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That's right people! Nintendo is now raising the price of the Wii's it sells to English retailers. If you look online, at say Craigslist, people knowing the demand of the product are trying to over price it to make a profit off of it. I even saw one being sold for some $400 and it was just the system - that's 32 flavors of bullsh*t! But apparently Nintendo is now putting retailers in England in a tough spot: while they have increased their own shipping prices they have not increased their suggested retail price, which is altogether weird in a way. The reason for the hike though, is of course due to the economy and how badly the good ol' red coats are hurtin'.

While most currencies are taking a beating that would rival Rihanna (haha, too soon?) the Yen is still relatively strong (hello America, learn something!). While the dollar itself has fallen, it's nothing compared to the degree that the GBC has been taking a pounding (haha I'm so crafty with my jokes). The pound has lost a whopping 40% of value against the Yen which is the apparent reason behind the price hike. The retailers will have to start paying an additional 18-20 pounds ($25-$28) per Wii. Wii sales haven't really been effected in the slightest by the total world economic meltdown and considering that in January it sold almost 680,000 Wii's in the continental US alone I don't think you're going to see much change.

The real question is will the British retailers hike their prices in response? Or maybe that's not the important question; maybe we should ask when will they hike up the price? With all economies suffering and the Queen's people suffering pretty bad, I don't think the businesses will forgo the opportunity to rake in the same amount of cash that they were before the price crisis.

Now for us Americans, this is a scary precedent. The Wii is a relatively cheap system ($249.99) especially compared to head rival company Sony, whose PS3 is still faltering and apparently is looking at a upcoming price cut to generate sales. The PS3 is still $349.99 minimum for a new set and I won't bother to compare it to the X360 because the 360 doesn't sell much in Japan and still is a dominating system in the US; with the cheapest of all 360 systems running around  $199.99, it's easy to see why Americans are still buying it. If the Wii jumps to $289.99 (roughly $300) and the PS3 slashes its price to $309.99 - the Wii might do itself a disservice and help Sony sell its system. Why not spend the extra $20 and get a Blu-ray player too? Ya know? Makes sense doesn't it?

In the end I ,doubt this will happen as the sales of the Wii are still raging like steroids in Rodger Clemens's ass and seems to have no plans of stopping in the near future. If the PS3 cuts its price (I believe it will) then you will see a spur of PS3's come off the shelves because of people (like me) who can wait for a price drop to buy it for the Blu-ray; with such a weak gaming field in comparison to both the X360 and Wii, it's easy to understand why. The PS3 has some great titles, but half or so are also on the X360, and the Wii still has the power of its original goon squad (Mario, Yoshi, Link etc. etc.). If Sony doesn't do something to spur sales it will be forced to wholly rely on God of War 3. Not that that's a bad thing, just that a single game cannot save an entire system.