Sony drops the price on the PlayStation 2 to $99
Sony confirmed on Tuesday that its PlayStation 2 console will finally hit the sub-$100 price point. Starting April 1st, the gaming console — now almost ten years old — will retail for a mere $99.99. That low price point will certainly appeal to entry-level gamers shopping for their first console or casual gamers looking to delve into the PS2’s extensive catalog of games. Is this the “big announcement” that has been rumored from Sony or does it have something bigger and better in store for us? Either way it’s not the PS3 price drop the console sorely needs and it won’t do anything for more serious gamers deciding between the thriving Xbox 360 or the troubled PS3, which continues to lose developer interest.
Have you heard about PC?
now graciously drop the price the ps3
Even though I’m glad this dropped to that pricepoint , so I can replay my metal gear solid games and then some .
I’ll gladly await the price drop for the ps3 … it seems like I shouldn’t hold my breath though .
Sony should realize that they got screwed with this price reduction thing. Now that its out people will hesitate to buy it because they think it will drop.
Why not give like a $50 price drop. Sure they might lose some dough but I think all the people searching for the $100 price drop will think good enough!
why not give a $150 price drop. sure, they might lose some dough, but all the people looking for a negative priced laptop will think “lucky me!”
PS2 is almost 10 years old, don’t even understand why anyone would care about this. The PS3 is what Sony should be focusing on, how about offering some backwards compatability and just killing the PS2. At least BC would somewhat justify the current price point.
If this is actually their big announcement for tomorrow, I feel like they should remain solidly in third place for the entirety of this generation, just to teach them some humility.
When it comes to consoles, just building the damn thing isn’t enough to make them come. You’ve got to give them a reason to show up (read: software). If they’re not announcing a price drop for the PS3, they need to announce a UMD-less PSP2 with substantial internal storage and a way to buy games from the PSN (wired or wirelessly).
Anything other than that, and I don’t really see a reason to be impressed.
first I’m not a PS3 fanboy…I own a 360, but why does everyone always think the PS3 is over priced…it comes with wifi built in, no online fees and has bluray…360 has none of that and is the same for the elite and $100 less for the pro…I’ve never understood why everyone complains about the ps3 price point so much…
this announcement is pointless. anyone who would have bought a ps2 would have already bought one by now.
What Sony needs is to better advertise the PS3. You can watch Hulu.com in the native PS3 Browser, you can rent movies for the same price as on Amazon.com. You can use PlayOn to stream Netflix, CBS, CNN, ESPN to your PS3. I’ve even installed Ubuntu 9.04 as the 2nd OS and now use my PS3 as a DVR to torrent TV episodes to my PS3 and play at full-screen. I save on paying for Cable, have a living-room media center, and also a serious gaming-system. Why wouldn’t you want a PS3?
“..the troubled PS3, which continues to lose developer interest.”
I guess that’s why so many exclusives have been popping up lately. I guess that’s why devs have expressed it’s easier to program for than what’s been said by most. I guess, you know what, it doesn’t matter. PS3 has been the whipping boy since day 1, and it’s just easy to fall in line I guess.
They’re still making these ?
@ nickolaus, or anyone who knows…
what kind of internet speed do you need to be able to pull all of that off?
burp
that is dumb…
@TRV$: I just have standard cable internet (TWC), and a direct ethernet connection to my Linksys router. I don’t think wifi would be robust enough.
what i’m curious about is the necessary upload/download speed you average. i live in a rural area where 80% of the internet available is via satellite and isn’t more than about 200 kbps, depending on the time of day. just trying to see if thos is a viable option
I agree with what “B” said about your comment “the thriving Xbox 360 or the troubled PS3 which continues to lose developer interest”
. You’re obviously biased in favour of the 360. It’s been said before 360 sells 28 million in 3 years, & PS3 sells 21 million in 2 years. Do the math, & I’m sure you’ll find out that your an idiot. Troubled indeed. Muppet
As others have said, a much better announcement would be the return of backwards compatiability for PS1 and PS2 games. I have a funny feeling though that they just reduced the price of the PS2 so they can tell people to just go buy a PS2 if they wanna play PS2 games. Nevermind that not everybody wants another game console in their living room just to play games they should be able to play on their existing console.
That I can’t tell you. For Hulu.com within the PS3 native browser that may be all you need, but for streaming Netflix/CBS/CNN over PlayOn, I doubt it.
@Jacob Steenhagen: Ah but the PS3 is so much more than a gaming console. I don’t have any games for mine but RockBand2. Mine is a media center exclusively for BluRays, Hulu, Netflix, etc…
@Nikolaus: It may be so much more than gaming, but being that it’s marketed as a game console I’d say that its primary function. The really funny thing is that Sony started the whole backward compatibility thing when the made the PS2 able to play original PlayStation games. Now they’re the only ones in the current generation that has abandoned the previous gen (XBOX 360 can play original XBOX games; Wii can play GameCube games… even has extra ports to accept GameCube controllers… and can download classic games from Nintendo’s site [I'll leave a having to pay again rant out of this]).
Personally, I don’t think I’d play many PS2 games even if I had the backwards compatibility. On a 40″ 720p HDTV, PS2 games look awful (Only the cutscenes from Final Fantasy X looked okay). I don’t know how good the original PS3 was at smoothing off the edges of PS2 games, but it’d need to work miracles in my opinion. If you really wanted to play PS2 games you can always drag the old console out of the cupboard, & then if it’s making the place look untidy, guess what, you can put it away when you’ve finished. We as people, are generally quite lazy, & how much effort does it really take, or is it eating into your precious gaming moments.