Report: Sony to introduce $99 PlayStation 2

Nine years and more than 140 million consoles later, Sony's PlayStation 2 may finally be dropping to the sub-$100 price point.

A $99 PlayStation SKU has been captured on what appears to be a point of sale scanner showing two dates: 4/5/09 and 4/11/09. Unfortunately, there is little in the way of data outside of this photograph. It does not give the origin of the photo, and it does not say if those dates simply represent a brief window when the consoles will be sold at $99.

Since many companies begin their fiscal year in April, this week will be full of year-end announcements from them, and Sony is included. There are rumors of a "big announcement" tomorrow regarding the PlayStation 3. Naturally, the first thing that springs to everyone's mind is a drop in price.

However, if the decrease in the PlayStation 2's price is true, it is unlikely that Sony would make a simultaneous cut to the retail price of its principal gaming device. Furthermore, Sony's ten-year plan for the console included a price shuffle at E3 in July nearly one year ago.

A possible announcement is the addition of Netflix On Demand to the console, an idea which was being pitched to consumers by the rental company this month.

UPDATE: Since this morning, Sony Computer Entertainment America has publicly repudiated the markdown rumors to a number of blogs, saying the announcement it will be making tomorrow is absolutely not a PlayStation 3 price cut. There was, however, no denial of a markdown to the PlayStation 2.