It’s official. Effective immediately, a Sony Playstation 2 now costs only $199, down $100. If this isn’t the A-bomb of the so-called “Console Wars”, I don’t know what is.
Because of its extra year, the PS2 got the jump on Xbox and GameCube in terms of sales amd game development. Yes, the other two are technically more powerful, but only hardcore fanboys really care about that. Sony simply has more games available now, and most everyone that buys a console buys it to play games they like, not to get into pissing matches about processor specs.
X-box is already dead in Japan. American consoles (like the 3DO), usually fare very poorly in Japan, and the X-box lags very far behind the GameCube and PS2 in Japan. Probably the biggest problem facing X-box was the lack of exclusive killer apps. Aside from Halo, I have not heard anyone rave about any other game that appears only on the X-box.
That’s where Nintendo has an advantage. Nintendo has long been the best first party game developer out there. There will be awesome games that appear only on GameCube (Mario, Zelda, Metroid), and this will keep the system around. It’s also the most kid friendly, and costs only $199 (but now, so does PS2).
This is simply great news for me. I have a PS2 at home, and now I can pick up a second one for school in the fall.
And if you don’t have one, you owe it to yourself to go get one so you can play Grand Theft Auto 3.
We’re taking bets on another forum I visit as to when Microsoft will drop it’s price. They originally hinted that it’d drop during E3 next week, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear something new by tomorrow.
This is good news and all, but I bought my PS2 in December. Think Circuit City will give me an adjustment?
This is interesting though:
Cutting the prices down a tad would just plain rule. Fifty bucks for a game is too much for me. I always have to wait till I can find a used copy (a place near here sells 'em used for $25-$35).
Oh, please tell me this isn’t true. You’re just kidding, right? I bought one yesterday–yesterday!–for $299. Think Best Buy will give me my hundred bucks back?
rjung, I can’t imagine that Wipeout: Fusion would do anything short of rocking the casbah.
MrAtoz, just take your receipt into Worst Buy. They should give you an adjustment. If not, tell 'em you’ll just return the system and buy one somewhere else. (make sure you can find one though, I hear they’re selling pretty quick)
Well, I was going off the review in the latest issue of PSM (I’ve got a two-year subscription to that because Next Generation died an untimely death). They said it was fun, but noted that it had several odd quirks, like opposing racers that come to a dead stop when you hit 'em with a missile.
But hey, I’m a WipeOut whore, so I don’t mind. I just wish for a sequel that surpassed the quality of WipeOut XL…
Microsoft had all but officially announced that the price of Xbox would be dropping, and many industry analysts figured that E3 would be the announcement date of the new price. Sony knew this, and decided to pre-empt Microsoft’s move and force Microsoft’s hand in the amount of the price drop. If Microsoft had planned to announce a $50, they were out of luck and now had to match Sony.
Concerning the Best Buy clerk not knowing, my understanding is that this was pretty much a sneak attack by Sony. I don’t work retail, but I don’t think they were given much warning. Also, if memory serves, Best Buy associates do not work on commission, so it doesn’t matter to her if you pay $199 or $299.
They’ve started something called “Greatest Hits” for the PS 2 just like they had for the PS One. Basically after a game has been out for 8 months and it has sold X amount of games it goes on the greatest hits list. This means that you’ll be able to buy the game for the low low price of 25 dollars. The games currently on the Greatest Hits list include Grand Turismo 3, Twisted Metal Black, Dark Cloud, ATV Off-Road Fury, and Red Faction.
I’d look out for more games being on the Greatest Hits list in the future. I wouldn’t doubt if you’d see Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy X.
I certainly would say the other consoles are dead. I remember the backlash from when I declared the Dreamcast dead on these boards. Some people just take it really hard. According to PSM magazine as of March the sales of the three consoles are as follows.
Sony: 8.3 million units in the United States
X-Box: 1.4 million units in the United States
Gamecube: 1.3 million units in the United States
Sony sells nearly 60,000 new units every week
Gamecube and Xbox both sell about 30,000 new units every week.
I’m not an industry insider so I’m not all that confortable declaring a system dead. I suspect that the days of the X-Box are numbered, I think Nintendo will hang in there, and I think Sony will continue to dominate until the next generation of console gaming.
Personally I hope Nintendo takes some actions to improve their sales. When I heard about the GC, PS 2, and X-Box I wasn’t sure which one I’d want to buy. I’m glad I got a PS 2 because the GC just doesn’t have many games I’m interested in. Hopefully Nintendo will remedy that problem before they go the way of Sega and become a publishing company instead of a console company.
ElwoodCuse - As I understand it, kid-friendliness…or rather, Nintendo’s single-minded obsession towards it…was one of the big negatives. Probably the worst decision in the history of of the company was declaring the Super NES (at the height of Mortal Kombat hysteria) a “family system”. This absolutely killed them. Anytime you cater to the “family”, it absolutely cripples your options, something you cannot afford when competing with another company that doesn’t have hang-ups. I don’t think they ever really recovered from this, and the PS2 price drop could be the nail in the coffin.
And for the last time, there are games other than Grand Theft Auto 3! Get over it already!
psiekier - Hey, I knew this would happen. Microsoft dug their own grave when they not only decided they could win a fair fight against Sony and Nintendo (ha ha ha), but that console gamers would be as endlessly forgiving of COMPLETELY UNRELIABLE HARDWARE as computer users are. I can hear the company meetings now. “These ingrates actually espect the X-Box to be reliable?? What, do they think we’re gods or something??”
MGibson - Look, it is never, ever a good thing when a company pulls the plug on a truly fine system (as a Dreamcast owner, I can attest to this), and rubbing our faces in it is just plain inconsiderate. Damn right I took it hard…I laid out quite a bit of money for the system and games, all of which I thought were great, and I had every reason to believe that it would last longer than TWO FREAKING YEARS before running into trouble.
Just another example of how crazy this industry is. (And to think that I got upset that I had to pay $10 more for Street Fighter EX 3…)
I wouldn’t. Ultimately, the hardware will catch up - which is what Xboxers predicted - when better and better games come out. I’m reminded of an article I read about Doom 3 that mentioned a port to the Xbox, but that the PS2 couldn’t handle it…
The Super NES is widely considered to be an excellent system. I seem to recall them getting in on the Mortal Kombat hysteria they just had less blood in their games then the Sega Genesis version. They had strong RPGs like Chrono Trigger (?), the Final Fantasy games, and of course Mario, Zelda, and Metroid. I don’t think Nintendo had any problems until they released the N64 and the cartridge simply couldn’t keep up with Sony.
I’m not a Nintendo basher. Historically I’ve been very happy with the system but that changed with the N64. Past experience was one of the reasons I opted for a PS 2 instead of a Gamecube.
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Yeah, but very few are as good. I think GTA 3 is the equivalent to The Legend of Zelda as far as how good a console game is.
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I didn’t rub anyone’s faces in it. I just brought it as an example of people getting touchy when you say something negative about their system.
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I know how you feel. I bought a Sega CD and I know someone who bought a Sega Saturn. Those two products are the reason I didn’t opt for a Dreamcast when it was available. Though you can get some pretty killer games for 20 bucks or less now.
Maybe, but at this point there are about 7,000,000 more PS 2 units in the states then there are X-Boxes. I really doubt that X-Box or Nintendo will be able to catch up. But, it isn’t as if I’ve got a crystal ball with which to foretell the future. Give me until this afternoon and I’ll disembowel a goat and see what I can find out.
