Sony announces PS2 Combo Pack in the USA

It's hardly a major shot in the console wars, but Sony's online ambitions have been reaffirmed today with the news that SCEA is set to launch a bundle featuring a PS2 console, network adapter and online-enabled game for $199.99.

The new bundle, which comes as PS2 sales in the USA sail past the 20 million unit mark, represents fairly decent savings for anyone hoping to play online with their console. The game title included with the Combo Pack is the online-enabled ATV Offroad Fury 2.

Although it doesn't represent any kind of real sabre-rattling over pricing on Sony's part, however, this bundle does give Sony a slight edge over Microsoft in that department. The Xbox remains priced at $179.99 (the same price as a standalone PS2), and Xbox Live will set you back a further $49.99 - so even once you factor the price of a memory card into the PS2, Sony's offering is more competitively priced.

There's no news about whether a similar bundle will follow in the UK, although it seems relatively unlikely - SCEE and SCEA have been following their own paths in terms of pricing and bundles of late, even more so than they did previously. However, it's entirely possible that we'll see a price drop from SCEE next week just ahead of PlayStation Experience; the cost of a PS2 in the UK remains much higher than elsewhere in Europe, and Sony chose the PlayStation Experience event last year to announce a price drop - which Microsoft matched within a matter of hours.