The announcement of possible price drops in various markets for various systems is great news for the video game consumer. Perhaps, these falling prices will finally take the "next-generation" consoles to the next level in terms of penetrating the marketplace.
The latest console systems have sold in good numbers, definately in large enough quantities for all three major systems (Sony Playstation, Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64) to stay alive in the marketplace. However, none of these systems has even come near to the sales level achieved by the major systems preceeding them. In fact, it wasn't until recently that 32/64 bit sales finally exceeded those of the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. While it is very obvious that developers made the shift the "next-generation" software development well over a year ago, the consumer has been less willing to make that same shift to the new consoles. There are a number of possible explanations for this, but I feel there have been no more important issues than price.
The high cost of home consoles have taken, dare I say, the majority of consumers out of the gaming picture. Sure, those traditionally into video gaming have made the step up to new consoles, but the general public has not embraced them anywhere near the degree of say, the original NES. Nearly every single person from my age group (I was in my mid-teens at the time) that I knew when the NES was king, owned one, sometimes several. I knew of families who owned an NES for each child just to avoid bickering (I don't know how effective this was though).
The 32/64 bit arena is a different story at the moment. It is as if for some, the difference of $199 dollars and $129 dollars is the difference between looking and playing their with buddy's machine or buying one themselves. For example, up until about a month ago, I was the only person among a large group of friends to own a 32 bit console, even though they nearly all owned a Genesis, Super Nintendo or both. For some, it is truly a matter of not having the funds but for others, they just can't work up the nerve to pay $200 for a console. Other things seem to take precident over what could be deemed an "expensive toy" and even though they want a Playstation, Saturn, or N64, they are prohibited, either in actuality or in principle, from plunking down $200 + software costs to play Mario.
It is my hope that this situation will change with the lowering of console prices to "more acceptable" levels. There is a huge untapped market of potential consumers out there, and by lowering the admittance fee into the world of "next-generation" gaming, we may just see the public finally enter the arena