Xbox 360 Price Drop Coming Next Week, Analyst Confirms

An analyst with inside information says the Xbox 360 Pro will no longer be available, and the Elite will drop in price within a week. And there may be another price drop to $249 by Holiday 2010.

[Saaking]

MS is desperate at this point. Their only advantage is gone.

[Sunny_D]

I don't think 360 price cut will affect Sony. Because a slim model is more enticing than a 4 year old design. Especially with the price cut.

[Once Upon a Fable]

Yea the console thats maintained its price for a good 4 years is desperate, not the brand that just released a slim model already in it's second year! lol

PS3 is already half the price it was at launch(has already dropped a full 300$), and it's not even out of its second year. Who's desperate?

Saaking is desperate.

[Sunny_D]

You enjoying your 54.2 percent of failure like your comment?

[Once Upon a Fable]

The only failure here is the PS3.

[AngryTypingGuy]

MS is far from desperate. Sony is the one that has slashed prices in record time from its console. There is only one reason they slashed them so quickly...desperation. Sony will overtake MS in monthly sales for the time being, because there have been A LOT of people waiting for the Slim. Hell, I'm even considering getting one when the time is right for its Blu Ray and a few exclusives that I want to play. Probably not, but it's a possibility.

I think MS knows that Sony has the hype and will overtake monthly sales for awhile, but they also know that Alan Wake, Splinter Cell, and most of all, Natal, await in 2010. And then there's a little Halo title coming out next month which will move some consoles.

[killersmoke]

Natal is the advantage and to all that had not figured that out, need to watch the news, good morning america and every other show that people give a sh0t about played natal, not PSTURD........................ ............................... ............................... ............................... ............................... ............................... ............................... ............................... ............................... ..

natal will pound on the ps3.....

[Saaking]

Xbox 360 has also slashed it's price in half from 399 to 199 so it's not just Sony slashing off prices. Both console makers have had to drop the price a lot.

[Kill Crow]

489,381 per month to catch it by Jan 2011. 112,934 per week.
286,879 per month to catch it by Jan 2012. 66,203 per week.
202,914 per month to catch it by Jan 2013. 46,826 per week.
156,971 per month to catch it by Jan 2014. 36,224 per week.

Current rate is: -51,873 per month
Avge for last 6 mths
Negative number means 360 is still outselling PS3 by that amount per month on avge

[ShadowCK]

Your the one who's desperate Saaking. I told you guys Microsoft were planning another Price Cut but would you believe me? No, you wouldn't accept it.

Go back under your rock.

[resistance100]

@Kill Crow

At least take into account countries other than america, before you come up with crap figures into account.

[AngryTypingGuy]

Nice try Saaking, but you're talking about the Pro model and the Arcade model. You're trying to SPIN it to look like the Pro went from $399 to $199 when it's simply not the case.

[nycredude]

No wonder they removed the hdmi cable form the xbox 360. Also don't you still have to pay $100 for the wireless adapter?

[Saaking]

I think at this point a 360 point is a non-issue for Sony. It will not affect PS3 slim's effect. The 360 has been affordable for a long time so price hasn't been an issue for the 360 but it has been for the PS3. MS basically cornered themselves.

[N4PS3G]

are you the guy from Spin City ?

[Sunny_D]

Lol you come back when the 360 gets some good news lol

[N4PS3G]

what is that you are doing on the 360 thread? Your avatar says it all ;)

[lord_of_balrogs]

Umm... MS still has two trump cards left.
The 360 slim.
and the 360/Natal bundle.

[Obama]

A 360 slim? Wouldn't it more prone to, you know, overheat?

[-MD-]

They would obviously revise the console completely. Microsoft would NEVER release a "slim" with hardware problems after losing as much money as they did.

[sofresh200]

a 360 slim would explode on the first power up.

[LordMarius]

A 360 slim is impossible
I mean the thing even has a power brick

[Saaking]

I don't think Natal will have any effect especially if it's priced above $99. A 360 slim is possible; however, I don't think it'd be as effective as the PS3 slim. The 360's MAIN advantage was the PRICE. The best thing MS can do right now is offer free online play and perhaps a price cut to $149.

