Nintendo might do something that could leave a lot of people scratching their heads. We have heard whispers that due to slowing sales the big N could be thinking about announcing a price cut for the Wii during their press conference at E3.

We have had a tough time this weekend attempting to confirm that this is the case. More than one of our sources say that this a price cut will happen due to the fact that the Wii has not dropped from the $249 launch price, the fact that the Wii is showing a slowdown in sales (in particular in the Japanese market) and given that Microsoft has been able to make market share gains in recent months due to several strong releases that have been popular in Japan.

The decision to slash the price of the Wii if it comes at E3 could be an excellent move by Nintendo, as it could serve to strengthen the console’s position with developers. Some developers, while many have pledged more support for the Wii in recent months due to strong sales of the console, have found it tough to produce title that are popular and sell well on the console due to the different demographics on the unit itself. “M” rated mature titles have especially struggled on the Wii.

It is also thought that a drop in price to $199 could also ignite what is being called second system ownership. In the past, the majority of consumers have purchased one system and have stayed loyal to that system till the support for the system was ended. Now, many gamers might be willing to drop $200 on a Wii because the price is lower and to have a look at what all of the fuss is about on the Wii while they continue to do the majority of their gaming playing on another console.

While rumors of the expected price cut on the Wii might actually be postponed till the September time frame, with Nintendo preferring to wait and see what Microsoft and Sony plan to do with their pricing strategy before choosing to respond. An expected big title announcement is expected from Nintendo in either the Metroid or Zelda franchise, and Nintendo may just be content to strengthen their expected holiday software releases before announcing a price cut.