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Tesla competitor Polestar 2 will start at $59,900 in the US
The all-electric Polestar 2 will start at $59,900 in the US and arrive this summer.
Game and Wario will retail for $39.99
Game & Wario, Nintendo's Wii U collection of GamePad enhanced microgames, will retail for $39.99, an unexpectedly low price for a retail Wii U game, especially one from Nintendo. Retailers posted pre-order pages over the weekend at that price, and we have just obtained confirmation of the $39.99 MSRP from Nintendo.Game & Wario will be released June 23 in North America.
InfiniTV 4 CableCARD tuner prices are dropping, down to $256 shipped from $399 previously
Whether it's due to pressure from SiliconDust's HDHomeRun Prime or as a result of simplified hardware is unclear, but Ceton's InfiniTV 4 CableCARD tuner is now available for as little as $256 shipped. Forum posters at Missing Remote noticed a $282 fire sale for the HTPC cable TV adapters going on eBay Friday, before prices dropped precipitously at Buy.com ($264), and an Amazon third party ($265). Lesser known Erwin Computers currently claims the lowest price, while Ceton's official Amazon listing and those of other resellers like Cannon PC and Fluid Digital remain at the $399 MSRP -- for now. The choice is yours -- wait for official word and to see if prices drop any lower or click the buy button now and get some (network sharable) cable TV reception for your computer in time for the second episode of Teen Wolf on MTV.
EEDAR's Jesse Divnich estimates NGP will cost $300 to $350
Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich has a few ideas about what Sony meant by "an affordable price that's appropriate for the handheld gaming space" when talking about the NGP's launch price. Speaking with GamesIndustry, Divnich predicted that the device would retail for between $299 and $349 at launch, which ... um, seems a little high when compared to other contenders in the "handheld gaming space." Divnich says that such a price wouldn't be prohibitive to your average Joe or Jane, explaining "The market is ripe for portable high-end gaming. The NGP will be a serious threat to all forms of portable entertainment," and later adding, "After seeing the specs today, if the NGP can't succeed, it is clear that the portable gaming landscape has forever changed." Wait, you're saying the popularity of casual mobile games like Angry Birds might last forever? Forever-ever? Forever-ever?
Nokia cuts phone prices across the board, S60 biting deep into dumbphone territory
The company notes that this is nothing more than a regularly-scheduled adjustment, but for what it's worth, Nokia has quietly lowered prices across its entire range, in some cases by as much as 10 percent -- nothing to sneeze at. Notably, the S60 5th Edition-based 5230 is now selling for €170 (about $239) in Finland, making it considerably cheaper than dozens of mid- to high-end feature phones -- an interesting reversal of fortune that puts Nokia precisely where it says it wants to be for positioning S60 as The People's Platform as it sprinkles Maemo through the upper end of the lineup. Where this ultimately leaves Series 40 remains to be seen, but at the rate these guys are going with the mainstream push for S60, it may not matter in a year or two.
Sony plans to keep PSP downloads at 'pricing parity,' whatever that means
Here's a great scenario for you, if you happen to be Sony's wallet: charge $250 for a handheld console without a physical game media option, and then charge on average $5 more for downloaded titles than they go for at retail, since you have zero competition in the download space. That seems to be SCEA's definition of "price parity" right now for the PSP, though in Japan downloadable titles have been on average slightly cheaper than their physical counterparts. Sure, it's rough on retailers if they have to compete with a lower-than-MSRP price coming straight Sony, but the likes of Amazon are already at below MSRP on plenty of titles, and we're not so sure consumers are going to take kindly to paying more for less (in the physical sense, anyway) after they already splurged hard on the PSP Go... not that they'll have much choice in the matter, outside of trying their luck at the old swap-a-roo. [Via Joystiq]
Screen Media plans lowered MSRP for Blu-ray releases
At least someone has some sense when it comes to Blu-ray pricing as Screen Media, the indie studio home of such notable flicks as Battle in Seattle, Personal Effects and Lymelife, is releasing its first Blu-ray movies next month, with an MSRP roughly $10 less than most. A quick glance at Amazon reveals a preorder price that's $5 or $6 less than most mainstream new releases. Senior VP Suzanne Blech cites the price premium of Blu-ray (still $10~ for these movies) as being even harder to overcome for this studio's lesser known movies that typically feature established actors. Talking to Video Business, she also took into account the higher cost of Blu-ray authoring, but thinks the studio will be able to remain profitable even with lower prices, all we can do is hope that this trend is the one that catches on.
