Industry analyst Michael Pachter predicts that the upcoming and possibly revolutionizing handheld device from Nintendo, the 3DS, may cost up to $250. He says that price would not deter potential buyers from picking up, spurring huge sales numbers for Nintendo, perhaps up into the millions.

Here's what Pachter had to say:

"We view the 3DS as a revolutionary device, and expect its launch to spur hardware and software sales. Due to the unique 3DS experience previewed by Nintendo at E3 this year, we believe Nintendo will be able to sell millions of units even at a price of upwards of $250. From a software perspective, we believe Nintendo will be able to increase DS software prices, from a blended average of around $25 today to over $29 next year.”

A "unique experience", you say? Along with the $250 price tag, Pachter also predicts an increase in the DS game prices. Not something that's entirely surprising, seeing how it would take a bit more production costs to create a 3DS game in the first place.

There may be initial outrage if/when it occurs, but seeing price increases is something gamers are used to, especially when the current generation of consoles launched. Games at $60 aren't something we're surprised at right now, so paying $45-$50 for a 3DS game might seem like a huge jump for them in the beginning, but after some time passes it'll be business as usual.

I'm definitely anticipating the 3DS and am very tempted to pick one up on day one, but given the tenacity of Nintendo fans, I might give it a little time. I'm perfectly happy with my DSi and while the prospect of portable and glasses-less 3D is intriguing, I don't think it's $250 intriguing. It is also of note that Nintendo CEO, Satoru Iwata stated that games being developed on the 3DS have similar production costs as Wii games, so higher game costs wouldn't be something that would be surprising, should they happen.

Source: Nintendo Everything