Revolution to Sell for Less Than $300

The Nintendo Revolution will go on sale later this year at a price of less than $300, the company's executive vice president of sales and Marketing Reggie Fils-Aime told CNET News.com in an interview earlier this week. The news sent the company's stock soaring in Japan, up 6.4 percent to 16,090 yen Friday.

Fils-Aime also took the opportunity to criticize Nintendo's rivals for pricing consumers out of the market. He pointed to the Xbox 360's high startup cost as an example where the average consumer would need to spend about $700 to fully experience the system, not including an HDTV.

Also, reports have circulated recently that gamers may need to dish out as much as $500 or more for the highly anticipated PlayStation 3.

"We resolve at Nintendo to remain within reach for the vast majority of our consumers," he said. By offering the console for less than $300, Fils-Aime says the consoles cheaper price would attract new gamers, whom he said the higher price consoles scare away.

The Revolution's game lineup would also attract demographics other companies forget about, such as female gamers or those over the age of 35, Fils-Aime argued. Also, developing games for the console would be far cheaper than doing so for Xbox or the Sony PS3, which has so far been rumored to be labor-intensive and expensive to develop for.

Fils-Aime refused to say how many Revolution games would be available at launch, only offering that the company would be showing off several titles at this year's E3 conference in Los Angeles.

The company will also begin to rehabilitate its image in the gaming market throughout 2006 in what it calls a four-step program.

"First, focusing on a single-minded gaming device. Second, bringing real innovation to the controller in the way consumers play the game. Third, a value orientation that certainly is not present with our competitors. And fourth, leveraging the power of our library with the virtual consoles," Fils-Aime said.