Xbox, GameCube slash prices

From - CNN.com -

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Software giant Microsoft Tuesday said it would cut the price on some best-selling titles for its Xbox video game console, a week after rival Nintendo cut some game and hardware prices in a bid to spur sales.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said the "Platinum Hits" program would start with more than a dozen titles at a price of about $19.99 each. Top titles for the Xbox, which holds the No. 2 position in the U.S. market, usually retail for $49 or in some cases $39.

Among the titles to be offered at the discounted price are Xbox hits like Microsoft's "Amped Freestyle Snowboarding" and "Project Gotham Racing" and third-party titles like Electronic Arts Inc.'s "Bond: Agent Under Fire" and Activision Inc.'s "Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions."

Xbox's biggest title
Ed Bland, a senior director of sales and marketing for the Xbox, said games will have to be on the market for at least nine months to be eligible for "Platinum Hit" status, with sales of about 350,000 to 500,000 units, though Bland said that figure can vary.

"It ends up being a great sort of impulse buy for consumers," Bland said.

The Xbox's biggest hit title to date, Microsoft's own "Halo," will not immediately move to the discount program, and will continue to retail for $49, as it has since it launched with the Xbox in 2001.

"It is doing very well at $49," Bland said, noting that it will move to "Platinum Hit" status at some point later in the future.

Competition heats up
Bland also said "Platinum Hits" titles will get special packaging distinct from their previous boxes and will have additional display space at retail.

Sony launched a hits program for its PlayStation 2 console last year, and Nintendo unveiled one for its GameCube last week.

Nintendo also said it would offer one of four games for free with the $149.95 GameCube.

GameCube buyers will be able to choose from "Metroid Prime," "Star Fox Adventures," "Mario Party 4" or "Resident Evil 0" with purchase of the console.

Other Nintendo offers
Nintendo slashed the price on its bundled offering of the GameCube, "Super Mario Sunshine" and an external memory card to $159.95 from $189.95. Purchased individually, the three components of the pack would cost almost $215.

A number of games from early in the GameCube's history, like "Luigi's Mansion" and "Super Smash Bros. Melee," will be cut in price to $29.95 from $49.95 as part of a "Player's Choice" program, the company said.

Nintendo once dominated the U.S. video game market but has fallen to third place behind Sony's dominant PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's upstart Xbox.