While games for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 are costing gamers 60 bucks a pop, the cheaper $50 price tag for Nintendo Wii games is not only good for the gamers, but profitable for game publishers and developers as well. Not only because they can move more product at a cheaper price, but development costs are roughly half that for the Wii than they are for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

When interviewed by Yahoo! News, Brian Farrell, the chief executive of THQ, pointed out that development costs for a game title Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 can run about $12 million to $20 million, while costs for a game on the Wii are only about $5 million to $8 million."It's that order of magnitude lower," he said.

David Zucker, who is the CEO of Midway Games, said "When you talk about the PS3 and the Xbox 360, ramp-up costs are significant. You don't have the same ramp-up costs on the Wii because you have the tools already,” referring to the similarities between GameCube and Wii. The Wii's hardware is incredibly similar to that of the GameCube's, essentially using a more powerful version of the GameCube's processor and video chipset. Because of that fact alone, developers can use existing tools to make Wii games. In fact, Nintendo themselves has moved a few in-development GameCube games to the Wii, such as Super Paper Mario and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Another point to consider is that the Wii is all around cheaper than its competitors, costing only $250 when it launches this Sunday, coming bundled with a free game, Wii Sports. In comparison, the two Xbox 360 packages cost $300 for the core and $400 for the premium, and the two PlayStation 3 packages are $500 for the base and $600 for its deluxe version. With games only $50 (versus $60 for 360 and PS3) the Wii is sure to appeal to cost-conscious gamers looking to jump into the next-gen without putting too much of a strain on the checkbook.