Sigh. Well, I was about ready to go for it, but then I saw this:
http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/a171702/analyst-nintendo-to-cut-wii-price.html
Gaming hardware and software sales crashed so badly in July that at least one analyst is now predicting a Sept. price drop on the Wii. What to do, what to do...
I know one way to make a price drop a sure thing...For me to go out and buy one. All of you wanting one for Christmas wanna push me to the store? If I buy, you'll have a drop before Christmas!
Keep in mind that a price drop is pretty much the last resort that a gaming system has in order to sell more units. It's true that the Wii isn't selling as many units now as it was in the past (reasons for this include a world-wide recession, the fact that so many people already own a Wii, and a lack of A-1 quality games right now). But before Nintendo decides to cut the price on the unit, there are other incentives they will put into effect first.
The first change might be a big-name game included in the bundle. Rather than just changing the price, it makes more sense for Nintendo to include a big seller (like Wii sports resort or even more likely something like Super Mario Galaxy - especially with SMG 2 coming out soon). Both Microsoft and Sony have done this quite often, and it's usually led to increased sales for their consoles.
Secondly, they can just offer a different color. I know it sounds ridiculous, but by offering the Wii in a different color (most likely the black one that is now in Japan) they can almost guarantee lots of new sales.
Third, they will wait to see what happens when more of their A-1 games come out. Nintendo has quite a few big games coming out the last quarter of this year, and even more the first quarter of 2010.
These are just a few of the things that Nintendo will rely on before even considering lowering the price. Like I said earlier, a price cut is normally the last resort for a gaming company. It's kind of like saying that nothing else is working so we need to lower the price. Nintendo is far from that point yet.
Another thing to keep in mind, these game analysts get paid for making predictions. The better the prediction sounds, the more people like them (thus helping their jobs). There have been quite a few analysts predicting a Wii price cut for the past year. Before the big E3 video game conference, the internet was full of analysts who guaranteed that one of Nintendo's biggest announcements would be a price cut (Obviously it didn't happen).
Of course anything is possible, but as a moderator on a Nintendo forum, I've been keeping a close eye on all things that have to do with the Wii, and I seriously doubt a price cut will be happening anytime soon.