[swiftshot93]

except if they did, they would have to pass savings on to consumers, and lower the price even more (its already $200 for Christ's sake).
And lowering the price even more means they wouldnt make as much money...so what's the point? Unless you're saying that MS would launch a 360 slim at the same price as the regular one...again...what would be the point?

[u got owned]

i dont think this price drop will have any effect on sales, Why would some one buy a Xbox 360 at $299.99, when you can buy a PS3 Slim with BR player, Online Free, etc, fot the same price, at that price the Xbox 360 has no value.

MS need to include a 60 HDD on the Arcade and sale it at 199.99, now this would make a difference.

[swiftshot93]

LOL. So? Its not crazy for MS to announce a price cut a day after a PS3 price cut was announced. Also, pretty much everyone knew it was going to happen. MS said they were expecting a PS3 price drop at E3 2009 for sony. MS isnt blind.

[SarcasticBastard]

"Umm... MS still has two trump cards left.
The 360 slim.
and the 360/Natal bundle."

I don't think you understand the meaning of the term "Trump cards"
PS3 slim is already here..
Playstation motion controller is coming spring 2010 while "Natal" is coming late 2010.

Sony thereby has "trumped" microsoft in both of those categories.

[iChaos Amongus]

N4G isn't reality. Reality will happen and people's distortions on N4G just don't matter.

For Sony to just have announced the PS3 Slim, some of you sure sound worried still.

[Saaking]

I'm not even saying anything fanboyish. Look, the difference betweent he PS3 and 360 price cuts is that the PS3 was expensive while the 360 has been at 199 for quite a while. Since the PS3 was expensive, a price cut would have greater effect. The 360 is already cheap so a price cut wouldn't really matter. See the difference?

[AAACE5]

Can't argue with you because i'm getting a Ps3 slim, but if things get too rough for MS, I think they will pull their trump card and allow XBL to be free along with a price drop. I don't think it will get that bad though.

I like my 360, but it should always be at least $50 cheaper than the Ps3!

***NOTE*** Alot of people seem to not know what "LEAST" means. So i'll tell you... it means at the bare minimum! Some people confuse it and think you mean "MOST".

[tuglu_pati]

@ Saaking 1.19

i disagree. If MS drop the arcade all together and drop the pro to $199, sales for MS console could increase by a significant margin.

[potenquatro]

In the sense that xbox has been affordable for a while now. But the 360 was and is a succesful console, no getting around it. And in imoho, MS still has a huge trump card. Very cheap, almost free LIVE service. A $15.00 a year Live service, and a two year card on every box would be a very big move that Sony would have trouble with. And it would still make MS money.

[II Necroplasm II]

Microsoft needs to make Xbox LIVE free that alone would help.

[cmrbe]

MS is in a tight spot now. They will have to reduce the price of the arcade or bring the elite down to 259 to stay competitive. Natal is still a year away which they hope will be a game changer is too far away. Ms could allow free online play with silver accounts but the problem is it will most likely be the same as PSN so it will really have no big effect. The big draw of xboxlive are the features found in gold subscription.

299 PS3 is a huge problem for MS as now the PS3 is affordable as well. This time people will pay more attention to value rather than the price point and there is no question that the value of the slim is much higher than the elite or arcade.

[JD_Shadow]

So you guys completely miss the point of what he said.

He never said he was "worried" about anything. He only said that the phasing out of the Pro model and dropping the Elite's price isn't going to change the hype that suddenly hit with the PS3 Slim's reveal. People are not going to suddenly forget about the Slim to run for something they probably already have to begin with (it's not like the system wasn't that unaffordable to begin with). That and MS IS in a sort of rough spot right now, as they don't have that blockbuster exclusive for 09 (besides ODST which should do well) after SC:C (sadly) said bye bye to 09. Sony's got one (and possibly TWO if GT5 gets an 09 release) big game in Uncharted 2 headed to the system.

