All before E-3...<br><br>This will put a lot of pressure on Nintendo and Microsoft. A strategically great move by SONY (I love Nintendo, but credit where it's due).<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.shiggy.net/news.cfm?action=item&id=3014">www.shiggy.net/news.cfm?a...em&id=3014</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>News Article: Sony cuts PS2 price to $199<br>News Date: 05/14/2002 <br>Source: MSNBC <br>Link: <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.msnbc.com/news/751908.asp">www.msnbc.com/news/751908.asp</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <br>Discuss it in the Forum! <br><br>Getting the jump on the impending Xbox price cut, Sony cuts the PS2 price by a third ... <br><br>Not content to make an announcement at E3, Sony slashed $100 off the price of its PlayStation 2 console, making the price $199 effective immediately. <br><br>It has been rumored that Microsoft was going to cut the Xbox price by $100 during next week's E3 conference, either during their press event on Monday, or at the start of the show Wednesday. With a more than 10:1 lead over Microsoft and Nintendo, it's likely that Sony made this cut now to further establish their dominance over the competition. <br><br>Nintendo has stated that they would consider a price cut on the GameCube console, especially if Sony were to come down to the GameCube's $199 price point. <br><br>Also of note, Sony has said to be looking at its software pricing, and may cut $10 off the standard $49.99 price point for PS2 software. It's unknown if Microsoft and Nintendo would match software prices as well. It's widely known that margins on hardware are slim, but are made up on the software sales. Cutting software prices early in the Xbox or GameCube's life cycle could hinder their profit making, especially for Microsoft, who is rumored to have just recently started breaking even on the hardware after taking significant losses in order to establish themselves in the marketplace. <br><br>Sony is also planning to cut its accessory and controller pricing, a move that might affect Microsoft and Nintendo as well, but more likely Nintendo at this point. If Nintendo cuts the GameCube price to a rumored $149, it makes a $30 controller less attractive. Also, Nintendo has additional hardware coming soon, such as the Wave Bird, Modem, and Broadband adapters, all with announced price points of $34.99. <br><br>More news as it comes. <br><br>*Well, more power to the consumers!!!* <br> <p>Empires wax and wane; states cleave asunder and coalesce.</p><i></i>

Right now, there's no games that really pull me to either the PS2 or Xbox. ^_^ However, I might wait for the 2nd price cut or special bundle just to get a DVD player out of it. ^_^<br><br>Especially that Soul Calibur will be on the GCN as well... ^_^ <p></p><i></i>

The reason to buy PS2: Capcom, Konami, Squaresoft, Enix, Namco, Grand Theft Auto 3 (I forgot who makes it, and yes I know how you feel about this game), etc <p></p><i></i>

