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PS2 Price Cut On The Way? 68

Posted by Zonk from the cheaper-katamari-and-colossus dept.
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."
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PS2 Price Cut On The Way? More

PS2 Price Cut On The Way?

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  • All the next gen systems coming out, its really no surprise.
  • 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.
    • That's where I am right now. I was probably going to get a new PS2 at the beginning of May anyway simply because no matter how many times I clean it, the old one is reading fewer and fewer disks. And you can completely forget about the PS1 disks and the "blue" PS2 disks. Not to mention it doesn't play video DVDs any more either.

      Yep, I'm due.... Of course I'll probably blow the $20 on an accessory or new game anyway.

      • Interesting. Mine tends to read PS1 discs and some PS2 CDs (not DVDs) pretty well, but chokes on most DVDs. Video is unwatchable. Usually this means your laser has bit the dust, it can be replaced for $50-60 if you do it yourself. The V12 slim PS2 laser is a little cheaper, but that unit has a whole other set of problems.

        I tend to avoid the slim PS2 for the laser burnout reason, and the fact that you can't put a hard drive in it without soldering stuff to the mainboard. I have 2 old-style (a V4 and a V7 PS2
        • I've looked fot the magical gear, and haven't found it. I'm wondering if I have a revision where its missing. The reason I say that is its not where the pictures show it, and all the directions that talk about it mention removing 4 little screws on the top of the DVD drive. Mine has only two near the front, and two "clips" in the back to hold it on.

  • A $20 drop is nothing. (Score:3, Funny)

    by misfit13b ( 572861 ) on Thursday April 13, 2006 @12:17PM (#15121868)
    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
    • You know, this actually makes some real sense. Look how long the Dreamcast managed to survive after its death due to the hack that allowed the "homebrew scene". Of course, the same hack may well have been what killed the Dreamcast, but that's a controllable factor. Lock out unlicensed games during hte profitable period in the system's life. Then eventually something new comes out, and the games aren't selling like they used to. But most likely, the cost of production of the system has gone way down. So now
      • "make money off of selling the hardware for the first time."

        It's a common misconception that game consoles always sell at a loss [actsofgord.com], mostly propogated by the amount of press Microsoft gave out about their X-Box business plan when that console was released. Fact is, Nintendo and Sony make money on the hardware.

        Allowing homebrew games on a console would suck out a lot of the profit for the console producer, so it will probably never happen.

        • 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.

        • I love this. Everytime someone says "PS2 was sold at a loss", someone turns around and says that this is groupthink and a myth. Then they "prove" it by linking to a blog with zero references (quite ironic). Seems to me like everyone is off their "gord".

    • Re:Making it third party (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Radres ( 776901 ) on Thursday April 13, 2006 @12:29PM (#15121977)
      "...I was thinking the best solution for Sony to capitalize on their losses"

      What losses? PS2 is still the most profitable video game system.

      "...release the PS2 as open-source or cheaply licensable and give others access to making new hardware, new software and new accessories."

      Yeah, because the OSS version of the PS2 wouldn't compete with the PS3 and dig into their future profits. What the heck are you smoking?

      "Imagine a gaming console that can be accessed by the millions of developers, programmers, amateurs and third parties that could make things better."

      It's called a PC with a 3D graphics card. I'm sure I'll get modded into oblivion for standing up against an OSS viewpoint, however.

      • Re:Making it third party (Score:3, Interesting)

        by jandrese ( 485 )
        That's not an entirely fair comparison, a PC with a graphics engine is considerably easier for an amateur developer to work with than a PS2. If the PS2 was OSSed, I'd expect some emulator engines (ScummVM, NES, SNES) to pop up (along with shady side businesses selling emulator+roms) and maybe a few demos and trivial games, but that's about it. Maybe, maybe, a few years down the road we get a couple of decent homebrew games and a bunch of niche games and ports, but I wouldn't expect to see an explosion of
        • I'd expect some emulator engines

          Ahh, yes. I remember the brief period in time when Connectix sold a PS2 emulator (Connectix Virtual Game Station). They even withstood the lawsuit Sony threw at them. But then they sold it to.... Sony.

          Oh well, there were a few months when my Mac was a kick-ass game machine.

      • Mod: +1 railing against injust moderators

      • I'm sure I'll get modded into oblivion for standing up against an OSS viewpoint, however.

        Well, maybe if it had been an honest and/or thoughtfull OSS viewpoint. Hell, I'm not sure it was even an OSS viewpoint at all. That, my friend, was a garden varietty troll, having a bit of fun...and you bit the hook.

        I mean, come on...."the whole Will-MS-buyout-Sony situation" ...you kidding me?

    • That is pretty much where Nintendo is heading with the Revolution, and with the much lower cost to develop for the GC (revo) it makes much more sense.

