GameCube Dropped To $99 At Online Retailer

JFMulder writes "Retail partners Amazon.com and Toys 'R Us announced today that they were dropping the Gamecube console price down to $99. Even though Nintendo is probably losing money now on the GameCube, this is the move that Nintendo may be hoping will close the little gap between Xbox and GameCube in worldwide sales, and help it gain a solid lead over Microsoft in the coming months." A Reuters story mentions further indications that an official announcement is on its way, and all on Nintendo's 114th birthday, too.

Comments

Re:114th birthday

[Snowspinner]

Nintendo started as a playing card company, and slowly evolved into a video game company as the technology came into being.

Depends what $99 includes

[jvmatthe]

If it's $99 for a Cube and nothing else, then this is not a terribly significant event. Before it was $149 for a Cube and a game (Zelda, e.g.) or $149 for a Cube and GameBoy Player (GBP). Each of those extra items is roughly $50 retail, so the Cube itself could have been thought of as being $99 for a while. Regardless, they can now advertise is as $99 and people may actually think that it's a new deal. In a sense, it is, since now they can pick the game to go with their new cube (instead of having to buy a specific one) but the net effect is still that the Cube cost $99.

Now, if in fact the $99 price still includes either a game or a GBP then this is a significant deal. Honestly, with the GBP the Cube becomes a great little system to have. I recently finished Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow entirely on the GBP and that was a GREAT experience. Other GameBoy, GameBoy Color, and GameBoy Advance games also benefit from the big screen format, although you may finally realize how awful some of that 8-bit sound was on your older games. Those older games are relatively cheap to get used, so you can get by inexpensively on those. Add in Animal Crossing and other great games on the Player's Choice list and then you're talking a good time. Heck, you can even play Soul Calibur II, if you want.

Sure, you won't be playing Halo 2 or the next Grand Theft Auto, but there is still some good gaming to be had on that cheap Cube.