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Low-Price Compact PlayStation 2 Due Next Year
MCV is reporting that a $99 version of the PlayStation 2, in a new and compact format, will be released next year. The new unit will incorporate the power supply into its housing, allowing Sony to manufacture the product very inexpensively. "The news will surely come as a blow to Sony rivals Nintendo and Microsoft, who have seen sales of PS2 suffer somewhat due to the introduction of Wii and Xbox 360 in recent years. PS2 this week celebrated its seventh anniversary, during which time it has sold over 120 million units worldwide. Yet this cut demonstrates Sony's belief that the system's market is far from exhausted. Last month, publisher bosses from the likes of Eidos, Ubisoft and Atari suggested to MCV that a price cut on the console could massively reinvigorate its sales figures."
I guess this Sony's answer to removing backwards compatibility on the new 40GB PS3?
This will be no more of a blow to the Wii than the existing $129 PS2. The only real advantage it has is the price, and people who are buying it on price are already buying the PS2 over the Wii and are probably buying the GBA over the DS and PSP.
One of the reasons PS2 is still selling at a good clip is because developers haven't completely abandoned the platform yet. Eventually games will stop coming out for it and sales of it will drop to nothing.
I never said I was smart, I just said I was smarter than you
Well, I don't know. I bought my first PS2 a few months ago, because 1) the system itself and all the games I wanted to play are cheap, 2) there is still far more entertainment value in the PS2's library than all of the next-generation consoles combined, 3) I have a better job, 4) I don't have an HDTV and 5) I needed a new dvd player. I can't believe what I was missing all of these years! Seems like the PS2 is still a good choice in the cheap-nostalgic-non-cutting-edge-need-a-DVD-player demographic.
Some people are obsessed with smaller units, and will replace their existing PS2's with the smaller unit. This isn't aimed solely at people who haven't purchased a console yet. Many people with older PS2's may have experienced DVD drive failures, and a cheap, smaller replacement may appeal to them, especially since the cheaper PS3 lost backwards compatibility.
When I was in Europe, smaller appliances were all the rage.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
dvi/vga/hdmi anything digital and it will sell like sugar.
I can see how you could take those statements as somewhat inconsistent. I'm pretty young. At the time the PS2 was really big I was a starving student, so any type of electronic entertainment beyond what could also be used for schoolwork was a luxury. I suppose I should add that I still try to be pretty frugal even now that I have a real job with a comfortable salary - I'll now allow myself a game system, but I went for the best perceived value.
I don't get it, but a lot of people put PS2's in their cars, making the PS internal is going to make that a bit tricky.
Between modders and soccer moms, I wonder how many units they sell that end up in autos.
-William Shatner can be neither created nor destroyed.
The PS2 has been slimmed down multiple times.
A few years ago the original "Slim PS2" was released.
I believe a few months ago the "Slim and Light PS2" was released (with little fanfare, marketed the same as the original slim) - Same form factor as the old one, but apparently lighter. (I heard 600g instead of 900 for the unit itself, and 250 vs. 350 for the power supply).
Now they are set to release the "Super Slim PS2" which may retain the same form factor for the unit itself, but instead of having the external brick it'll have 120VAC input to an internal power supply.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Most people looking to give a games machine as a Christmas present will find a cheap brand new (you would not give a second hand one, would you?) PS2 an excellent gift. If you are a person who is looking to buy more than one Wii as a Christmas present then you are going to pay one and half times what the new PS2 costs. In addition the games for the PS2 are relatively cheap and there is such a diversity of games that they cater for nearly all tastes, in addition the graphics are just as good as the Wii's graphics, especially if you don't have a HDTV. Actually my PS2 games as well as my Gamecube games still look good on my 37" HDTV since it smooths Standard Definition output.
There ain't no such thing as proprietary standards only proprietary formats. Standards are by definition open.
Girlfriend and I were playing with a Wii at her friend's house, and she demands we get one:) I'm still happy with my decision to buy a PS2, though.