E311 | Wii U Gets Rough Pricing

Whilst the majority of people are excited from yesterdays unveiling of Nintendo's new home console, Wii U, at their E3 press conference, many are sceptical of how much the system will cost. In a recent interview between Nintendo President Satoru Iwata and local newspaper, Nikkei, he stated that the Wii U will likely be priced at more than 20,000 yen ($250 or £180) and are unlikely to sell the console for the same price as the current Wii. Despite the fact, Mr, Iwata encourages that "the new platform will provide deeper game experiences than what even the most passionate gamers have realised before....It will let everyone see games in a different way"

Nintendo need to be careful with their pricing strategy for their next console as research shows the main cause (for the Japanese at least) for the lack of uptake for their recently released 3DS is the fact that is too expensive. Couple that with the very few launch titles that came out with the system and its easy to see where the reluctance lies with the general public. Lets see if the Wii U can come out at launch with all guns blazing.

On top of this, Nintendo shares fell significantly when the console was announced, by 5.7% to 16,930 yen at the close of trading in Osaka yesterday. More than 2.2 million shares changed hands, compared to a six month average of around 720,000.

What do you think about the pricing of the platform? Expected? How much would you be prepared to pay?