Cube price cut to £79
Nintendo will cut the price of its flagship GameCube console to £79 next Friday following Sony's PS2 cut last Wednesday. All eyes are now on Microsoft as the console price war springs back to life.
Nintendo has responded to last week's PS2 price cut by slashing £50 from the official GameCube asking price. From next Friday, October 10th, punters can expect to pay £79 for the console, with a â'¬99 price point set to debut across the rest of Europe a week later on October 17th.
Last Wednesday, Sony officially cut the price of PS2 to £139 (and £149 for a shiny "satin silver" edition) and introduced an updated model (the SCPH-50000). Despite only slashing the cost of the console by a conservative £20, the move puts pressure on Microsoft, whose £129 Xbox is expected to tumble in price in the near future, and at the very least will be bundled aggressively in the run-up to Christmas.
On the GameCube price drop, Nintendo Europe MD of sales and marketing David Gosen said "There has never been a better time to get a GameCube and with this new price we want every household to have one."
Nintendo also highlighted its extensive line-up of exclusive Christmas titles, including Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, 1080 Avalanche, F-Zero GX and Mario Party 5 from first parties, and the likes of Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike from LucasArts, Viewtiful Joe from Capcom, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg from Sega from third parties.