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PS2 Price Cut On The Way?
GameDailyBiz reports on analyst predictions of an upcoming PS2 price cut. From the article: "Although some analysts have said a price cut to $99 for the aging console would be a possibility, Sebastian believes the cut would be a more moderate $20 drop. 'We now believe a price cut on Sony's PS2 is more than likely ahead of the E3 video game conference. Specifically, our industry checks indicate that Sony is planning to cut the PS2 price to $129 from the current $149 before the end of this month,' he said."
All the next gen systems coming out, its really no surprise.
I'm a Book
On the Bookshelf
I guess people need to replace all of their broken PS2s these days anyway. Wouldn't want to move to the NEXT generation anytime soon.
But bundle it at that price with Guitar Hero and maybe we'll talk.
I was thinking about the "Will Microsoft buy out Sony?" situation, and I was thinking the best solution for Sony to capitalize on their losses is to open the world market up to the old Sony platform: release the PS2 as open-source or cheaply licensable and give others access to making new hardware, new software and new accessories.
The PS2 platform is still a great platform with a lot of room for improvement. Imagine a gaming console that can be accessed by the millions of developers, programmers, amateurs and third parties that could make things better. Sony doesn't have to give it up entirely, but they could capitalize on a re-birth by finding ways to continue to market their older titles and software to a new live of PS2's that might come to fruition.
Maybe it isn't the best solution, but I think it is one that isn't thought of usually -- more competition makes those in the business more profitable as new avenues for revenue open up. I love my competition, they make me more money than if I had a monopoly on my services.
Since when did it take an analyst to work out that a competitor has a new console out, a new model is due later in the year and there's a shed load of these still to sell so we'll drop the price bit by bit to get rid of them.
Isn't this standard practice, do we need to be told this is what is expected?
Common sense is not so common
If Sony had dropped the price of the PS2 to less than $100 and managed to get some more greatest hits out and somehow get a big sale going on games a week before the 360 was released, they could've done a fair bit of damage.
Oh well. My PS2 is on it's way to the grave anyway...
Ex nihilo nihil fit.
and one is going in the bathroom.
Ant
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they could have done this a year ago. the parts in the ps2 are really old. if the gamecube can go for 99 so can the ps3.
I remember back when the 360 was getting ready to come out that it was rumored Sony was going to drop the price on the PS2 to compete since the PS3 wasn't ready yet. At that time I told myself, the instant the PS2 hits $100, I'd get one.
So I have another 2 years to wait? Sony's already *lost* the money on the production of these things. Least they can do now is try to recoup some of it so the losses on the PS3 will hurt slightly less.
I need to get a PS2 to play "Hogs Of War" PSX since I can't find any memory cards for my PSX. I get a lot of strange looks at stores when I ask about PSX memory cards.
Honestly, as far as technology goes the PS2 (XBox/Gamecube) is still a very viable platform; the games being produced for 'Next Generation' platforms are, for the most part, producing no gameplay benefits from their fancier technology but are only producing better looking/sounding games. The reality is that the new platforms are being produced not because of a push by developers to have new technology (nor from a push by gamers for better graphics) but because of Sony's and Microsoft's dwindling revinues (and profits in the case of Sony). Essentially this is like the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray situation, most Directors/movie makers are happy with the DVD format and consumers are happy with the DVD format but there is a massive push by large companies to create a new format; the push is because HD video is much larger (and thus harder to download), they will be able to charge more for the same content, and they will be able to shove DRM down our throats.
(With the possible exception of the Revolution) I don't expect to see anyone rush out and purchase any of the Next generation systems; only as existing platforms die, and people can't get any new games for them, will the adoption rate of the next generation systems pick up. All new systems seem to offer is more generic games with slightly better graphics, this is not worth the $500+ entry price nor the $60 per game price.
With a total of 17 comments I can see the sheer exitement and fervor this will stir up! Honestly if I were buying a current gen system at this point, I and most others would buy a Gamecube. It is $59 used at most places or $99 with a $60 game like Mario Party 7 included new.
Sure the PS2 has some solid titles, but nothing that would make you jump on one if you didn't already own one by now and need a replacement. At least Zelda TP for GC is coming up soon. The only title would be Okami for PS2 that could possibly move some units after the drop in price.
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
Allowing homebrew games on a console would suck out a lot of the profit for the console producer, so it will probably never happen.
In which way would allowing homebrew on the PlayStation 1 console suck money away from Sony? There aren't any new commercial PS1 titles coming out anyway that they would compete with.
Heard about this from my friendly neighborhood EB Games (now GameStop) manager last week. EBG/GS will be dropping the prices on their used PS2s to match. Now can I be an analyst too?
So far, I've paid less than $100 each for my GameCube and xBox - now to pick up a PS2 for the same price!
ah, it's good to be behind the tech adoption curve - stuff is always cheaper, like my 2.6 GHz 752MB 11b/g laptop that only cost $500, so I could spend my money on going to Vancouver with my girlfriend this weekend (total cost around $400 for the full trip).
you can spend your money on adopting tech early, and get less sex.
or you can spend your money later after the tech wave, and get more sex.
I vote for the latter.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
I'd quite like a ps2 because its slim and got some great games.
I'd quite like an xbox because I can run emulators on it (amiga, snes, nes, mame, n64 etc.etc) and xbmc.
Is there any way I can do both of these without resorting to buying two boxes?
The PS2 has a much larger library and cheaper games for it. The DS can provide some experiences the PS2 can't, but the opposite is also true - try DDR, any of the EyeToy games, or Guitar Hero with the DS and see how well that works for you.
That's not even a valid comparison, really. It's like comparing crayons to ballpoint pens. They both do the same thing on the surface, but beyond that...there's not really they've got in common.
Goo goo g'joob.
then something tells me your girlfriend isn't as satisfied as you'd like to think. Then again, the fact that she's your girlfriend tells me that.
The ps2 despite being extremely expensive to manufacture initially due to the size fo the main chips has been profitable from purely a hardware standpoint after the first 2 million units were shipped. The software sale is where the bulk of the profits came from and it was great enough to have a large impact on sony's bottomline.
The xbox on the other hand has been bleeding tons of cash. I don't think it's ever had a profitable quarter and they've lost up to one billion per year.
Hmmm... Pie...