huh?

here is the link...





article



maybe we will see a price drop...

joshd2012

I don't think we will see a price drop until the PS2 hits $199 which I don't see happening soon. More likely the PS2 will drop to $249 and everything else will remain the same. This all remains to be seen.

Josh H

Nintendo always turns a profit due to their software. They are the number one software publisher in the world in terms of sells. People say the N64 was a failure, but it always had several games in the top ten sales each year. Add in the gameboy and gameboy color games and Nintendo usually dominates the top ten sales every year.

As for the possible price drops.

Looks like the PS2 will either drop to $249 and come with a modem and hard drive, or $199 without. Maybe they'll do both, selling a regular console and an online gamers bundle or something.

Nintendo commented on a price drop recently, saying that if the PS2 drops to $249 they might still drop the price, and if it drops to $199 they will almost definitely drop the price.

Nintendo has been working on cutting production costs. My guess is that if the PS2 drops to $249, Nintendo will drop to $179 and if the PS2 drops to $199, Nintendo drops to $149.

I think both Nintendo and Sony are starting to compete more with each other, and less with Microsoft for the follwing reasons.

1. Sony can probably drop the price, MS will have a harder time. This means the PS2 and GCN will be closer in price, and both lower than the X-box.

2. The X-box is selling terribly in Japan. Sony and Nintendo are Japanese companies, so you know a lot of focus will be on the battle between them over there.

3. Nintendo looks poised to move solidily into second place in the U.S. by the end of the year. The line-up is full of system seller type games. If the majority of them come out, as it appears they will, the GCN should fly off the shelves. These inlcude Resident Evil, Eternal Darkness, Mario Sunshine, Star Fox Adventures, Metroid Prime, Zelda, etec. A price drop, or maybe a $199 bundle with Mario Sunshine, would further facilitate this. The last numbers I saw had Nintendo 200,000 units shy of MS in the US, so it's not a lot of ground to make up. Of course, MS could have some games up their sleeve, but looking at Flay's release list, there just aren't many, if any, games that sell systems to casual gamers (most hardcore gamers already have all the next gen systems they want).

SpacemanSpiff

good points there josh

gcribbs

I am probably going to buy the GC after E3. I am hoping for the $149 price. with slowing sales of the Xbox. i figure my PS2 gets me most good games from the XBox. so that leaves only GC games made by Nintendo i need to get.

Josh H

This will likely become a common mentality, especially if the PS2 drops to $199 and the GCN to $149.

People will look at the games available and say, like you just did, "I can play pretty much every big game if I have a PS2 and a GCN."

Then they'll look at the price and say "I can get a PS2 and a GCN for $350 or an X-box for $300."

Of course both of these problems can be addressed by MS if they can get some big time exclusive games, rather than niche titles like Jet Set Future and Shenmue 2, and find a way to match Sony's price drop.

duy37

i shall pick up a Gamecube when it hits $149
for now I'm very content with my PS2 and i'm still playing one of my 76 games for this console.

Kellehair

76 games? I envy your bank account but not your standards.

Gallant Pig

Yeah for the money of 76 games you could could own each next gen system, and the top 10 games from each of those systems, then a GBA and 10 more games from there, and then have enough money left to build a very nice gaming PC rig and a couple of PC games.

Whew.... On the other hand, if a half-assed port of Crazy Taxi turns your crank, more power to you.

Josh H

Your not taking into account that he could have a modded PS2 and most of the 76 games are burnt. I know next to nothing about pirating games, so I'm not sure if the PS2 games can just be burnt, but I imagine the ones that are on CDs rather than DVDs can. Plus, he didn't say 76 PS2 games, but rather just 76 games, so maybe he has a bunch of burnt PS1 games.

gcribbs

gee and I thought I had alot with 23 games

I guess I would need to buy a few more to compete

of course now that my eye has turned onto a big screen HD TV I think I will invest my money elsewhere for a bit.

Gallant Pig

You realize the Xbox games will look wonderful on your big screen HDTV while all the 480i (ie PS2 and many of the GCN games) will look inferior right? Just wondering since you obvisiously don't think the xbox is worth it judging from another thread.

gcribbs

actually I play my games on a 27" tv. I reserve my Tv in my Living room for movies. Game playing on it are not of interest to me.

so for me it is not worth it. plus the lack of games that interest me just do not make the $300 purchase worth it. the few that do will be ported to the PS2 in time I bet. or I will just wait and play them on my PC.

ipkevin

Who cares if Nintendo is financially successful? It's not like they were a company in need of cash. And the way they operate, it makes little difference to the gamers. They made a lot of money off the N64, too, but it sure as heck didn't translate into more games for their followers.

jeffdsmith

I'll take gameplay over graphics anyday.

jeffdsmith

Actually right now to a year from now Nintendo is planning on releasing more first and 2nd party titles then it ever has before in it's life.

In addition, Nintendo's success allowed them to lower the price of the GBA. (I understand it's also a marketing tatic to push more volume) Nevertheless that was still 20 bucks the took off the price that they arn't getting.

RoQuEr

I heard that %80 of nintendo's profit last year was due to flucuations in the Yen.

jeffdsmith

You heard wrong. If that were the case, well it takes a long time to explain, but that was not the case.

Nintendo did benifit from flucuations, as did many other japenese companies, but not by 80%