Prices drop on console games due to sagging economy

For example, most of the 21 GameCube titles -- 71 percent -- scheduled for September release will cost $ 40 or less. About half of the 29 PS-2 games and 28 Xbox games coming out this month will be under $ 40.

GameBoy Advance titles, which have typically sold for $ 30, are dropping in price as well; 10 of the 26 new titles will be selling for $ 20.

For games due out in November, list prices look higher, but may drop as the release date gets closer and developers realize that price cuts have become the norm.

These days, the owners of personal computers are getting the real bargains. While many high-profile PC games are still being released with a price tag of $ 50, the price on most other PC games has dropped to $ 30 and even $ 20. The lower price makes up for the fact that some games work better on console systems, where players don't run the risk of hardware or software conflicts.

Meanwhile, the PS-2 continues to lead the way, not only as the console system where the prices have dropped the fastest, but as the system with the most games, even though developers have ramped up Xbox production considerably.

From September through December, more than 150 titles are scheduled to be released on the PS-2 -- 20 more than for Xbox. GameCube continues to lag behind everyone else, even GameBoy Advance. At last count, GameBoy has about 97 titles coming out versus 92 for GameCube.

Over 190 PC games are expected to be released over the same period.