Nintendo drops US Cube price to $99

The GameCube has seen $50 slashed off its price tag this evening, with Nintendo of America officially cutting the price to $99 ahead of the holiday sales season - lending credibility to rumours of a â'¬99 price point in Europe soon.

The move by Nintendo follows weeks of speculation and an earlier price cut on the hardware by online retailer Amazon.com, which dropped the console price to $99 yesterday.

It leaves the GameCube with an $80 price lead over both of its competitors in the USA, with both PS2 and Xbox currently starting at $179 there. However, an Xbox price drop is expected shortly, and many commentators also believe that the PS2 will drop before Christmas.

So where does this leave Europe? Earlier this week we reported on the apparent leak from within Nintendo Europe which stated that the GameCube will drop in price to â'¬99 on October 1st - in light of the decision in the USA, this now seems far more likely. An equivalent UK price point would be £69, making the Cube cheaper than the GBA SP - an unusual position for Nintendo, and one which may herald an SP price cut in the near future.