After months of rumours and anticipation, Sony is slashing the price of the PlayStation 3 by about $150 in hopes of boosting sales of the console.
Sony said it would cut the price of the 80-gigabyte PlayStation 3 effective immediately, to $NZ629.
It is also launching a slimmer, lighter model with a 120GB hard drive next month; that version will also cost $NZ629.
Sony also cut the price of its existing 160GB PlayStation 3 by $NZ150, to $NZ840.
Sales of the PlayStation 3, which launched in 2006 and cost as much as $NZ1200 at the time, have fallen behind those of rival consoles.
Last week, market researcher NPD Group said US retail stores sold about 122,000 units of the console in July. By comparison, almost 203,000 Microsoft's Xbox 360s were sold, and more than 252,000 Nintendo's Wiis.
Video game software makers hope Sony's price cut will boost game sales ahead of Christmas.
So far this year, the industry has suffered from weak sales because of the recession and lacklustre game release schedules, which have kept consumers waiting to spend money on new titles.
The Wii has cost about $NZ500 since its launch, while Xbox 360 prices, following a series of reductions, range from $NZ370 for a simple version with no hard drive to US$650 for the "Elite" version that comes bundled with games.
The basic PS3 model remains more expensive than the cheapest versions of its counterparts.
Console sales for the rest of the year will have to be strong, if not phenomenal, for the video game industry to end 2009 on a high note. Overall sales are down 14% in the US so far this year, according to the NPD Group.
Still, analysts anticipate the business will pick up ahead of the holidays, because many hit game launches are planned for the coming months.
The PlayStation price cut will also help, as would cuts from the other console makers. Analysts also expect Nintendo to bring down the price of the Wii, though it might be in the way of keeping its price tag but throwing in more free games.
