Though Nintendo hasn’t stepped out and said it officially, many Japanese retailers are now taking pre-orders for big N’s latest console for 18.000 Yen, which is around $160.

So basically, at the time of release, you can buy a PS3, or buy a Nintendo Wii and an XBox 360 for nearly the same price. Hopefully this will lead to cheaper PS3s, though I wouldn’t count on it much until the second quarter of 2007 at least.