Sony 'are not going to be competing this year'

In a bizarre turn of events, America now sells the most expensive PlayStation 2 consoles in the world. Japan has for a while been at the equivalent of £190, with Europe now competing at £199, and America $299, or the equivalent of £203, C&VG reports. It's interesting also to note that Sony have no plans to reduce the price of PS2 this side of the New Year. While the Americans will undoubtedly bemoan this fact for eons to come, given that theirs is the Greatest Country in the World, but we can't help but titter! A spokeswoman for SCEA explained that they have "never been a company that makes decisions based on the competitive landscape," which sort of begs the question of what they actually do make decisions based upon, "and we're not going to be competing this year, or even necessarily next year, for the same kind of customer as Nintendo or Microsoft." While Microsoft will decline to say anything for fear of actually advertising the Xbox in Europe, Nintendo are more than likely to feel they are competing with Sony. After all, they have just sneaked Resident Evil out from right under their noses, and a lot of their games catalogue will also appear on the Sony-made console. Sony ought to take that to heart - after all, who is going to buy a PlayStation 2 and SSX Tricky this Christmas if they can buy a GameCube and SSX Tricky for $100 less and enjoy better visuals and save on load times? Are they planning to market with a 'reassuringly expensive' tag? How about 'why pay less for more?' Related Feature - The Console Wars

Source - C&VG