Yesterday, Nintendo officially revealed the release date and the price tags (for several regions) for their new piece of gaming hardware. Initial prices are going to be locked at $299 for the Basic set and $349 for the Premium set, whereas, according to analyst Michael Pachter, Nintendo is surely to reduce the price next year.

"We think that Wii U's price points are appropriate given likely demand from Nintendo's core fanbase, but believe that pricing will be too high to sustain demand given current competition from other consoles and tablets," said Patcher. "In our view, Nintendo was smart to introduce the Wii U at higher price points in order to maximize initial sales from its core audience. We expect 1 - 1.5 million Wii U units to be shipped into the US by the end of GameStop's fiscal year (January)."

"We don't expect a price cut until summer 2013, at the earliest, but do expect a cut prior to holiday 2013. Any prospective price cut will depend largely on competition, which we expect to materialize in the coming weeks," he added.

Source.