price-cut posts (Subscribe to this feed)

Wii price cut in Europe excludes UK [update]

by Ben Gilbert { Sep 25th 2009 at 11:57AM }

Update: Nintendo has told us that the price in Canada has dropped accordingly to $219.95 and will go into effect the same day as the US. The representative also said more details on the European price drop will arrive next Monday.

Though online portals to major European retailers have yet to reflect the claim, the price for a Wii is reported to drop by €50 across Europe, bringing the total cost to €199, according to GamesIndustry.biz. Unfortunately, it appears that the price cut won't bridge the gap of the English Channel, as the discount is reportedly confirmed for all of Europe except for the UK.

Nintendo officially dropped the price of its console in the US late Wednesday night (during Sony's TGS press conference, those scoundrels!), leaving us wondering why Europe, a key market, was left out of the equation -- until now. With no price cut yet announced for the UK though, that rumored bundle seems all the more likely.

Original PSP to get 15% price cut ... in Japan

by Richard Mitchell { Sep 24th 2009 at 4:15PM }

Sony may have been busy talking up the PSP Go (and its ridiculous accessories) during TGS, but it looks like the company hasn't forgotten the Go's older brother. Beginning October 1, the original PSP will receive a fifteen percent price drop in Japan, lowering the price to ¥16,800 (~$185). While it might seem a little strange for Sony to lower the price of the PSP just prior to the launch of the already overpriced PSP Go, Bloomberg rightly points out that the cut will place the PSP at a lower price than Nintendo's monstrously successful DSi.

For now, the price cut remains exclusive to Japan. Joystiq has contacted Sony to find out whether it plans to share the love with the rest of the world.

[Via Engadget]

Rumor: No Euro Wii price cut, new bundle to include both Wii Sports games, MotionPlus

by Ben Gilbert { Sep 23rd 2009 at 4:27PM }

Just like we saw earlier this year with the PlayStation 3 Slim, the rumor mill is churning at breakneck pace -- though this time around a possible Nintendo Wii price cut rather than a slimmer console. Aside from multiple retailer listings and today's alleged internal Best Buy memo, MCV reports that a "retail source" told it the UK won't be receiving the same price cut that North America and Japan are expected to receive. Instead, the current model will be given the bundle treatment.

GamesIndustry.biz spotted the new bundle on ShopTo.net -- it has since been removed, though an image and a shell of the page still exist -- which includes both Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort as well as a MotionPlus attachment, for the same £199.99 ($326.76) the system is priced at now. If it is true, at least UK Wii buyers will be getting a bit more for their pounds. It's not quite the Duck Hunt/Super Mario Bros. with a Zapper combo of yore, but it'll have to do.

Source -- No Wii price cut for UK [GamesIndustry.biz]
Source -- New UK Wii bundle leaked [MCV]

Rumor: Internal Best Buy memo confirms Wii price cut this Sunday [update]

by Griffin McElroy { Sep 23rd 2009 at 3:00PM }

We've seen ads promoting the Wii's heretofore unconfirmed new $199 price point from Target and Toys R Us -- however, Engadget recently got its hands on the crown jewel of retailer news leakage: A purported internal Best Buy memo which confirms the discount will go into effect this coming Sunday, September 27. The memo requests that blue-shirted employees keep the cut under wraps until Nintendo formally announces the new price this coming Friday. You guys are doing a great job of that so far.

We'll keep an ear to the ground this Friday for an announcement from the Big N.

Update: Kotaku is reporting that SCEA has directly referenced the new $199 price point for Wii during a presentation to Best Buy employees in Kansas City, Missouri. Can we please put a fork in this one?

Ars' mole predicts holiday Xbox 360 bundle, network adapter price cut

by Justin McElroy { Sep 22nd 2009 at 1:58PM }

We hope at this point we don't have to sell you on the validity of Ars Technica's mole. Whoever the guy/girl is, their track record is fantastic, after correctly predicting everything from the Resident Evil 5 360 bundle to the price cuts the 360 and PS3 just enjoyed. Now, the mole says that Microsoft will be sweetening the deal this holiday season, packing Pure and Lego Batman in with the Xbox 360 Elite.

The mole went on to claim that the 802.11n adapter Microsoft has confirmed will debut for $100, while the 802.11g will drop to $79.99. ... Yikes, $20 off a device that should cost $20 in the first place? If true, it's pretty darn cold.

