Well it's a trend for Sega sports games (ESPN) as both NBA and NHL 2K5 are now listing as 19.99 pre-orders. Sega recently signed a distribution deal with Take-2. This deal allows them to save a ton of money and they're passing it on to the consumer (bravo Sega). The other big reason is they want...
Not my review but a professional one. Here's IGN's Xbox version review (9.4 out of 10). And here's their PS2 review (9.3 out of 10). They're really the same review with a few console specific bits added in.