Today Nintendo announced that the Wii will be getting its first price cut since the console launched in 2006. It's a pretty significant drop, too.

Starting on Sunday, September 27th, the Wii's price will be reduced from $249.99 to $199.99 in North America. Japan will see a comparable price cut; on October 21st, the console will cost 20,000 yen ($218) instead of the usual 25,000 ($273).

The move brings the Wii to the same price point as the hard drive-less Xbox 360 "Arcade" model, which was reduced to $200 almost exactly a year ago. Both companies can now claim that they've got the cheapest console on the market.

In the same announcement, Nintendo also revealed the release date for New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the four player co-op platformer first unveiled at E3. It'll arrive in North America on November 15th.