Wii U Deluxe Edition dropping to $299 in the U.S.

Faced with disappointing sales, Nintendo announced today that it will be cutting the price of the Wii U Deluxe Edition in North America, to $299 U.S. The new price marks a $50 reduction and will go into effect on September 20th. There is no announcement for a comparable price drop in Europe. Wii U hardware sales have been listing hard, moving only 160,000 units worldwide in the recent quarter ending in June -- and significantly outsold by both the 3DS and the original Wii. So, a price cut may indeed help prop up the Wii U's performance at retail. "The new price makes Wii U an even greater value, particularly with the strong lineup of Wii U games available and on the way for the system in 2013," Nintendo said in a statement. Just over two weeks ago, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata dismissed the idea of a price drop for the Wii U, saying that the console's price was not behind poor sales. "The only solution is to provide the mass-market with a number of quality software titles," Iwata said at the time.