Nintendo president Saturo Iwata has announced that pricing for new downloadable games available through the Wii’s ‘Virtual Console’ will range between 500 to 1,000 Yen, which is around $4.50 to $8.99. The Virtual Console games should prove a solid rival against Microsoft’s Xbox Live Marketplace where users can purchase ‘points’ that can be then traded for extra content or Xbox Live Arcade titles. By comparison to Nintendo’s recent figures, Microsoft’s purchasable content ranges from $5 to around a $12.50 ceiling. There’s presently no confirmation on the price point of downloadable retro games.

Iwata also revealed that the Wii will support Nintendo DS integration, which may well see the market-leading handheld used as a touch-screen controller for the Wii console while also blending directly into Wii gameplay—much in the same way as the Game Boy Advance became a gameplay peripheral of the GameCube.

More on retro game pricing for the Wii’s Virtual Console when we have it.