      Sony will never be able to "open" up the dev tools for the PS2 due to the licensing issues. Nintendo is the only one in a position to make all or part of theirs open... or even the SNES toolkit. Mode 7 and other features offer a lot of room to work still.
      • Interesting, I wasn't aware of the licensing issues. That's too bad, maybe Sony can renegotiate some of them, hmm.

        By the way, bizarre-host.com suspended your account, will it get back running soon? I'm interested in your topic :)
        • Yes, Sony's dev systems employ many licensed bits that would be a nightmare to even think of opening. That is one of the biggest problems with Sony, the propriety of everything they do and the total reliance on outside tools. Just as they are so dependent on IBM right now to get a solid compiler and dev tools for the cell.

          BTW: My site is back up and running: www.revolutioninsider.info
          • One would think IBM actually designing the bulk of the cell processor would have something to do with that...IBM also developed the processor in the 360 as well as the CPU of the Revolution. No matter who loses this round, IBM wins.
            • Hardware-wise IBM is in a win-win, but they are only really prevalent in the dev tools with the PS3. IBM and a number of developers have already admitted the tools are lacking and are not utilizing the cell fully, and IBM is working hard at fixing that. The only problem is that the PS3 is only one small piece of the cell puzzle. The cell is going to be used in a number of devices going forward, and with arguably the most complex use being first in line does not bode well for having mature and full-fledged d
        • That's one of the biggest pitfalls for projects that try to get orphaned games open-sourced. The groups contact the company (if the company even exists) and are often told, "We'd love to do that, but there're these licensing issues with dozens of different companies and it would simply cost us too much to do it".
    • 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.
  • 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?
  • 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...

  • Drop it to $99.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Launchpad Mcquack ( 968072 ) on Thursday April 13, 2006 @12:27PM (#15121962) Homepage
    and one is going in the bathroom.

  • Much over due (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Ontain ( 931201 )
    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.
    • creimer meet ebay, ebay meet creimer.
    • >>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.

      Hate to break it to you, but you can't save PSX games on PS2 cards.
      • Hate to break it to you, but you can't save PSX games on PS2 cards.

        You can copy back and forth though. So he could free up space on his existing cards by offloading his old saves onto a PS2 card.
        • Unfortunately, my problem is that I lost my PSX memory cards when I moved recently. Hogs Of War PSX is still my favorite game but the gameplay is too long to play in one setting. I always crack up when one of the War World I pigs scream, "Die you filthy swine!"
    • Wouldn't work anyway, psx games require psx memory cards to save, even on the ps2. PS2 games can't read psx cards either. (The builtin memory card editor can move saves back and forth between types of cards, but it's mostly for being able to backup psx games onto the bigger ps2 cards to make more space on the psx card.
    • I'd say check Ebay like the other person mentioned. I know the Blockbuster and Rogers video near me both have bins of old PSX stuff including memory cards sitting around the store, you might have some luck with them (or whatever equivalent video stores you have nearby).
    • For what it's worth, there's also a PC version of the game.
  • 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 pos
    • I just bought a PS2 last month, my first game console since the Atari 2600. (I played on the PC until about 5 years ago, then got out of gaming. But now my son is getting old enough for us to play together). My only annoyance so far is that they didnt' include a built-in memory card, since it's practically a requirement.

      I picked the PS2 essentially because of its popularity - I wanted a huge library of good, cheap (used) games available. I went to a local game store and got Gran Tourismo for $3 (used)

    • 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

      If they make it cheap enough I might buy one just in order to play Katamari.

      • Very true, Katamari, Guitar Hero, Okami, Shadow of the Colossus, GoW, and a few others I can see... I'm just not sure how much a slight drop will do with the GC sitting right beside it for $99 with a bundled game.

        Microsoft is moving into new territory with their $10 platinum favorites games... and I see that being more of a draw than anything. If Sony can do that as well with their player's choice line, they will sell millions. Even with the Revolution, 360, PS3, etc. on the shelf I could still see huge sal
  • 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 t
    • Or you can not be a broke-ass loser, and get the latest stuff and sex!
      • nah, I already have top of the line tech at work, why bother breaking my home budget when I can get it with grants at work.

        I'll wait until the PS3 and Revolution come out, and buy one of them say around President's Day, at a slight discount - then pick up the other one when it goes on sale.
    • 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.
      • I'm just saying that taking a trip to Vancouver where we will do the obvious is a much better use of my money than on tech I don't need to overpay for.

        Now, for you, perhaps you find that overspending on tech helps you in that regards, I really don't know. Each consumer has to decide where to spend his or her own limited resources.

        For example, if you were Bill G, spending $5 million to get a really cool tech device is about what you made by thinking about it, so it's a reasonable amount of money to spend.

        Yo
    • I see you're new here. :)
      • I see you're new here. :)

        Not really. This account I created a couple of years ago, but I have two other accounts I no longer use that go back to pre-dot-com days.

        I was on the Internet before it was Arpanet, used to be a student at Simon Fraser University and we used 300 baud modems if we were lucky (1200 baud was cool when it came out).

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