Greenberg: Price drops affect sales for a few months

by JC Fletcher { Sep 21st 2009 at 11:27AM }

Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg told GI.biz that he doesn't expect the recent price drops on Xbox 360 and PS3 hardware to change sales trends permanently. "I don't believe the price cuts that both companies have made will impact the market dynamics too dramatically in the long term," he said. "We typically see a month or two of lifts and share adjustments, but then things tend to settle back to roughly the established market ranking. We do, however, expect that these new lower prices will bring in more consumers that were potentially a bit resistant to the previous pricing in place."

And, of course, these statements come before the rumored Wii price drop, which may reduce even the temporary lifts experienced by the other consoles. Luckily, we suppose, that period will run right into the holidays, when everything sees dramatic sales increases.

Rumor: Best Buy ad fuels the $50 Wii price drop fire

by Ben Gilbert { Sep 18th 2009 at 8:00PM }

What you see above is the third circular image we've spotted in just five days advertising a Nintendo Wii price cut to $199.99. At this point, though the image that a Kotaku tipster sent in could very well be made of fancy pixel work by someone with too few extracurriculars on their schedule, we're fairly confident in a forthcoming price cut reveal.

Considering the impending holiday season and those other consoles getting recent price drops, it seems likely something will occur with the big N in the upcoming months. If ~~Miss Cleo's~~ Michael Pachter's predictions based on slowing sales are any indication though, we'll know soon enough.

Rumor: Target circular advertises $199 Wii

by JC Fletcher { Sep 17th 2009 at 1:40PM }

The image above, posted by Kotaku, appears to be a Target ad for the week of September 27, featuring a $50 price drop on Wii hardware. This ad would further corroborate the Toys R Us ad we saw that also showed the same price cut -- if we knew either ad was real. Us? We're hoping for a drastic price cut on cameras so tipsters can get better pictures of these advance ads.

The DVD at the right side of the Target ad is Monsters vs. Aliens, which comes out on September 29. That at least shows that if this ad is a fake, it's a somewhat clever one. As always, we're not going to take this as confirmation of a price drop, but we will take it as confirmation that it would be smart to wait a couple of weeks before going to buy a Wii.

Rumor: Toys R Us ad leaks $50 Wii price cut

by JC Fletcher { Sep 14th 2009 at 3:45PM }

No, not to $50, though that would be an awesome way to tie up this holiday season for Nintendo. Kotaku shared this possible excerpt from a future Toys R Us ad, showing Wiis for sale for just $199, with Wii Sports, effective September 27. Now, we're not going to call this true or confirmed or anything that implies we have any confidence in this image. In fact, there are a few possibilities:

It's real (yay!)
The art of faking retail ads has advanced significantly since the run-up to the PS3 Slim release, and it's a convincing fake
It's real, but the "price cut" term is actually referring to a Toys R Us sale (still yay, but not universally so).

In any case, just don't buy a Wii until late September. You've waited almost three years anyway!

August NPD: PS3 sales soar as gamers go batty for Arkham Asylum in a Madden world

by Randy Nelson { Sep 10th 2009 at 8:15PM }

This year's August NPD sales numbers were, as usual, dominated by EA's monolithic Madden franchise -- but who's that creeping out of the shadows? "I'm Batman."

Rocksteady, Warner Bros. and Eidos officially have themselves a critical and commercial hit in Batman: Arkham Asylum, with the game having sold more than half a million copies across PS3 and 360 in its first week on sale. Even the Joker can't laugh at sales like that.

Hardware saw a slight increase for the month, with the exception of PS3, which saw an impressive 72% jump in sales, no doubt due to early sales of the lower-priced 120GB slim SKU. Wii is still the best-selling home console, but its numbers are gradually dipping down into "maybe we should consider a price cut, too" territory. Here's how sales of the stuff we play are games on stacked up:

-DS: 553K

14K (+2%)
-Wii: 277K

24K (+9%)
-360: 215K

12K (+6%)
-PS3: 210K

88K (+72%)
-PSP: 140K

17K (+13%)
-PS2: 106K

2K (-2%

Check out the software sales chart after the break.

Continued →

PS3 sales up 300% for first week following price cut in US

by Randy Nelson { Sep 10th 2009 at 6:28PM }

Sony Computer Entertainment America has some good news and some bad news to share. The good: Sales of PS3 hardware at its "top retailers" jumped 300% for the first week of September versus the week before the system's price was cut to $299 for the 120GB "slim" unit. The bad: Um, well ... okay, we lied. Everything's pretty good for a change at SCEA HQ, considering people are actually buying its console. (Although 300% pales in comparison to Europe's totally legit 999% increase ... or Japan's 7,350% increase).