Maybe some of you are scared that he had a POINT!

@king dong 3: Read this http://www.n4g.com/gaming/N... and THEN come back and try to say that.

[masterg]

I though they had done this already.
$299 vs $299. This marks the first day for the real battle for the next generation.

[SuperM]

lol its not even a pricedrop. They are basically exchanging the 60gb 360 with a 120 gb 360 just like sony swapped the 40gb with the 80gb and what sony is doing right now with swapping it to a 120gb harddrive. Except Sony cut the price by 100$ in addition.

And no i dont think we will see a 360 slim anytime soon either. Microsoft has already tried to revise the standard hardware and failed. I dont think making a slim is gonna be easier for them, quite the opposite. MS did a misstake by overclocking the hardware to much. They wanted to squeeze as much juice out of it as they could. But it ended up backfireing with the RROD scandal.

[cryymoar]

You hit the nail on the head.
That's exactly what I said.
Microsoft cornered themselves!

[KillaManiac]

If you work at a retailer (gamestop, best buy, ect) you would already know they are phasing out the "PRO" system and replacing the "ELITE" with it, but this 2nd price drop sounds like BS.

Sounds desperate if MS is having to drop prices every 3-4 months.

[darthv72]

if the wii got lowered to $199 it would be outselling the hd generation even more.

People buy what they want based on their own perceived entertainment values. People buying a wii at 249 in light of a 360 at 199 or less are getting it for the novelty and potential fun they may have based on word of mouth. The 360 is the better value at the low end and the ps3 is better on the high.

I can see ms releasing a 60gb arcade for 199 and a 160gb elite for 299. Sony will offer up the 120gb slim for 299 and maybe the 250gb slim for 399. Nintendo basically has no choice but to try for the 199 spot this time around if they want to see sales rise again.

[NickIni]

Ehh, why didn't they just announce it today? It would have directly countered the PS3 slim, makes much more sense then waiting a week.

I highly doubt MS will release a 360 slim. After the fiasco that was the launch of the 360 hardware wise, the media would completely slaughter a slim model given the history of the console. I doubt MS would waste their time.

[Buttons]

How can an ANALYST "confirm"? LOL

[Sunny_D]

If the 200 dollar 360 which is cheaper than the wii wasn't enough to dominate the ps3, since it only sold .1 million units more in 2009 and it was neck and neck in 2008, It looks like a 300 dollar ps3 is more enticing than a regular 360.

Edit: A 300 dollar SLIM ps3 is more enticing than a regular 360.

[-MD-]

"A 300 dollar SLIM ps3 is more enticing than a regular 360."

That's just your bad opinion.

[Sunny_D]

Nope, sorry that's fact. Get over it.

[read disc error]

roflcopter

What's your deal? you have some serious issues.

[SuperM]

not quite sure what you mean. The arcade has never been very attractive from a gamers standpoint. Actually not really for anyones standpoint as it means you cant download anything from xboxlive. Only problem is many people arent that educated so they dont know what the effect is of buying a 360 without a harddrive.

As far as the pro or the elite that will retail at 299 like the PS3 slim. PS3 is clearly more valuable, concidering you get both wifi and bluray. Easily worth 100$ more. However that doesnt mean that the PS3 will be the best purchase for everyone. If you dont own a HD tv then there is no point in bluray. but honestly every hd gamer should have a hd tv. games look 3 times better that way.

And ofcourse in the end it all comes down to your taste in games. But if you feel like its 50v50 on the game side of things then PS3 is the obvious purchase.

[LordMarius]

BORING!!!!!!!

[Sunny_D]

I'm pretty sure the 360 has never had Amazon force buyers to only order 1 console due to high demand. But, hey it's playstation. Price is what was wrong and now it's $299. Sony bought the heat up.

[N4PS3G]

360 doesn't even crack the top 100 in amazon and still beats the living crap of the ps3 in the NPD since 2008. But hey ..its Amazon ;)

[talltony]

what are you talking about the slim was announced like 10 hours ago do you really expect the 360 to be outselling the ps3 at this very moment?

