lack of consoles, and that's 2.5 billion lost in opportunity costs. I bet sony and MS wish they would have had cheaper consoles, and been less graphic heavy as well...

Hmmm...I comepletely disagree.

Part of the perfect storm for thw Wii has to do with affordability.

If the Wii was priced at $299 much of the gaming community would have backlashed.  The only reason everyone was ok with $249 was because it shipped with a game (most people expected it to retail for $199).

Granted, people are willing to drop $300--400 on a Wii these days...but at the time of launch  Nintendo's future was still unknown and was greatly shaped by the media storm that followed.