PlayStation at US$129

It happened quietly Monday morning. As E3 attendees slept soundly after the show of interactive entertainment shows ended, the price of standard PlayStation hardware fell from US$149.95 to $129.95 at certain retailers. This was confirmed earlier this afternoon by a call to the local Electronics Boutique and Babbage's locations who had both been instructed by their corporate headquarters to lower the price this morning.

The reason is that retailers are making way for the new Dual Shock hardware configuration that will appear in stores beginning June 16. The Dual Shock system (which will be sold at an MSRP of US$149.95) includes the PS system, a Dual Shock controller and the music application Baby Universe (which is built in).

Sony could not be reached for comment as to whether this price drop was an official move from Sony on the older hardware or whether the retailers themselves had adjusted the price of the old model.