[Saaking]

NPD= NA. NA is not equal to the world. Remember how the 360 only sold .1 million more than the PS3 WORLDWIDE? Yep, I'm sorry to break it to you but the 360 isn't "destroying" the PS3 at all.

[Lou-Cipher]

360 has lost Asia (especially after Gran Turismo 5 & FF13 hits)

360 is starting to lose Europe (1 million more PS3's in Europe)

August is the last month the 360 will claim NPD (US sales)

September NPD is going to be a bad month for Microsoft and all of its sells sheep.

Until the 360 drops below $199, don't expect it to out sell the PS3 in any territory, and that includes the US and UK.

Even Microsoft's home town of Seattle is running to Gamestop to try and trade in their 360's for a new PS3 at this very moment.

It doesn't help that Microsoft is raising the price of the arcade 360 in the UK, and Sony is lowering the price.

I'm sure you can still cling to cross game chat once your US & UK sells argument flies out the door. (at least for a little while)

[N4PS3G]

Desperate times call for desperate sony bots hahaha man you guys can't stand waking every day and living in third place

http://i31.tinypic.com/ok50...

here..use this board to keep adding to the infinite list of " this will save the ps3" ;)

[MGOelite]

check amazon sales and please come back

[Sunny_D]

Wow lol, you call droids desperate. Lookie here. A usual sensible 360 fan who uses commmon sense in the gamer zone has resorted to just going to the open zone and do endless bashing, lol. You've become a bot, HAHAHHAHA! Desperate times call for Desperate measures.

[Bubble Buddy]

Hell N4PS3G at least we got games haha. What was your last amazing game? Gears of War 2? Halo Wars? With GT5, Ratchet, Uncharted 2, etc. coming up. I noticed all the xbox kids around here only talk about Sales nowadays and, of course, downplaying the PS3.

[N4PS3G]

hahahahahahaha ..You are so sure ps3 slim is going to beat 360 that you have like 8 posts on a 360 thread that has nothing to do with ps3 in less than 5 minutes.

Nothing sadder than a bot living in denial hahaha

@ amazon

I checked amazon last year when the ps3 was in the top 5 and 360 nowhere to be found in the top 100 and got outsold 3:1 on Christmas NPD haha

Amazon = lol

[N4PS3G]

@Bubble Buddy

really? what games do you have this year?

MAG? or is it GT5?..maybe it's Heavy Rain?

oh yeah hahahaha

I'm downloading shadow complex right now.. getting Halo:ODST in september...Forza 3 in october...Left 4 Dead 2 in November and new GTA Episode.

how about you? ahaha

[Obama]

How did I make it to the board haha. In any case, you shouldn't be bragging about a XBL game, an expansion pack, and a multiplatform game.

[Bubble Buddy]

well N4PS3G, we just had Killzone 2 and InFamous. Uncharted 2, Ratchet and Clank coming up. Fat Priness for us since you know, XBL and PSN games count nowadays.
Is this something to be bragging about? You have two expansion packs, an XBL game, Forza 3, and probably the only game that I'm interested in; L4D2. Pretty weak in my opinion.

[nightelfmohawk]

If it included a decent-sized hard drive, free wi-fi adapter (preferably built in), free online play, and throw in Halo 3 or Gears 2 since those 2 games are the only reason any one with a gaming PC would even consider buying a 360.

[swiftshot93]

I dont think a price cut would spur sales. An Xbox 360 Slim would *maybe* (It would have to have different functionality, a new look and lower price point wouldnt keep it afloat for long). Natal is MS's last card and that is coming next year.

Its going back to the two old rivals agains (for this holiday)....Nintendo vs. Sony....I think its exciting to see the big 2 go back at it after a long time where one would just demolish the other...

Edit: Can the people disagreeing at least reply? What part of my comment did you disagree with? I think everything I said made perfect sense.