I believe they will cut the price, only that they need not do it RIGHT away.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.msnbc.com/news/752209.asp">www.msnbc.com/news/752209.asp</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT of America (SCEA) announced Monday it was dropping the price of its PlayStation 2 from $299 to $199, in a move seen as an attempt to steal attention away from a price drop announcement that Microsoft had planned for next week’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). (MSNBC is a Microsoft - NBC joint venture.)<br> Microsoft had scheduled a pre-E3 news conference for next Monday to announce plans to cut the price of its Xbox game console from $299 to $199. But after Sony’s announcement, Microsoft had to step up the schedule: Starting Wednesday, the Xbox will also be priced at $199, down from $299. Sony has a history of aggressive price moves. The original PlayStation launched at a retail price of $299 in September, 1995. At the E3 the following May, Sony cut the price to $199, catching rivals Nintendo and Sega unprepared.<br> In an interview earlier this year, SCEA senior vice president Andrew House, while refusing to confirm rumors of an impending price cut, said that the prospects of such a move were increased because of the economies of scale. <br> Because Sony manufactured custom components for PlayStation 2, initial manufacturing costs were high and Sony lost an estimated $50 on every console sold. Now, however, Sony has shipped 30 million PlayStation 2s and the economies of scale have cut the cost of manufacturing the console. In the same interview, House said Sony was making a profit on its hardware sales.<br> Microsoft, on the other hand, has sold less than 2 million Xboxes in the United States, and has faced significant problems internationally. Though Microsoft virtually sold out of hardware immediately after its November launch in the United States, Xbox sales slowed down in the beginning of 2002. The U.S. market seemed to be settling with Sony commanding approximately 56 percent of sales while Microsoft held a 24 percent share and Nintendo held on to approximately 20 percent.<br> Internationally, things are less rosy. Industry estimates suggest that Microsoft has sold approximately 200,000 consoles in Japan. While European numbers are harder to confirm, some sources estimate that Microsoft has sold a similar number in Europe. <br> Many people thought Microsoft would actually cut prices first. <br> “We aren’t shocked at all (by the Sony announcement),” said Nintendo of America executive vice president marketing Peter MacDougall. “We knew that Xbox was going [to cut prices]. We anticipated that Sony would respond.”<br> One tip-off that Microsoft might be cutting the price of Xbox was big news on the Internet last week.<br> “Someone posted part of a Wal-Mart ad that was scheduled for May 26 on the Internet,” said Andrew McNamara, editor-in-chief of Game Informer Magazine. “It had the Xbox priced at $199. That circulated around the Internet and the industry.”<br> But Sony also dropped a clue that prices would be coming last week when it announced having shipped 30 million PlayStation 2s internationally.<br> <br>WILL GAMECUBE BE NEXT?<br> With Microsoft and Sony dropping their prices, Nintendo’s GameCube is an interesting predicament. Having launched GameCube at $199, Nintendo may have given consumers the impression that GameCube should always retail at a lower price point than Xbox or PlayStation 2. <br> “There is no indication that Nintendo is planning a price move,” said John Taylor, video games analyst for Arcadia Investment Corp. “If one comes, it will be a big surprise to everybody. I don’t think that Nintendo needs to move its price. GameCube is performing pretty well at retail right now. Resident Evil in particular is running well for it.” <br> Peter Roithmayr, vice president of merchandising, video game division, for Electronics Boutique, confirms Taylor’s opinion of both Nintendo’s positioning and the sales of GameCube since the April release of Resident Evil.<br> “Ever since Resident Evil shipped for GameCube, GameCube has been the number one seller [among game consoles],” he said. This is a particularly impressive turn as Electronics Boutique stores have typically sold higher percentages of Xbox and PlayStation 2 than other retailers.<br> “I’m not sure it comes down to a choice between PlayStation 2 and GameCube,” said Taylor. “I think each console appeals to a different set of consumers. I think they take up different locations in the home-the bedroom and the living room. And these systems have entirely different software libraries. I do not see this as an either/or, personally.”<br> But McNamara disagreed. “I would imagine that Nintendo will need to drop to $149, and I do not see that being out of reach for them,” he said.<br> McNamara, whose magazine reflects the moods of younger players, speculated that Nintendo knew the price wars were coming and is prepared.<br> “I think that Nintendo’s position in the market is that they have the most economical video system available,” he said. “Having the same price as Xbox and PlayStation 2 does not benefit them.”<br> MacDougall, interviewed before Microsoft’s announcement, said Nintendo would stand resolute on pricing . . . for now. <br> “We still believe it is the guy who can bring the best games to market who will do the best in the marketplace,” MacDougall said. “We never say ‘never’ to anything. As you know, this is a volatile business, but at this point, we have no plans to make any pricing change at E3.”<br> When it comes to games, Nintendo has an enormous ace up its sleeve. Having planned its most aggressive year in history, Nintendo is releasing several of its heavy hitter titles by year’s end. Topping that list will be Metroid Prime. <br> Nintendo allowed MSNBC to play through the first level of Metroid Prime, and the game far surpassed all expectations. A first-person perspective adventure, this game stands poised to do for GameCube what the multimillion seller GoldenEye 007 did for Nintendo 64.<br> Unlike Microsoft, which cut only the price of the Xbox console, Sony also dropped the price on PlayStation controllers, memory cards and even some software titles.<br> “They marked down the memory card for PS2,” said Roithmayr. That surprised us because the memory card has been in tight supply. It’s been allocated. They also marked down several frontline games. They marked down Monsters Inc., Hotshots Golf, Jak and Daxter, Drakkan, Parappar the Rapper, and World Tour Soccer. That was pretty impressive.”<br> <br>HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF<br> But questions still remain. “Why would Sony drop its price? Why now?”<br> Sony unquestionably rules the market at this point. What difference can the $100 drop make?<br> “I think Sony probably had this planned a while ago,” said Taylor. “My sense is that they have been watching their over-the-counter sales data from retail and seeing an eroding trend. It’s pretty clear that the market has come close to hitting the wall at $299. Sales were slowing down, and Sony is playing by its own game plan. This does steal thunder from Microsoft’s announcement.” <br> Richard Doherty, chief analyst at Envisioneering, saw some spite in Sony’s move. “They did this primarily for a combination of building audience and dislocating Microsoft.”<br> “You get towards ‘dads and grads’ days and think, ‘$200 I can justify, $300 is a little crazy.’ There’s always been a May-June opportunity for dads and grads.”<br> As to Sony targeting Microsoft, Doherty said the declarations of war are fairly open. <br> Sony has indeed been needling Microsoft, especially around E3. Last year, Sony held a particularly raucous party the night before an early morning Microsoft news conference. The strategy worked; reporters showed up to the news conference sleepy and blurry-eyed.<br> Even Nintendo may be affected by this price cut. History shows that when Sony plays with prices, even its most resolute competitors get drawn in. Sony caught Nintendo and Sega completely flat-footed when it dropped the price of PlayStation in 1995. Sega had resisted dropping the price of Saturn from $399 to $299 to catch up to Sony. Nintendo, for its part, had thought that pricing Nintendo 64 at $249 would give it a $50 price advantage. Both Sega and Nintendo said they would not follow Sony’s example in 1995, then announced price cuts of their own within the next 36 hours. The shrewd maneuver cast Sony as the industry leader, calling shots to veteran companies Sega and Nintendo. <br> Once again, Sony’s timing could not be better. By announcing its price drop first, Sony has forced Microsoft’s hand. Immediately after Sony’s announcement Monday, one Microsoft executive questioned why Sony had not waited for E3 and said Microsoft would wait for its scheduled press conference. <br> But the gravity of Sony’s price drop was too strong for a one-week wait. Now, just two days after the Sony announcement, competitors are once again forced to follow suit and Sony has maintained the perception that it calls the shots. <br><br>**Again, excellent move by SONY. But the fact that Resident Evil is selling well and moving Gamecube's, and this may let Nintendo hang on to the price...for a little while.**<br><br>ZL <p>Empires wax and wane; states cleave asunder and coalesce.</p><i></i>

