009soulmaster

I based my relationships on LOVE!

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I married Lucina... I'm so happy I did. I have a sessy and badass wife. My daughter is badass as well.  T o T I love Lucina.

If they don't profit from it.

And they may elect not to.

A $299 price tag will eliminate any and all barrier to entry.

For a games platform such as the Wii U, which looks poised to create strong software tie-in, it won't matter.

Nintendo knows that need to offer lots of power for a low price, like they did with the 3DS.  they may not profit for a year on the hardware, but subsequent years will be different.

It's hard to see Nintendo missing out on profit from it's hardware, but they may do so if they feel they havent' generated a strong enough marketing "buzz"

$349 seems like a good place to start.

Price it too low and people think of it as "cheap" in both positive and negative connotations.

Price it too high and it just won't sell (PS3 anyone?). but it there is one thing the previosu generation has taught us, it is that console prices go up every generation and people are willing to pay more to get more.

The original Wii with dirt cheap tech started out at $249.  The much more ambitious and forward looking Wii U starting out at $349 is a great bargain for a system of this power level and capabilities.

The "proper" Xbox 360, without motion controls or a screen enabled GamePad, cost $399 to purchase at launch.

Even the bare bones, no hard drive, crippled version was $299.

So a next generation system, in 2012, launching at $349 with next level power, a Gamepad with relatively large additional screen and free online capabilities is quite the bargain. Normally, I would have expected a $399 price tag, but Nintendo is wanting to deliver high end power at an affordable price.  This is a long way from 2005 and $349 is affordable.  Microsoft and Sony provably won't be under that price either.  And a year or two down the road, I can see a price drop to $299 in order to combat the new console launches.

Again, Nintendo CAN release at $299 to ensure a quick install base and entrench the system.  but they won't profit on the hardware for about a year if they do so.  And that is something they've only changed stance on once.  If they can, I would love to see it.  just not expecting it. it's not like they haven't earned their money here.

Hm, interesting. I just wonder if it's a proper port on par with the other next-gen console's versions, or just a half-assed downscaled port like the Wii usually got this gen.

Ditto, Nintendo could even go to Nvidia and get a 6 year old graphics card that's better than the 360s. What I'm talking about is the Wii U getting downscaled Unreal 4 games, still looking pretty, just with minor differences like not having anti aliasing and running at 720p at 30fps