[rukia_chan]

lol imagine one 360 slim imo you explode like volcano.

[deshon09]

its funny you say 360 slim but ms has a hard enough time with the 360 hard were wise why would they make an even faultier 360 slim lol it one thing for sony to do it they know what they are doing but for ms t d it just not a god ideal every thing else you said is ok and i know they will sell the hell out of natal

[darkequitus]

MS has problem because they managed the design. Simple solution. Get an expert to do it.

[Saaking]

The only way MS can win is by giving away a free 360 with the purchase of Halo Reach. haha!

[Sunny_D]

That wouldn't be a sale. That would be a charity. A DEATH charity! LOL

[nightelfmohawk]

Two-packs at Costco! So when one 360 RRODs, you have a back-up while you're waiting for the RROD'd one to come back from the shop!

:D

[N4PS3G]

Nothing better than living in third place and making fun of the winning team

Delusion ain't pretty

[nightelfmohawk]

http://videogames.yahoo.com...

[Obama]

I never understand why bots are bragging about that 1 year headstart. So can I say Natal is a total failure since it has sold 0 unit so far in comparison to the eyetoy?

[Saaking]

@N4PS3G
You said "Nothing better than living in third place and making fun of the winning team "

Well tell me, when did I make fun of the Wii?

[36T]

May i ask why all you fools are posting nonsense on a 360 article? The PS3 section is one click away! Think of it, you could all bash the 360 in a bigger group and laugh at each others jokes while the PS3 continues to fail. :)

[XDF]

MS trump card is Natal...It will be like Wii part 2 that PS3 slim really has no answer to.

Anyways, competition is good ...with price drop, there should be no excuse for anyone not to play both Kratos and Halo. PS360 FTW

[swiftshot93]

Sony has the PS motion controller which is scheduled to come out in Spring 2010.

Also, Nintendo could always come out with the WiiHD to compete with Sony PS controller and MS's Natal.

[deshon09]

natal and ps3 remote will not knock the wii off it thorn n matter what is said it not going to change

[Sunny_D]

No answer to it? HAHAHA! Sony just had a video and they even mocked NATAL... LOL Some one post a video because I can't find it.

[Saaking]

Natal won't do much. It's laggy and I don't see many people going for it. The price will also be an issue. Didn't MS say they wanted to price at upwards of $199? Natal has to be around $49-$59 to be able to compete. If it's more than $99 it will not go well with casuals.

[Neo604]

I'm not being a fanboy right now.
When I read ign comments on 52% rrod, the xbox owner seem not to mind buying xbox after xbox and loving it.

It's a lil break for the 4 times RROD victims.

[Sunny_D]

I'd say Game Informer has more facts than someone named really duh with 2 bubbles.

[Persistantthug]

Score 1 for suunyd.

:P

[TrevorPhillips]

finally a price drop, Iv'e been waiting, might aswell wait for the price drop to get my self a 360 in my room.

[PS360PCROCKS]

You should. I don't condone Microsoft or their RROD failure rates. But I got an arcade in 2008 to replace my first one that I completely gave up on. Anyways it's quiet, cool and runs very efficiently. Now they're even smaller chips, I don't think you can go wrong. Either way it's a 3yr warranty, if something happens in the 3 years they fix it, you still have a ps3 I assume? Play that. Annoying but not the end of the world.

[saint_john_paul_ii]

its not a price drop,its killing the 60gb premium to make the Elite standard. there's no difference, just added value.

[eagle21]

I STILL WON'T BUY IT!

[36T]

I'm happy for you! Anything else you would like to share? The mexican food you ate last night gave you diarrhea?

[PS360PCROCKS]

Microsoft has to, they can't be the most expensive console. If they were smart, which I dunno if they are they would drop the arcade all together, drop the pro to $199 and the elite to $299 and than it's a great deal. The arcade is sh*t when you offer all the downloads they offer.

[DarkArcani]

that confused me why they didn't knock out the arcade and drop down the other two, seeming the arcade seems like a bigger rip off now when you can just get the elite.