The hardware maker also noted that, as of August, five of consumers' top 10 most-wanted games (as surveyed by OTX's GamePlan Insights) -- Gran Turismo 5, Final Fantasy XIII, God of War III, Assassin's Creed 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 -- are on PS3, in case you somehow didn't know this. We would like to note (mainly for Sony's information) that Modern Warfare 2 is also on Xbox 360, and that version was No. 2 in OTX's survey results, whereas the PS3 version placed 10th. (Assassin's Creed 2 for 360 is No. 3 and No. 8 for PS3.) In fact, if you calculate the "purchase intent index" for the top three (all Xbox 360 games) and the lower five (all PS3 games) they're nearly identical. But still, we'll give it to them.

Maybe it's more worthwhile, though, to point out that Uncharted 2 didn't even make the top 25. What's up with that?

Source -- GamePlan Insights Survey Data [PDF file]

Chart Track: PS3 sales up 999% percent in UK

by Justin McElroy { Sep 8th 2009 at 11:30AM }

Yes, the 999% week-to-week sales increase that the PS3 reportedly enjoyed in the UK, after the release of the PS3 Slim, may seem a little ... astonishing, but we'd like to help you make sense of the sequence of events.

1. First, NOBODY bought a PS3.
2. Then, EVERYONE did.

It's great news for Sony, but terrible for the PS3 executive who promised to come up with a way to increase PS3 sales by 1000 percent. Better luck next time, Mr. Former Director of Cross-Budgetary Marketing Promotional Strategy.

Not as big in Japan anymore: Xbox 360 prices

by JC Fletcher { Sep 2nd 2009 at 12:15PM }

The Xbox 360 price drop has propagated to Japan, with Microsoft announcing new price points roughly commensurate with those of American Xboxes, effective September 10. The Pro is being phased out, with the retail cost of remaining stock now up to retailers, with no "suggested" price from MS. The Elite is dropping from ¥39,800 to ¥29,800 ($322) -- in a new HDMI-free package, of course -- and the Arcade will remain at ¥19,800 ($214). We expect to see deep cuts on the Pro, as retailers seize an opportunity to get Xboxes out of their stores.

In addition, the 60GB hard drive is dropping from ¥11,550 to ¥9,975 ($108), and the 512MB Memory Unit is dropping from ¥5,250 to ¥3,150 ($34).

[Via Edge, image via GAME Watch]

Interview: Xbox's Aaron Greenberg on the $300 Elite and all things Xbox

by Christopher Grant { Aug 27th 2009 at 6:40PM }

Last night, just hours before the price cut announcement went out, we had a chance to talk with Aaron Greenberg – the often outspoken Director of Product Management at Xbox – about the new $300 Elite console, the company's Fall lineup in the absence of Splinter Cell Conviction, Netflix "exclusivity" (whatever that means), the (still!) outrageous price of the WiFi adapter, and whether we're ever going to see Hulu or Groups/Clan support in Xbox Live (those are two of our favorite questions for Aaron). Read on for the complete interview:

Joystiq: Hey Aaron – so what do you have for us today?

Aaron Greenberg: So this may shock you, but effective on Friday we are dropping the price of our Xbox 360 Elite console by $100, dropping that down to $299. At the same time, we are also reducing the price of the Xbox 360 Pro or Premium 60 gig SKU down to $249 -- that will be effective while supplies last. And this will essentially set us up as we head into holiday with a two SKU setup: the $199 white Arcade SKU and then the $299 120 gig Elite black console.

The Elite price is effective Friday?

Yes. The price drop goes into effect at retail on Friday.

So of course we're totally surprised and had no idea this was coming, so any questions that might indicate I was prepared you should just take as good guessing on our part I think.

Right, exactly. So you don't read your own site or anything I guess?

Continued →

North American PS3 Slim ad campaign 'Does Everything'

by Griffin McElroy { Aug 27th 2009 at 11:30AM }

While definitely not as unsettling as the Japanese "Play Face" advertising campaign, or as costly as the £82 million European marketing push, the recently revealed PS3 Slim ad campaign for North America possesses something unique for the world of video game promotion -- actual humor. PlayStation.Blog revealed the first two television spots for the western hemisphere's "It Only Does Everything" campaign. The first, featuring a startling Jonah Hill lookalike, is posted above. The second is embedded after the jump.

We'd like to extend a big round of applause to Sony's marketing team. Congrats guys! You've finally managed to market Sony's gaming hardware in a manner that makes a freaking lick of sense.