Cube squares up in price war
The battle for supremacy in the computer games market intensified yesterday when Nintendo cut the price of its GameCube two weeks ahead of its European launch.
The console was originally going to sell for about £150 when released on May 3 but will now cost £129. Last week, Microsoft slashed the price of its Xbox by £100 to £199 soon after its European launch.
Buyers who paid Microsoft's original £299 will be offered a controller and games worth about £115 as compensation.
Nintendo, Microsoft and PlayStation 2 maker Sony have been locked in fierce competition to gain dominance in the computer games market - worth more than £10billion worldwide.
Sony is the market leader, with sales of about 28million for its machine, which was launched in 2000. About 4million Game-Cubes have been snapped up by retailers in Japan and North America, with 30,000 preordered in the UK.
Microsoft hopes to sell up to 6million Xboxes worldwide by the end of this year but its console has been poorly received.
David Gosen, managing director of Nintendo Europe, said the huge number of GameCubes already shipped out led to a cut in the cost of production and made the price reduction possible.
He assured customers planning to buy the console on the launch date that there would be no further cuts within weeks of the launch.
Nintendo's move has led to speculation that Sony may again slash the cost of a PlayStation 2, which was cut from £299.99 to £199.99 only last November.
