Conversely, it wasn't the positive reaction itself that prompted Nintendo to set such a price, but the consenquences that could very well result from such a reception.FungiGamer said:
Remember Wii sales? The console was consistently sold out for more than three years. While this was naturally a positive thing for Nintendo in terms of profit, it also presented them with an awkward long-term problem in regards to supplies. For all the momentum the Wii had, there was no telling when that momentum would falter. If Nintendo oversupplied when that would occur, they would face huge financial losses. As a result, Nintendo was forced to be cautious with it's supply, which resulted in the Wii getting consistently sold out. This naturally annoyed customers, since they sometimes had to wait for several weeks before a new shipment would arrive, which threatened to make them disinterested and end up not buying one. The supply situation was so bad that used Wiis were selling for a greater price than the new ones, simply beacuse people wanted to get a hold of one immediately.
Now look at the situation Nintendo is facing with the 3DS. At E3, the response was, for the most part, overwhelmingly positive. Most gamers, developers and journalists loved it and it even converted some of the staunch 3D critics into supporters (Adam Sessler, the editor-in-chief of G4TV is an example). While that is good for Nintendo, it also means that they are facing a serious logistical challenge of massive launch sales. Combined with the fact that Japan is Nintendo's most important handheld market and it's no suprise that the Japanese price is as high as it is. Heck, Nintendo gave up on the fairly lucrative holiday season sales precisely beacuse they were afraid that the supply would be far too limited to keep up with the demand.
Note that this isn't to say that increasing their profits wasn't a part of the equation. But I think it's obvious that Nintendo didn't put up such a price "just beacuse they can".
Since handhelds aren't as big in North America/Europe/Australia as they are in Japan, chances are that the price point will be lower (although certainly not lower than $200). While $250 seems like the most likely price based on previous examples, I think it would be beneficial for Nintendo if they set it to about $230, since that would make it much easier to convince those who are on the fence about buying it. Plus, it would easen the sting of the typical 1:1 conversion rate for European customers. Even if Nintendo "graced" us with a 10 Euro "discount" (as with the DSi XL) and made it 220 Euros, that would still result in a equal price to the Japanese one (220 Euros is about 300 US dollars).