Yup, Nintendo will be able to keep there price for a while before it goes down. <br><br>Welcome to the real war of consoles gentlemen. <p><img src="http://holyknight.homestead.com/files/vashtag.gif"></p><i></i>

Nintendo Gamecube! $150!!!<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.nintendojo.com/infocus/view_item.php?1021904128">www.nintendojo.com/infocu...1021904128</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Pre-E3: GameCube Under 150<br>Nintendojo was alerted this morning that less than one year after successfully launching Nintendo GameCube at a mass-market price, Nintendo of America Inc. is dropping the MSRP to $ 149.95, effective Tuesday, May 21, 2002. <br><br>To date, Nintendo has shipped more than 4.5 million systems worldwide and its hit title, Super Smash Bros. Melee, has topped the 2.5 million mark. <br><br>Today's announcement comes as the $ 27 billion interactive entertainment industry gathers in Los Angeles for the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) to preview the latest and greatest games coming out this holiday. <br><br>In total, Nintendo and third party partners will expand game portfolios by year-end to more than 300 for Game Boy Advance and more than 150 for Nintendo GameCube. While retaining its unrivaled appeal to players of all ages, Nintendo is also aggressively moving forward with games designed to appeal to a broader audience with exclusives such as Metroid Prime, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, and Resident Evil Zero. (byc)<br><br> <p>Empires wax and wane; states cleave asunder and coalesce.</p><i></i>

Nintendo ownz. <p><img src="http://holyknight.homestead.com/files/vashtag.gif"></p><i></i>

I bought a GCN about a week ago...and now the price is lower? DAMMIT. <p><TABLE BORDER=3 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=%3 ALIGN=LEFT><TD ALIGN="center" COLSPAN="3">Those wacky online games.<TR><TD ALIGN="center"><BR><IMG SRC="http://davincontrol.netfirms.com/hcksn.jpg"></A></TD></TR></TABLE><BR><A HREF="http://sidequest.keenspace.com">Read SIDE QUEST</A><BR><TABLE STYLE=filter:GLOW(color=green, strength=+1)>True Greatness:</TABLE><BR>||<A HREF="http://pub21.ezboard.com/bzeldawalkthroughmessageboard">Free SeXors</A>||<A HREF="http://www.reikitantei.net/">Reikitantei</A>||<A HREF="http://pub34.ezboard.com/bzealpalace">Zeal's Board</A>||<A HREF="http://pub23.ezboard.com/bcolony195animeboard">My Board of Doom and Disillusionment</A>||<BR>Seeing a glass as half empty doesn't mean you're a pessimist; It just means you're thirsty.<BR>-Ricky<BR><MARQUEE direction=left>There was a time when random inane comments were rare...then people started copying me. Bastards.</MARQUEE><P><i><FONT FACE="Verdana,Arial" SIZE=1>Proclaimed by:</FONT></p><i></i>

lol damn, it must suck to be you. And with the spare cash you might have been able to afford another game. <p><img src="http://holyknight.homestead.com/files/Embla-tag.gif"></p><i></i>