Earlier in the year, many console gamers were happy to find out that Nintendo's Wii would retail for fairly cheap, an amount which is now revealed to be around $250. In a world full of consoles being priced in the $400+ range, it's been a welcome relief. What's most surprising is that this low cost is actually enough for Nintendo to make a profit on the system. Both Microsoft and Sony have gone on record saying their consoles are sold at a loss, even with the price of the PS3 estimated to be upwards of $600. While surprising, it's also probably a result of the way Nintendo runs as opposed to the others:

"We will make a profit on the entire Wii proposition out of the box--hardware and software," Fils-Aime told Reuters. "That really is a very different philosophy versus our competitors. We are a company that competes only in the interactive entertainment space, so we have to make a profit on everything we do."
That's good news for them, especially with the 6 million+ units planned for just the next few months.