I disagree, I think we're in for a nasty shock. Nintendo's idea of "affordable" might mean "cheaper than the rest". Nintendo have such a long history of making decisions that makes a lot of their fans unhappy, and their recent spate of good-will and general awseomeness feels like the calm before the storm.

Something is telling me that it's going to release for $200 and I'll tell you why - the Gamecube went for the same price when it was released initially. The hardware in the Wii is not old, it's not a bunch of old Gamecube innards stuffed into a box and overclocked. We're probably going to get a nifty ATI R520 in there, which is new. It's hardware that still has had some R&D go into it. It's not old, just not powerful (relatively), but you can still charge a sane amount for it.
Also, factor in that this is the first console that we've seen in a while that's going to be sold for a profit. (Did Nintendo make loses on the GC when released first?) Typically, if Nintendo were to release it with the typical 'loss model' (whatever you'd call it), then I'd say $150. But if they really want to make enough profit to pay for great new hardware in the future AND cover the FREE online play, I say $200.

Now, whatever that translates into £'s, that's fine. Here in Ireland, we get pillaged by the likes of GAME Retail Ltd. and Gamestop. They will automatically jack the price up by €20-€30, and probably force us to buy as a game in some ass-value pack.

And if there IS a price drop in the X360, or even a better value pack for the €300 model, Nintendo are going to have a real tough time selling the Wii over the X360 with its media-centric capabilities, especially here where people don't buy videogames, they buys fads, hence the initial trouncing the DS got by the PSP, because I believe that 60% of the games-buyers are feckin' morons who don't know jack about decent games. (example - the midst of the last console generation, I knew people who worked in game shops and witnssed the following:
"I want to buy a games machone for my son".
"Okay, this one plays games, this one plays games and DVDs, this one plays games and DVDs but you have to buy the DVD controller".
"Oh...well, what price?"
"This one is cheapest, this one is more expensive, and this is more expensive still, plus controller."
"Hmmmm..."
"Also, this one is really popular so he can share games with all his friends."
"Okay, I'll go for that one."

Can you guess which machine is which? I shit you not, that's how the consoles were being sold in the Christmas panic. People don't know anything about games, and as much fun as the Wii is going to be, I really, really fear the the retailers are going to push the PS3 and X360 because they make more of a profit on it, and their jacked-up price of the feature-reduced-Wii doesn't make it seem attractive against the other two giants.

Approximately 90% of what I say is probably bull shit, but I've watched the most amazing Nintendo games fail at retail because there's a kink along the line somewhere. Maybe they'll keep the price below €200, and maybe the free online play will looks great alongside Xbox Live, and maybe Nintendo could market the Wii as having "1,000's of games at €5" (Virtual Console). Maybe, just maybe, the dumb public will finally get what good interactive entertainment is all about.

Here's hoping.

Okay, I agree with you that it's not confirmed, but how the hell could they cost anymore? All this talk of cut-down development time and cheaper dev-kits means that the games should stay the same price, or even be cheaper!