The firm said it was lowering the price of the game hardware to 99.99 dollars, down from 149 dollars effective Thursday in anticipation of the lucrative end of year holiday season.

"This great new price opens an 80 dollar price advantage over its two console competitors," Nintendo of America said, referring to its better-selling adversaries, the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Corp's Xbox.

"Every time a generation of technology has moved into the true mass market, Nintendo has prospered," said the firm's marketing vice president, George Harrison.

"This incredible new price and our great software offers are designed to accelerate that trend like never before."

The firm said that the GameCube, introduced onto the US market in November 2001 with a retail price of 199 dollars, was the only home game console showing an increase in unit sales over 2002.

No figures on sales were immediately available.

"For 99 dollars, you can now buy video game technology that you couldn't have purchased for 99,000 dollars just a few years ago," said Lucky Evani of toy retailer Toys 'R Us.

Nintendo touted the array of games available for its GameCube after several manufacturers withdrew software for its most powerful console due to slow sales behind those of its main competitors.

Since the release of its first home video game system in 1983, Nintendo has sold more than 1.8 billion video games globally, including Mario Brothers, Donkey Kong and Pokemon.

SPACE.WIRE