The 3DS XL could yet be available to pre-order for just £149.99 before the machine arrives in the UK on July 28th.
GameStop is the current cheapest in the market with a pre-order price of just £167.97.
It is followed by ShopTo (£179.84) and HMV which has today unveiled a price of £179.99 for the handheld.
However, a retail source has told MCV that Nintendo’s trade price for the hardware is just £146, meaning that retail could yet look to hit the magic £149.99 price point – or possibly less.
Attention now turns to supermarkets, who could well be prepared to take a hit on the device to gain key market share and drive store footfall. UPDATE: A second retail source has contacted MCV to point out that a trade price of £146 would incur an additional VAT bill of around £21.50 per unit, meaning the actual trade price would be around £167.50.