Iwata says Wii U will launch at a “reasonable” price

With only months left on the Wii U launch countdown, we’re still left to speculate and debate as to what gamers can expect to fork over this holiday season. Though we still don’t have a concrete numerical number, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata ensures us that what we’ll have to pay will be “reasonable” as he spoke to Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, (translated by Andriasang).

“We won’t make the same mistake that we did with the 3DS, which was considered relatively high by consumers,” he said.

The mistake Iwata is referring to? Nintendo’s highly anticipated 3DS handheld hit stores last March at a pricey $250. After heavy criticism in regard to the system’s battery life, its frustrating ability to give users migraines unless held at the right angle, and its initially poor games selection, Nintendo decided to slash the price down to $170.

As for the Wii U, reports surfaced in April when sources  involved with manufacturing and distributing Nintendo products said that the system would cost a minimum of $300 at launch. Considering the amount of criticism the Wii U as been dealt since its reveal at E3 2011, a $300 price point may be too much for the innovative console to overcome. The first of the next-gen systems has been critiqued for its lack of two GamePad support at launch as well as an online network and infrastructure that looks as if it will continue to lag behind that of Xbox Live and PSN. Doubt has also been cast over the system’s technical specs, which have also been kept under tight wraps by Nintendo.