Nintendo on Sunday will cut the price of its popular Wii console by $50, in a bid to broaden its appeal among potential new customers as it prepares to release the Wii Fit-Plus and New Super Mario Bros. games.

The Wii, whose game control senses motions without having relying solely on buttons and levers, is the top selling console worldwide. The new $199.99 Wii will include the Wii Remote controller, Nunchuk controller and Wii Sports software.

“Our research shows there are 50 million Americans thinking about becoming gamers, and this more affordable price point and our vast array of new software mean many of them can now make the leap and find experiences that appeal to them,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales & marketing, in a statement late Wednesday.

Sony is planning a spring release of its new motion controller for the PlayStation 3 video game console.

The controller, a prototype of which Sony unveiled in June, will work with the existing PlayStation Eye camera, which can track players’ voices, faces and body motion. The controller, in turn, has on its end a light-emitting sphere that can be recognized by the PlayStation Eye camera.

Sony did not say how much the controller will cost.

Motion controllers let people play video games without complex buttons and levers. They were popularized by Nintendo Co.’s Wii when the console launched in 2006.

Now Sony Corp. is pushing past that technology, as is Microsoft Corp. with its own motion control device, “Project Natal.” Natal, which combines a camera, depth sensor, microphone and processor, eliminates the need for any button-mashing device. Microsoft has not yet set a release date for Natal.

Sony’s announcement came in the heels of Nintendo’s decision to cut the price of the Wii by $50, to $200 beginning Sunday.