Playstation slashes PS2 price

NEWS Consumer electronics giant Sony has cut the price of its Playstation 2 (PS2) console by £70 to £199.99. The Playstation 2 is one of a raft of devices that rival PCs for computing power and promise home internet connectivity and games. Software giant Microsoft is one of the companies that have seen a gap in the home internet devices market. It plans to launch its own console, the Xbox, in the US on 15 November at a price of $299, matching the US price of the PS2. A spokesman for Playstation said there will be no price reduction in the US and the shift in pricing policy in the UK was a result of economies made in manufacturing - not a pre-emptive response to the Xbox or preparation for Christmas. The spokesman cited Microsoft's indecision over the exact launch date of its console. He said: "How do you respond to a moving target?" No date has been given for the UK launch of the Xbox, but a Microsoft spokeswoman insisted a UK launch was slated for the first quarter of 2002. Both consoles promise internet access but have so far failed to reveal any detailed plan to deliver it. The Xbox will come with an Ethernet port for broadband connectivity when it is launched in the US, but the Microsoft spokeswoman could not confirm that UK versions would be able to connect to the net when it launches next year. She said: "As yet, we have no broadband announcement for the UK." The PS2 was launched without the necessary specifications for internet access, but the company promised to upgrade those specs by November of this year. Reports on US gaming sites say that Playstation is still on track to deliver broadband connectivity to the PS2 by November and a hard drive for the device next year. The Playstation spokesman confirmed that he was aware of these reports, but could not confirm their validity.