Why the Nintendo 3DS costs ?230

It should be noted that, when approached with that figure for clarification, a Nintendo spokesperson replied, "Total rumour and speculation - no comment." However, if that £170.73 figure is accurate, that means Nintendo is pocketing around £108.97 per unit sold.

And what of retailers' cut? Even for those still offering the handheld for £220-230, it would seem there's very, very little money to be made for the humble shopkeep.

On top of the buy-in price Nintendo demands, retailers also have to factor in 20 per cent VAT - which goes some way to account for the difference between the cheaper, but taxless, US price.

If retailers are paying £170.73 per unit, VAT takes it up to £204.86. Then there are labour costs to consider. That's tough to put a figure on, but a general rule of thumb dictates that between 15 and 19 per cent of all retailers' revenue goes on paying staff. Even at the conservative end of that spectrum, a shopkeeper isn't going to see much change from £230.

That figure might surprise you, but bear in mind retailers don't expect to see a great deal of profit from hardware.

"Little known fact, the margin on hardware for retailers is incredibly small," points out Divnich. "Retailers make the profit on the games and accessories. Typically retailers see a 20 to 25 per cent margin on the games and 40 to 60 per cent on the accessories."

Even so, it would seem that those brave vendors offering the device at £187 will take a massive hit in the name of grabbing market share.

"By the time you take into account the VAT and various other bits and pieces, [retailers charging under £200] will not make a brass penny piece," clarifies Don McCabe, CEO of the independent CHIPS retail network. "Even for an online outfit, it's still going to cost them money to sell it for under 200 quid."

McCabe insists that retailers willing to sell the 3DS for less than its designated value are doing a disservice to Nintendo, the device itself and the industry at large. Essentially, he argues, the 3DS is actually worth a great deal more than the £200 many of you have probably already put down.

He reasons that smaller retailers need to make some profit on the hardware, so if national chains and online stores undercut them they're less likely to stock the product.

"It means that consumers won't go hands-on with the machine," he explains. "You don't get hands-on via mail order and supermarkets very rarely do demonstrations.

"What happens is, your early adopters are going to buy the machine come hell or high water. It doesn't matter whether it's £200 or £230, they still would've bought it. But early adopters will not make the machine. It's wave two and wave three that make the machine and the only way that's going to happen is if people see it, feel it, touch it. 3D is very difficult to get across in a TV advert or in a newspaper. People need to experience it."

"We saw it with the Dreamcast. A critically acclaimed machine, but only the early adopters took it on, and it died," he continued.

"For a machine to grow and be viable, it needs to go beyond the early adopters. The actions that the Tescos and the mail order people of this world take have a detrimental effect on that."

McCabe also argues that such heavy discounting prior to release sends a message to consumers that the machine might not be all it's cracked up to be.

"What does that tell you as a customer if a product is discounted before it hits the shelves? If you see one retailer selling at £230 and another is selling for £197, you think, what's going on here? Is it not as good as it should be? Is one retailer dumping their stock?"

Judging by the record-breaking pre-order numbers and strong Japanese sales, that's not a concern many gamers seem to have acknowledged. If you're still weighing up whether the 3DS is worth your hard-earned cash though - the second and third waves as McCabe puts it - you'll have to decide whether Nintendo has earned its £100-odd profit. Over to you.