Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Sony Announces New PS2 Bundle

Posted by simoniker on from the not-as-exciting-as-it-could-have-been dept.

Thanks to Yahoo!/Reuters for their story describing Sony's amended PlayStation 2 hardware bundle, explaining :"...the $199 PS2, with a network adapter that allows users to play games online... [will now be] bundled with the game 'ATV Offroad Fury 2'." Sony also said "it would continue to sell the PS2 without the online hardware for $179", although it had expected to phase out this deal. However, "...demand is currently running about 20 percent for the online bundle and 80 percent for the stand-alone unit", and GameStop executives quoted in the article "... noted that they thought the $199 PS2 online package had not been selling as well as they believed Sony had planned" - seems Sony are trying to sweeten the online bundle deal.

4 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. That's great, but... by Man+In+Black · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's the price of the games that keeps me from buying new consoles. I don't mind dumping $200 on a new system, but when the games are as expensive as they are (In Canada, finding games between $70-80 is not uncommon), it's a much bigger investment. Of course, if there were more worthwhile games, then I might be less opposed to spending as much.

    I'm waiting for the Gamecube price drop (The current price is fair in my opinion... but with the rumors spreading, I'll feel like an idiot if the price drops a few days after I buy one!). The games for it are getting fairly cheap, and the local EB has a lot of pre-owned games for $40 (CDN) or so. Coincidentally, this is almost the same situation that made me buy my beloved Dreamcast...

    --
    -"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -EH
    1. Re:That's great, but... by burns210 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      then don't buy the games when they are first released, wait a few months and get them at a cheaper price... if you want the latest and greatest, you have to pay for it.

    2. Re:That's great, but... by Sentry21 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The problem isn't (necessarily) that there aren't worthwhile games, it's that they're so spread out. And keep in mind the vast selection of already released PS2 games, if you had the system.

      I factor that in with the time it takes to get buggy games to work, the time it takes to upgrade and debug drivers, the cost of upgrading hardware every year (I'm lucky if it's only every year) so that I can play the latest games and have them look good, and so on. It's a pain in the ass just to do all that, plus it means paying for a Windows machine to do it on.

      Then I look at consoles. I can get a PS2 for $179+tx, an XBox for the same, or a Gamecube for $200+tx. Games? Sure, they can be expensive, but I just stay a few months behind the curve. I didn't buy a GameCube when they were new, but the games that I have are good anyway - and I didn't pay much for them. Got Zelda for free, got Megaman:NT for $20, got my $5 worth out of it, then traded it back for $15 and got Metroid (which my roommate is now addicted to too, sucks for him that I'm moving out in a week).

      That's two games that have kept me occupied for the better part of a month, for $50 on top of the price of the system. I started playing Halo on a friend's system, and I can tell I'd be playing that quite a bit too if I had an XBox. Knights of the Old Republic would keep me occupied for a month or so at least, and so would Skies of Arcadia Legends, FFX, FFX2, Soul Calibur 2 (Link baby! Yeah!), Halo 2, Fable, Starcraft:Ghost or any one of a dozen other titles, none of which will be coming out for PC.

      What would I play if I had a PC? Maybe Ghost Recon co-op. Maybe. Neverwinter Nights/Udrentide for sure. Rise of Nations. C&C:Generals:Zero Hour That's about it. Those are the only PC-exclusive games I'd play.

      For me, the good bets are on systems. Unfortunately, none of the good online games are PS2 - unless you like EA Sports, and let's face it, who doesn't? - so their online pack is doing horribly. And there's only two controller ports. And the graphics aren't as good. But oh well, it's all good anyway.

      --Dan

  2. Fixing the wrong problem.. by tprime · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Sony's online business problem is the problem, not the price of the console. Microsoft did the online "thing" right by charging one price for all online access (Phantasy Star Online is the exception, not the rule) Sony's "leave it up to the game publisher to handle the online pricing and server support" is what is hurting their online presence. Having to pay multiple monthly costs for using different services is too much to keep track of and people just aren't buying into it. IMHO, Sony needs to change their direction with the PS3 online or they will eventually be looking up to M$.

    --
    http://www.tomandemily.com