EL33TONLINE: News tag archive: pricecut
South African gamers, have you been putting off buying a PlayStation 3?
Have you been longing for the warm embrace of characters from Uncharted and inFamous? Have you been coveting the Chimeran-stomping action of Resistance and the track-ripping racing of MotorStorm? Have you been longing to sever limbs in God of War? Have you been yearning to go on an adventure with Ratchet and Clank?
Well, have you?
Thanks to today’s price cut for the PS3, these console-exclusive experiences are now a little more affordable than yesterday.
With the news and subsequent launch of a considerable price drop for Nintendo’s ailing 3DS handheld, the company is making an effort to spur sales of the console ahead of this year’s important ‘Holiday’ period to ensure that the raft of exciting new 3DS titles will be able to find a wide enough audience.
The 3DS price cut was put into effect mid-August around the world, with recommended retail prices now ranging from ¥15,000 and $169.99 in Japan and the US, to R1899 and AU$249.95 in South Africa and Australia.
But what about those of us who bought the 3DS before the price cut was announced?
Last week it was announced that Nintendo’s 3DS would see a considerable price drop in the coming weeks in order to spur unit sales of the handheld ahead of this year’s important November/December ‘Holiday’ period.
Why November/December?
This is generally when the videogame industry enjoys record sales across hardware, software and accessories market sectors, so it would be wise of Nintendo to capitalise on this period by ensuring as many of its consoles are out in the wild at that time to stimulate software sales, while simultaneously keeping the handheld’s price competitive when it comes time to choose end-of-year gifts.
As a result of poorer than expected worldwide sales for Nintendo’s 3DS, the company has announced significant price cuts for its latest handheld, effective in August, in the hopes of increasing unit sales ahead of the all-important Holiday period in November and December this year.
Setting the RRP (recommended retail price) for a videogame is a delicate art. Price a title too low and people may think its quality is impaired; price it too high and consumers may feel they’re not getting good value for money.
Child of Eden on Xbox 360 is a recent example of a game’s publishers getting the initial RRP wrong.
Despite an aggressive and highly visible marketing campaign for this ‘casual’ title, Child of Eden reportedly only managed to sell 34 000 copies in the US during its first month and entered the UK charts at the lowly position of 25 in its debut week.
Following the recent announcement of a special range of price-reduced Wii games in the US and Europe, as well as prices cuts for the Wii itself, official distributor of Nintendo in South Africa, Core Gaming, has announced that these titles will also be making their way into the country under the ‘Nintendo Selects’ label, while South Africa will benefit from Wii bundle price cuts, too.
And what’s better is that all of these offers will become available to South African consumers at the same time as our UK counterparts!
Nintendo has recently announced (and confirmed) that the videogame giant will officially drop the price of the Wii in the US and the UK from its current recommended retail price of $199.99 and £179.99 respectively.
This newly priced console will come bundled with Mario Kart Wii, while a line of budget-priced Wii games were also revealed.
According to a report on Bloomberg Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) will today formally cut the price of the PSP handheld across the region, shaving a healthy 24% off of the recommended retail price.
The news came about after SCE Japan representative Satoshi Fukuoka of SCEJ revealed the price cut, the aim of which is “increasing the adoption of the player in Europe.”
Speaking to consumer site VG247, SCEE confirmed the news but said that such a price reduction would not come into effect in the UK. A statement from SCEE read:
It’s just been announced that Sony’s little handheld that could, the PSP, is set to receive an official price cut across North American retailers on February 27th.
According to a post on the US PlayStation Blog, the PSP (which released in 2005) has since gone on to sell 23 million units in North America, and 67 million units worldwide, “pushing the boundaries for cross-media entertainment and setting the benchmark for quality for portable games.”
According to a report on Reuters, Sony will officially drop the price of the company’s PSPgo handheld gaming device this month in Japan and the US, one year after the release of the console and just in time for the holiday season.
The DSi LL shoots to the top of the Japanese hardware chart, thanks to the price drop and new colours being released this week. The latest iteration of Nintendo’s handheld sells an impressive 30 183 units, almost three times last week’s rather dismal performance of 11 138 units.
Sales of the Nintendo DS have been stagnant over the past few weeks with would-be purchasers holding out for the new price point for both the DSi and LL and new range of colours (blue, yellow and green) for the DSi LL which were released in Japan on the 19th of June.
Nintendo Japan has announced that both the DSi and DSi LL (known as the XL everywhere else) will receive significant price drops in the region, as both handheld consoles will see over $25 removed from their usual prices.
Additionally, a brand new range of colour options have been revealed for the DSi LL, and the console will soon be available in Blue, Yellow and Green on June 19th (… in Japan at least).
PS3 owners in the US who haven’t yet picked up inFamous, the excellent modern-day superhero game released earlier this year, will have a little bit of an extra incentive to do so with the announced price drop for the action adventure title.
As of October this year, inFamous has sold over 1.2 million copies, and to celebrate, not only has the price of the game dropped down to $39.99, a piece of downloadable content (DLC), the ‘Gigawatt Blades’ super power, will become available for free on the PlayStation Network as of December 10th.
Read El33tonline’s review of inFamous, and check out our previous coverage of the game, to see what you’re missing out on.
Last week at the Tokyo Game Show Nintendo announced that the Wii would receive a $50 price cut across North America. The discount came into effect on the 27th of September, making the new price tag of the publisher’s popular console $199.99, much more competitive against the recent price cut of the Xbox 360 Elite and PS3 to $299.
El33tonline has today received confirmation from Core Gaming, distributors of Nintendo in South Africa, that the Wii will also receive a price cut here in South Africa. While the price cut does vary between local retailers, you will be able to pick up a Wii from between R2400 to R2500 from as early as the 2nd of October. In fact certain retailers have already knocked roughly R1000 off the price tag.
Following the news that the price of the Xbox 360 Elite has been slashed around the world, it’s been announced that South African gamers, too, will be able to enjoy the fruits of the global price cut, with a massive reduction of R1500 for the console.
Additionally, the Xbox 360 Elite will become the only premium version of the console, as the Xbox 360 Pro will be phased out of the market in South Africa, while the Xbox 360 Arcade will remain on store shelves to provide at least two flavours of choice for eager gamers.
Vice president Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft Europe, Chris Lewis said:
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