Fox gets with the program, reduces MSRP on some Blu-ray Discs
No matter what your current stance on Blu-ray is, one thing everyone can agree on is that the prices for discs have to come down. If you'll give Hollywood the benefit of the doubt for even a second, you can't blame them for starting disc prices high, in attempt to figure out what the market will bare. Luckily it didn't take long before the market leader woke up and realized that $40 for an older catalog title was just too much, as Warner lowered the initial price on many of its older titles to about $20. For whatever reason Fox has been the last to follow suit and if the more recent releases are any indication, even Fox is getting with the program now. The real win for consumers though, is that not only is the retail price of many older titles now $20, but the street price is coming in around $13. If this is any indication of the future of Blu, it combined with players that rival the price of upconverters, could easily carve out a solid market for Blu-ray in the future.Read - Blu-ray Stats News LogRead - Format War Central
How important is the $199 Xbox 360?
Microsoft has long acknowledged that it considers $200 the "sweet spot" of console price points. Now that the manufacturer has finally hit that sweet spot with the new $199 Xbox 360 Arcade, we've been wondering exactly what kind of impact Microsoft can expect, historically, in its bottom line. Luckily, Matt Matthews over at Edge Online did all the heavy lifting for us over a year ago, looking at the effect of system pricing on sales numbers in the last generation of the console wars.The results, as you can see above, are pretty clear. Only 13% of original Xbox systems sold at the $300 price point, and a plurality of sales came at an eventual floor of $150. Sony's PS2 similarly only sold a quarter of its eventual installed base at a price greater than $200 (Nintendo's Gamecube never sold for greater than $200).Of course, history is an imprecise guide here. The original Xbox dropped under $200 within six months of its initial release, while the Xbox 360 went nearly three years (exactly 1018 days) before hitting the sweet spot. And while the original Xbox also had competition from Sony and Nintendo, it didn't have to compete with "premium" configurations offered by Microsoft itself. Still, we can't imagine being the first current-gen system to be available for under two Benjamins will hurt sales of the system. For now, the unanswerable question remains: Exactly how much will it not hurt?
MSI Wind with 6-cell battery to sell for $50 more
MSI told us that a 6-cell version of its briskly-moving Wind was on the way. What it failed to mention, however, was the $50 premium that would be tacked on. The units including a 6-cell battery have been popping up in a few e-tailers here recently, with prices ranging from $559 to $599. According to an MSI representative, however, the official MSRP for the 6-cell units is $549.99 (versus $499.99 for the 3-cell edition). As you can tell, it seems that some places are taking the liberty of bundling in a little profit while demand is high. Worse still, users who managed to get their orders in at Buy.com for a $499.99 6-cell unit are now receiving cancellation notices. So, is the more capacious battery worth an extra 50 bones (or more) to you?[Via jkOnTheRun]
Rumor: Nintendo Wii Wheel MSRP may be $10
GoNintendo reports that the latest issue of Nintendo Power states the manufacturer's suggested retail price for the Nintendo Wii Wheel is $10. It appears that some retailers aren't taking the suggestion to heart, as Gamestop, Amazon and some other stores are selling the glorified plastic shell for $15 separetly from the game.Best Buy seems to currently be one of the only retailers we could find that had the product listed and selling for $10 (but we're sure that the Joystiq army of internet detectives can find more). We've contacted Nintendo for confirmation on what the actual MSRP of the Nintendo Wii Wheel is and will update as soon as we receive an answer.
Wii Wheel MSRP not $15, after all
If you were worried that you'd have to give up your first-born child (which we at Nintendo Wii Fanboy calculate is worth about $15) for the Wii Wheel, we have some reassuring news. Although GameStop recently posted an ad which gave us the impression that the Wii Wheel would retail for $14.99, Nintendo Power has us thinking differently. According to the scan seen above, the wheel's MSRP will actually be five dollars less, costing a more reasonable $9.99.So, if you're planning on getting a few extra of these, we recommend doing so at stores that don't charge above the suggested retail price.%Gallery-4772% [Thanks, Sn1per!]
