Here is a great article from Gamer Access which the title suggest is the Wii overpriced?

Is The Wii Overpriced?

We all know the Nintendo WiI has dominated this generation of consoles. Nintendo has managed to capture gamers and non-gamers imagination, with its more proactive approach to gaming. However does anyone else see how Nintendo is ripping gamers off?

For starters, they Charge us gamers $250 for hardware that is arguably last generation. How is that even possible? The first Xbox has more power from a technical stand point, and the GameCube is close to matching the Wii on a technical level and neither one of these consoles costs more than the Wii. Even when Nintendo launched the GameCube, it was only $199. So how can the same company come out with hardware that essentially has the same specifications and charge gamers more for it five years later? With all the bitching and moaning about how expensive the PS3 is, you would expect to hear more about the Wii’s price also. From a value standpoint, what you get with Nintendo’s console is severely lacking compared to the other competitor’s offers.

Then, the Wii needs a price drop probably the most. I know Nintendo doesn’t need to drop the price to stimulate sales, but they are the only console that hasn’t had a price drop. I believe this is the first time that a console has not had a price drop after the first three years. Everyone knows they can afford to drop the price, I mean honestly how much does it cost to manufacture a Wii? Not $250 that’s for sure.

Furthermore, from a software standpoint, Nintendo is pretty much on Dreamcast’s level as far as what it offers out of the box. I mean where’s the video market place? Oh that’s right, no hard drive for storage. Ok then where’s the hard drive? Why can’t the Wii play DVD’s? For Christ’s sakes the Wii has a DVD drive in it.

I know Nintendo is the clear winner of this generation, but there is so much potential for the Wii to be great, if they offer us more and price the hardware accordingly.

                                                                        Link: http://www.thegameraccess.com/2009/03/is-the-wii-overpriced/

                      -Well I want your opinions on this article, is the Wii overpriced or is it about the right price for the system? In my opinion I think it is overprice since it doesn't offer the same graphical value and doesn't have that strong of a first-party or third-party library as the Xbox 360 which is priced less than the Wii at $200.

                      -But the Wii does offer a different kind of gameplay and satisfaction that you can't find in a 360 or PS3 with its motion sensing controller. Besides it also has Wii Sports! That little thing can keep you hooked on the Wii for a long, long time. ;)

It's games are but not the console.

Yes it is.

Demand v supply. That's all that matters. What you think is justifiable does not matter as long as others are willing to pay more than you are.

While I agree that $269 (canadian) is too much for a Wii, this is a horrible article. It doesn't matter if he thinks it costs too much when it's selling in droves.

Clearly it isn't.

Price is not the sum of it's components... I have said this before. The price should be put at whatever point customers are willing to pay for. So the Wii is priced perfectly.

The DS is somewhere between N64 and Dreamcast graphically, should it be priced at $20?

The PSP is about as powerful as a PS2, should it have a price cut?

The PS2 is less powerful than the GameCube and Xbox were.... so why was it's price higher?

Of course it's overpriced. Nintendo make a fortune on each console sold. The components inside a Wii are virtually WORTHLESS in terms of their computational power.

Only way ninty could be paying more than a few pennies for each Wii is down to licensing of IP\custom chips...even then I'm sure the cunning swines got themselves a good deal.

Truth be told, there aren't many people on VGchartz who know what their talking about in terms of hardware costs and just how cheap and nasty the Wii is. It's actually the making of a great console and maybe ms\sony should have skimped like nintendo did.

I've never heard any of these arguments before.....(don't mean that as a personal attack on you, mind you, just the author).

Alright, from the top:

On a profit-basis, I'm fairly certain that the Wii costs much, much less than it costs to produce. That's what Nintendo's always done. I believe that's what Sega did, and most of the dozens upon dozens of other console manufacturers as well. Contrary to what revisionists will tell you, the "razor and blades" model of gaming did not really exist before Sony invented it. Good for gamers? Sure. Something we should all expect as a given? Not so much.

Then we get to the trolling parts. Leaving aside the simple truism that everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for, does the author have any support for his contention that the Wii costs less to make than a Gamecube did? All I see is "the Wii's just a glorified Gamecube lol," so until someone points out what I'm missing I'm going to assume he's just an idiot who's stuck in 2006.

His comments on the Wii's software...deserve no notice, and thus they shall have none.

As to the price drop argument, I could simply tell the author to read about the Blue Ocean strategy, but judging from this work I suspect it'd be beyond him. I'll settle for pointing out that a price drop is not our God-given right, but something that's done to spur sales. And if he thinks Nintendo is now, or has ever been, enough of a humanitarian to give a fig about purchasing good will at the expense of sheer profit...well, he's already proven that he's not much into studying or thinking, so I suppose the point is moot.

Conclusion: If the Wii is overpriced, this author did not state a convincing argument as to why. I could make a much better (although still flawed) case in about twenty minutes, assuming I took my time and proof-read it through four times. I'd be surprised if half the people on this forum, including most Nintendo-lovers, couldn't do the same.

The poor man answered his own question in the first two sentences of his article:

"We all know the Nintendo Wii has dominated this generation of consoles. Nintendo has managed to capture gamers and non-gamers imagination, with its more proactive approach to gaming."

I'm not sure what else one can say...

 Goes without saying, but I don't think that is what the OP was asking.

Price of the Wii has actually gone UP a couple of months ago in the UK...Of course they can sell it for what they like cos it's so popular etc. I'm quite sure everyone is aware of this! But we are being ripped off. ;)

Cost to produce it is so small, it's not like they are clawing back the costs of R&D like say Intel\AMD where a chip might cost to a consumer around 50x the cost of production. Nintendo are just exploiting you all and you're all happy about it...Good for everyone I guess in a kinda retarded way. But I don't own a Wii, I don't think it's worth it :) I think a PS3 represents better value.