The title of this post could imply that the post would be quite lengthy.  This post could go in depth about such horrific historical Nintendo follies like launching a purple system along side a black one...and marketing the purple!  It could go into fine detail on the merits of sticking to your guns and launching a cartridge based system, when half the world warned it might be a bad idea.

The point is Nintendo does good things and bad.  The make decisions for better or worse based on market research, experience and perhaps a drop of juice from the gut.  Even launching the N64 with cartridge based media could be argued for in a very positive light (I certainly liked it).  But tonights revelations definitely land somewhere in negative territory. 

Nintendo's launch details go something like this: $250 on November 19, Wii sports packed in one controller loads of games new and "virtual" available on launch day.  Now I said this lands in negative territory, not awful, or terrible or OMGWTF!!!!111111oneone!!!!1.  It's just that for as long as I've been following the development of this system, I've been overwhelmed by how much Nintendo has finally done right.  I won't support that argument here solely because I'm very tired and I have to wrap this so I can go work in hell tomorrow morning.  BUT, it seems to me for everything they've done right, launching a full week after Sony with a price point a mere $50 south of the 360 core unit is a bit of a gamble.  Granted, Sony has already botched their launch.  It's done.  it couldn't be what you might consider "wildly successful" if they wanted it to be at this point.  There simply won't be enough units to go around, this argument supported by Sony's announced decision to cut their own launch by 75% due to supply problems with the blue laser diodes.  And even if there were, a $600 price point will have much deeper impact on sales than they have estimated, mark my words.  Not that it will sell awful or even bad, but it will not be the out-of-the-chute-rocket-fast-success that PS2 was.  Physics, economics and God do not support such a claim.  This tells me that launching after Sony isn't exactly like shooting oneself in the foot.  It would be more akin to stubbing your toe on the way to the bathroom at 2:00 A.M. in a dimply lit hallway on the damned kids rollerblades.  Not life threatening but not pleasant either.  Launching $50 shy of the 360 "tard pack" isn't so bad either.  Sales simply do not support the existence of the core system.  Microsoft knows this as anyone who can read a chart knows, but the cheap option is a way to save face.  Still, it looks bad to be so close to the next major player, who's graphics and surprisingly robust library are within one holiday price cut from your bottom line.  This could be an issue. 

Having said all of this, I stand by my beloved Nintendo.  $250 is not only fair I'll happily pay it.  The Wii represents a brand new experience and I'm on board.  $250 gives them leverage to drop the price by surprise (as they often do) to boost sales one year from November.  The inclusion of the Wii Sports pack in and the weather / news channels, plus web surfing out of the box in the comfort of my living room with no additional hardware to buy all help to shore up the purchase and also help to seal the deal for a non gamer who is straddling the side line.

Unfortunately this impromptu analysis ends here because my eyes suddenly have a burning hatred for my monitor and in fact anything that emits visible light.  I think they are trying to tell me something.

I sure I'll write more about this tomorrow once I read Matt (Cassamasina of IGN) and others on the subject.  Plus having ALL of the details would be nice...