I've been thinking about this for a while. Why would Nintendo cut the price of the Wii? The system is selling as well as the PS3 in it's time. There has been a long drought. August's numbers in the US were up over July. Wouldn't it be better to do this after Christmas. So why? Then it hit me. They are making a preimtive strike. They are gearing up for the fight against Sony and Microsoft.

Price cuts are a Red Ocean strategy. We know this. Nintendo probably knows this too. So what's happening? Nintendo is gearing up for the attack. Nintendo doesn't know when these devices will come out or what they have (we only leanred the release data for the wand recently). Nintendo is lowering the price ahead of time to get an edge on competators. Why so early? Nintendo may be using the Christmas season to squeaze out a few more units. It would really just to meet predictions and satisfy investors. The other idea is Nintendo is preparing a bundle. We've got win that there will be a bundle with WSR and Motion Plus for $250. Nintendo's goal may be to get Motion Plus into as many hands as possible before the Wand and Natal come out. This may be why there are so few motion plus games. Nintendo is probably saving them for when the HD twins attacks comes out. Now, Nintendo is just trying to get people to have a Motion Plus. The content attack may be coming when they need it most.

Crazy? Good idea? What do you all think?

DUDE u put it very nicely but there is another way to put it, a shorter way, a 3 word way

NINTENDO PWNS ALL!

I think it would be a great idea. I don't think it would happen. but then again, I've been wrong before.

It's also possible that they realized that the competition was closing the gap somewhat.

I never would have guessed it was a counter-attack.

It is so not obvious at all.

nintendo doesnt gear up anything, there is the new zelda, new 2 mario games ( big mario games i mean ) and metroid other M.
thats it.

you say they want to get WM+ into as many houses as possible before natal + wand hit the market, so why the hell they should safe the content for having a good contestant when they can decide the contest before having to be a contestant at all ( whata sentence , i know :) )

a price cut in 1 years time from now with no other AAA games then the 3 mentioned hunts down even the über-monster that the Wii has been.
when natal and wand hit, the time of the easy money for N is over. maybe not of the big money, but of the easy, no more games then will mean no more sales.

greetz

Before the price cut, the Wii was selling in Australia for around $350 - this included an extra game. When it came out, it started at $400 - with no game. That is roughly a $100 difference.

...now - its going to be selling at $299, without an extra game (i.e. just WiiSports).

I wonder if Ninty has been slowing dropping the price to retailers - this just drops it a little more, and makes it official.

...

For me, this price cut is *all* about marketing. This gives Ninty something to focus their marketing pitch on for this Xmas - new low price, cheapest console on market, best value for money, etc.

It also opens up the scope for some cool bundles - Wii + WiiFitPlus for $279(?), or Wii + NSMB for $249. Not a bad price for a console plus two games...

@MontanaHatchet: Seeing as the gap went from 59% to ~48%, that probably isn't the case.

@1200p|is|FullHD: Nintendo is going to want to take the wind out of there sails. Doing it before is not the best strategy. The want consumers to be more excited for their stuff then the HD twin's stuff. Let's look at it this way. If Nintendo releases the games early, it will make people excited now. But if the HD controllers come out in Summer and Nintendo has no new content, then there is more of a reason to switch over. They want to meet them where they stand. It also gives them a chance to improve those games.

The price cut and bundles are the before attack. The games will be during.

I agree with this.

Also, it has been announced that there will be a Wii Sports Resort + Wii bundle in the UK and Ireland. So there's a good chance they might do the same thing worldwide.

Exactly. That's why I think it's been their plan for quite a while.