Sony Drops PS2 Price to $129 48
Conradq writes "Effective immediately, consumers can purchase the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system for a suggested retail price (SRP) of $129.99. Previously the console was priced at $149. The company opted for a subtle reduction in price ahead of this years E3, instead of a more dramatic $99 drop."
Sony USA is lowering the prices, sure (Score:2, Funny)
What I would like to see is Free as in Speech PS2s. Downloadable over the net, and fully compatible with all existing home appliances and operating systems.
Is that so much to ask?
Re:Sony USA is lowering the prices, sure (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Sony USA is lowering the prices, sure (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe I'm silly, but don't people who pirate movies skip the whole going-to-a-movie-theater thing? Damn goofy MPAA.
Re:Sony USA is lowering the prices, sure (Score:1, Interesting)
They Just Don't Get It (Score:1, Interesting)
Considering how old the PS2 is now, and how little life it has left in it, this just serves as further proof that Sony is out of touch with the US market. It bodes ill for what the
Re:They Just Don't Get It (Score:5, Informative)
Re:They Just Don't Get It (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:They Just Don't Get It (Score:4, Insightful)
No, there'll still be new PS2 games coming out for a couple of years yet - the installed base is huge, so it doesn't make sense for publishers to jump ship too early to the PS3 until the installed base for it gets bigger. Even when the number of new titles begins to taper off, there'll still be a huge back-catalogue of secondhand games to be gotten cheaply.
I see it like this: PS2 games won't start to taper off until the end of 2007 or the beginning of 2008. There'll still be quite a few titles coming out for a year after that. It wouldn't surprise me if there are still a few games trickling out in 2009! If you buy a PS2 now, that's still 2.5 years of new software to look forward to. Combine that with the huge back-catalogue, (much of it available very cheaply or secondhand) and it makes a lot of sense, especially if you don't have a HD TV or are a bit strapped for cash.
Re:They Just Don't Get It (Score:2)
My personal bet is that they're trying to "pre-compensate" for the lost of money they'll make when they start selling the PS3's because you can bet your ass they'll be losing money on it to catch up on XBox.
Besides, at 129$, that's not too bad, It'll allow me to play the games I can't play anymore because my current ps2's len is too worn out to read anymore.
YOU Just Don't Get It (Score:1, Interesting)
Even with all the other platforms coming out PS2 STILL outsells all the other consoles even at the more expensive $150 price point? Remember, Sony can drop the price of PS2 again at the drop of a hat, but you can never go back UP in price.
Re:YOU Just Don't Get It (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:They Just Don't Get It (Score:2, Informative)
Xbox 360 = 192,000
PS2 = 273,000
Xbox = 83,000
GCN = 63,000
Sure, there's an argument that the 360 could have sold more if they were better stocked, but are potential 360 owners really going to want a PS2 instead at any price?
Re:They Just Don't Get It (Score:2)
You Just Don't Get It (Score:3, Interesting)
Considering how old the PS2 is now, and how little life it has left in it, this just serves as further proof that Sony is out of touch with the US market.
Considering sales, and the similar situation they had when the PSOne came out, it's clear that they're well in touch with the US market. PS2 is still outselling the Xbox360, and there's no reason to expect that it will stop any time between now and when the 360 exits the mark
Re:They Just Don't Get It (Score:2)
Um, the PS2 already has a proven library behind it. If you're just now jumping on the bandwagon, that $100 is going to be money well spent. Who cares if the new stuff isn't going to be coming out much longer? It's not like you've got less to play than the guy who bought it at launch. You will, however, have paid a good deal less than he did.
Re:They Just Don't Get It (Score:1)
Awesome! (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, anyone really serious about picking up a PS2 nowadays need only hold out until the PS3 release, and the resulting flooding of the used PS2 market.
Re:Awesome! (Score:2)
Eh. Maybe. (Score:2)
A lot of other people will probably have their own reasons... even if the PS3 is PS2-compat, you can use the second PS2 for a networked multiplayer stuff you're used to, or whatever.
Since the price of the PS2 will likely drop to $99 or less, there's a certain saturation p
One Word: Dominance (Score:5, Insightful)
Sony and the PS2 has a chance of hitting 115-120 million by the time the system goes out of production in the next few years. The PS2 will most likely sell more units starting this year until the system goes out of production in the next few years than either the GameCube or Xbox did over their entire lifetimes.
The PS2 is a technological masterpiece. The PS2 hardware was pretty much finalized back in 1997 and just look at the new God of War 2 footage from GDC:
http://youtube.com/results?search=god+of+war+2&se
No wonder Sony's six year old console has been outselling Microsoft's new console by a wide margin in all three regions and this is before the price drop.
Re:One Word: Dominance (Score:2)
Re:One Word: Dominance (Score:1)
Re:One Word: Dominance (Score:2)
The breakdown of PlayStation shipments shows this, with over 20,000,000 PS1s being shipped in the first 5 years since the launch of PS2. PS1 sales over the lifetime of the GameCube and Xbox are in
Re:One Word: Dominance (Score:1)
Re:One Word: Dominance (Score:2)
Perhaps, but Sony spent a hell of a lot of money to get that marketshare. (heh Microsoft's expenditures are far more humourous.) Nintendo has a fraction of it and they ended up with more money. Sony is 'sooo goooood'? Or is it "Sony is sooo rich"? Don't forget that this is the same Sony that made wild claims about th
Re:One Word: Dominance (Score:2)
Actually GoW2 is fairly tightly tuned to the PS2. It would be difficult to do the same game on the GameCube, because it doesn't have as much memory. Plus you'd need at least four discs for all the content. XBox is a possibility, but we'd have to tone down some of the particle and fullscreen effects, as i
Re:One Word: Dominance (Score:2)
The GameCube has hardware texture compression, the PS2 does not. It's difficult to imagine that would be any trouble. As for storage, do you have a source that says they're using a full 6 gig for the game? Do we even know why it would take that much? The chances are pretty darned good they could stil
Re:One Word: Dominance (Score:2)
Re:One Word: Dominance (Score:1)
1: The ps2 has 32 megs (31 megs excluding kernel) vs 24 for the GC. and 30% matters alot.
2: We actually had hell to port a DC(that had texture compression) game to the ps2 (headhunter), but for that title it wasn't the texture compression that was the biggest problem. it was that artists had tuned the 3d scenery for the DC that had hardware alpha-sorting.
There is(was?) no official built i
PS2 is here for a while longer (Score:2, Insightful)
While it would be nice if the PS2 dropped to $99, there's no reason for Sony to cut that price if they are still selling like crazy. Might as well maximize that profit while you can!
Do y
Aw. (Score:2)
That's a shame. I'd actually buy one for $50. Guess I'll be waiting to see used prices after the PS3 comes out.
$129 is the right price (Score:1)
Microsoft response (Score:1)
AFAIK if you want a new Xbox (at least in the U.S.), you have to buy the $179.99 Forza bundle. (Which is a complete rip-off considering you can get Forza for less than $30 on its own)
God Of War - Now Cheap (Score:2)
What happened to market economics? (Score:1)
Re:What happened to market economics? (Score:1)