$400 Wii U price would 'be a surprise' - analyst

Industry analyst Michael Pachter doesn't expect Wii U to cost over $399.99 when it launches this year.

He told IndustryGamers that $249.99 would be a more competitive price if Nintendo wants to go toe-to-toe with PS3 and Xbox 360.

"It would surprise me a lot if the Wii U cost more than $399.99, and I think that the sweet spot is $249.99," Pachter said. "Pricing really depends upon where the other console bundles (PS3 with Move and 360 with Kinect) are priced at the time the Wii U launches, because people who don't yet have a console are likely going to choose among the three offerings, and the biggest driver in the purchase decision is usually price.

Pachter also reiterated his belief that Nintendo's leaving it too late to launch its Wii successor.

"I have repeatedly said I thought the next generation Wii should come out in 2009, then 2010, and when it was clear that it wasn't happening, have repeatedly said that a later launch was too late, as it will come too close to next generation launches from the other console manufacturers."

Nintendo isn't ready to open up much about its Wii U pricing strategy yet, but president Satoru Iwata has said "this is not going to be cheap," also hinting that the console will likely cost more than 20,000 yen ($250) in Japan upon release.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...prise-analyst/

I would think Nintendo price their new console around the $350 mark, then about £250/£280 for us.

Nintendo are always the cheapest on the market.

yeah it;s obvious the price wouldn't be more than £250 unless there are much larger HDD.

Nah i doubt they'll be stupid enough to plant it at £250 because that's just suicide going in at same price as Ps3 when even if it is like 20% more power it's just missing so many features, so i'd say it's a safe bet at either £179.99 or £199.99, because they said they looking to set an initial price they don't have to drop for at least a year.

yeah for the hardware guna be used id suggest a range from as you say 179.99 to 249.99

Obviously it can also use an external Hdd then then started confirming then denying they'll offer downloadable Gamecube games, so i reckon they will also do a £229.99 package with maybe a 250gb Hdd because there is all this talk about Nintendo stepping up it's game with online services, so if they clever they'll release the basic console first with the low price to get a foothold then the packages come later in the year.