Speaking with the Financial Times earlier today, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime revealed that the recent $50 price cut for the Wii has given the console a much needed boost in sales. Echoing previous thoughts from analysts, Nintendo remains optimistic as it nears this holiday season’s retail cage match versus Sony and Microsoft. And why wouldn’t they be? The Wii’s dominance over the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 is not what it used to be, but at the end of the day, Wii sales have still been in the lead. And like a good president and COO should, Fils-Aime is leading the PR charge to explain why that is such the case.

“There are literally millions of consumers out there who want a Wii and had been on the sidelines,” said Fils-Aime. “They’d been waiting for that little nudge to go out and pick it up–the price decline, the sampling, the launching of key software like Wii Fit Plus–we believe it’s what’s pushing them over the edge to get into the category.”

Of course, all of this is being said before the release of hardware sales figures for the month of September, so it’s likely that the PS3 and 360 could have already usurped the Wii’s position. But don’t tell Reggie, we might spoil his mood!