PlayStation price slash

Sony announced late Monday night that it is lowering the price of its PSOne and PlayStation 2 hardware. Effective immediately, the PlayStation 2 has been slashed in price to $199 from its original launch price of $299. In addition, the PSOne hardware has been cut from its current $99 retail price to $49.

Additional hardware, such as controllers and other accessories, have also come down in price. The PS2 memory card and the Dual Shock 2 controller both dropped from $34 to $24. Meanwhile, the PSOne and LCD screen combo came down from $199 to $149, and Dual Shock controllers also dropped $10, now retailing for $19. In a conversation with Reuters, Kaz Hirai, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, stated that the software pricing structure was also being looked at for possible cuts. The average PlayStation 2 game currently retails for $49.99.

For those of you keeping score, this puts the PlayStation 2's price in line with that of Nintendo's GameCube. Microsoft's Xbox is currently at its launch price of $299, though analyst speculation and various other factors point to Microsoft's E3 press conference--scheduled for May 20--as the time and place for Microsoft to announce a similar price cut for its game hardware.