Nintendo Dropping Prices on DSi & DSi XL on Sept. 12

Nintendo of America has revealed it will drop the suggested retail price on the Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DSi XL models by $20 early next month.

Beginning September 12, the Nintendo DSi will retail for $149.99 (down from $169.99) while the Nintendo DSi XL will drop to $169.99 (down from $189.99). The standard DS Lite model will remain at $129.99.

In the press release announcing the price-cuts, Nintendo's Cammie Dunaway said the reduction was to "make it easier than ever for consumers to access the tremendous variety of games, applications and social tools" available for both DSi models.

Although the Nintendo DS "family" of systems has maintained an almost constant grip on the top of the U.S. hardware sales on a monthly basis, sales have fluctuated greatly over the last few months. According to July 2010 NPD data, the handheld was pushed to second place behind the Xbox 360 and was down 112.3K units from the previous reported month.

As a reduced price has helped the competition gain ground, it's possible a $20 savings could have a similar impact on the Nintendo DS. That is, if everyone in the world doesn't already own two of them. And then there's always that other Nintendo handheld on the way to consider.