The rush into this year's holiday season has been marked by all three major consoles getting a price reduction. Both the 360 Elite and the newly introduced PS3 Slim are now selling for $299, and Nintendo finallly got into the game by dropping the price on the Wii for the first time since that system's initial launch in 2006. During a live interview on CNBC yesterday, Nintendo's North American president Reggie Fils-Aime was asked if the company would be willing to consider a further price cut if the economy continues to suffer. To put it briefly, it's not going to happen.

Quote the Reggie, "Absolutely not. We lasted 34 months without having to cut the price. We were able to reach over 20 million consumers here in the US at USD 249. The next group of consumers we will get at this USD 199 price point, and we've already seen very strong results after just one week on the marketplace."

He went on to say that there is no reason to worry about any Wii shortages in stores this holiday season, although he wouldn't mind if there were. "We're prepared. We have a tremendous amount of product in inventory, we've been flowing product in for retail. We do not expect to have shortages on our products. If we do experience them, I'd love to have that problem, but we're not seeing that this year."

It does seem a bit odd that CNBC would ask about a second price cut, especially since Nintendo was the last console maker to reduce its retail cost. Since stores literally couldn't keep Wiis in stock for over two years at a price of $250, the recent price cut almost seems unnecessary. However, if one reads between the lines on this, could it be that Reggie is hinting at a new Wii console, rather than a price cut? Or am I just speculating?

[Source]