Microsoft and Sony have announced that they will be cutting the cost of its consoles in an attempt to woo further customers in the run up to Christmas. The Xbox console has been reduced to £99 from this Friday (27 August 2004) while the PlayStation 2 has been cut to £104.99

The move in price, which has been suggested for a couple of weeks in the industry, comes as worldwide shipments of the Xbox console reach 15.5 million units and the PS2 24 million units.

"With this new pricing, even more European gamers, casual and otherwise, will be able to enjoy Xbox this Christmas," said Eduardo Rosini, regional vice president for Xbox EMEA.

Both manufacturers are boasting a hot line up of titles in the coming months: Xbox has a number of hot titles coming out this Christmas and beyond including Halo 2, Outrun 2 from Sega, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory from UbiSoft, and Doom 3 from Activision.

While Sony is offering Gran Turismo 4, Getaway: Black Monday, Singstar Party, EyeToy™ Play 2 and Killzone, as well as GTA San Andreas from Take 2, Burnout from Electronic Arts and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

>> Microsoft - Official website of Microsoft