Forum Fun: Tabula Rasa Military Surplus 101
As a rush of items hit Tabula Rasa's new Military Surplus over the last couple days, things have been pretty chaotic, to say the least. Players have yet to strike a balance between prices that are ridiculously inflated and those that are barely higher than what you could sell them for to a vendor. There's a strange dichotomy to Tabula Rasa's economy that can be attributed to the fact that items aren't bind on equip. So you can get a purple quest reward, use it until you grow out of it, and then sell it on the Military Surplus for a tidy profit. (Or my preferred strategy, buy the quest reward as soon as you're high enough level for it, use it until you receive you've completed the quest, then sell the duplicate for what you paid.) Theoretically, this should lead to a huge glut of rare items on the Military Surplus, but people are still spending AFS credits by the boatload.As a service to the community, forum poster Doctor Victeonus put up a "Military Surplus 101" thread over on the PlanetTR forums. In it, he outlines what the MSRP (Military Surplus Recommended Pricing - very clever Doc) should be for items of different grades and levels. I haven't had the chance to try out his method since the market has calmed down a bit, but it's a very interesting guideline nonetheless. Now if somebody could just sort out the insane market for crafting ingredients, I'd be a happy camper.
Toshiba confirms HD DVD promotional prices are here to stay
Although money talks, nothin' speaks volume to major manufacturers like, well, volume. In a presumed attempt to keep the recently increased flow of HD DVD player orders steady, Toshiba has reportedly announced a final decision to stick with the prices seen in recent promotional deals. More specifically, the company stated that the MSRP on the high-end HD-XA2 would sink to $799 (versus close to $1,000 before), while the mid-range HD-A20 would instantly become $100 more affordable after dropping to $399, and both of these units are set to receive 24p output through an update scheduled for September. The most attractive option (that would be the HD-A2), however, will soon be listed for a mere $299, and while none of these prices are apt to incite fits of uncontrollable jubilation, it's definitely a step in the right direction.
MGM announces 4th-quarter Blu-ray releases
MGM, now under the arm of Fox and not Sony -- although they are following Sony and releasing these discs with MPEG-2 instead of MPEG-4 AVC -- has announced their next two waves of Blu-ray releases, also targeted towards early adopters and Playstation 3 owners. Usual Supects (day-and-date with the special edition DVD) and Windtalkers are slated for November 28, followed by Rocky (day-and-date with the special edition DVD) and Bulletproof Monk. What they do share with Fox's 8 movie releases is a $39.98 MSRP, which we should remind you is higher than we expect the discs to actually retail for but in this case, more than we expect due to their being catalog releases without exclusive features to speak of. They are all HDMV mastered with DTS HD Master Lossless soundtracks and "pop-up" menus. The BDA wasn't joking when they said they would have big announcements today, they are keying their strategy this fall around the Playstation 3 but we'll be happy if they can provide the quality movies we've been waiting for from Blu-ray.
Universal HD DVD price drop already in effect?
That's the way it seems, at least on some movies. While the price drop is not supposed to take effect until the 8th, over the last week sharp-eyed buyers have seen prices drop on such titles as Pitch Black & Serenity from $23.95 on Amazon to $19.95, and also reports of Best Buy prices going down to $22.99. A quick look around shows many Warner and Universal titles also listing with lowered prices at this time, although some movies like Jarhead and The Rundown (both from Universal) still reflect the higher $23.95 price. Meanwhile, the newer Paramount releases like Tomb Raider & Sleepy Hollow are all set at $29.99 from both retailers at this time.All those titles sliding down in price while more new release movies join the Blu-ray lineup may skew that average just a bit.Read - BB HD DVD Prices going down - AVS ForumRead - HD DVD price drop at Amazon? - AVS Forum
Wii won't be more than $250 says Nintendo
"At a news conference in Osaka, Nintendo senior managing director Yoshihiro Mori said the Wii would sell for 25,000 yen ($220) or lower in Japan and $250 (£133) or lower in the US."That statement from the BBC is about as cut and dry as they come. It won't be $300, it could be $200, we'll have to wait and see.Nintendo also took the opportunity to discuss their current financial numbers, warning of lower profits for the current fiscal year although they plan on shipping 6 million Wii consoles by March 2007. For their fiscal year that ended March 2006, Nintendo experienced a drop in profits related to the poor sales of Gamecube systems that even the brisk business of the DS couldn't make up for.[Thanks to everyone that sent this in; image credit: Wii60.com](Update: added a link to Nintendo's press release and changed the shipping number, which didn't match up)Read - Nintendo warns of weaker profits (BBC)Read - Nintendo Forecasts Annual Profit Drop on Stronger Yen (Bloomberg)Read - Nintendo Announces Wii Information, Worldwide Shipments