[TrevorPhillips]

Ill go for the elite then, do they still come with the hdmi?

[Ace Killa 08]

i believe it was kotaku if not engagdet that stated the new elite units come with only RCA cable not even components now, so for a reduce price you get fewer items. still you get the 120GB but i would not mind having everything good to go.

you can get an HDMI cable for like $5 buck on ebay.

[DarkArcani]

I personally wouldn't go below $15 for cables that are longer than 3 feet. I had a cheap HDMI cable and I would occasionally have poor audio transfers.

[clintos59]

I think what microsoft really should worry about is GT5 release date. Reason I say this is because a GT5+SLIM bundle at $299 will be "MASSIVE" guaranteed.

[Cherchez La Ghost]

Like I said in another thread, I like the new design. Sales numbers will increase for the PS3 this year. Now we all wait and see what MS will do. I'm just curious of what MS have up their sleeve for Natal.

[-DeathWraith-]

Techniqually, this isn't a "price cut" considering the Elite model is only re-placing the current Pro model.

I don't see this effecting the PlayStation 3 Slim, or price cut in any way.

[beardpapa]

Putting the Elite's hd to the Pro = updating a sku.
Phasing out the Pro and putting the Elite's sku to the Pro's price point and calling it a price cut = spin

I don't know about you guys but it's more like it's just a sku update. These editors and their articles about how it's a price cut feels more like spin to me.

[glennc]

if it stays black, it's an elite and a price drop. if it goes white, it's an update

[beardpapa]

Arcade sku w/ Pro harddrive @ $199 and Elite sku @ $299 = WIN

Just a couple hours til MS's conference starts.

[-DeathWraith-]

Well, as everyone pointed out already. They're getting rid of the Pro model completely, with the Elite model taking its place at a price of $299.

[The Almighty PS3rd]

hahahahaha PS3 lost and the Droids are going batsh1t.

Still cant change REALITY.

REALITY.

REALITY.

XBOX 360 WON.

hahahahahha and will win. Guess we'll wait and see. :)

[Saaking]

Yes bot, PS3 has lost. Stay in you're small little world and continue being delusional.

[N4G king]

the WII is number 1

REALITY.

REALITY.

REALITY.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Saaking]

Yep, I don't know how the bots say they're on the "winning" side when the 360 is loosing horribly to the Wii. The one is second place is also the first to loose.

[life doomer]

The bots sure love to spin.

[Sanhlami]

I think free online would be Xbox 360's best bet. I know that I'm put off by the fee of Xbox Live. Free online would just seem more impactful then anything else to me.

[-DeathWraith-]

What a s*** hole this is.

[flame bait]

[00]

That's to damn long and I'm still surprised they want to keep the arcade model, If they really wanted to so real damage they should have replaced the arcade with the pro and have the elite drop to $299.

[kaveti6616]

Never in my life have I seen so many wannabe sales analysts packed in one forum. None of you guys know anything. If any of you make a stupid prediction that happens to be correct 6 months from now, you will be jumping up and down, claiming to be knowledgeable. But you're not.

[vagisil]

and keep in mind they are ore sony fanboys in here than 360 fanboys....thing is i thought only the "xbots" played teh sells.

more hypocrisy from the sony camp. what excuse will you same sony boys give when 360 out sells ps3 trash can lid for the rest of 2009?

[kaveti6616]

kudos on the username, though.

[josephayal]

MICROSOFT IS SCARE?

[likedamaster]

how typical.

Hopefully 360 gamers will get really good news, something on Natal, and possibly a few new game anouncements too.

[glennc]

i could do his job

[ipe]

left to conquer.

[saimcheeda]

going to be over in 2 years!

[Midgard228]

only reason ya bought the 360 was for halo and the price. price is only reason anyone was scared of the ps3. what idiot would look at 2 consoles at same price and go with the worse one? not saying the 360 sux now. but here it goes

300$ elite-
120 gig harddrive
52% failure rate
no wireless adapter
no bluray
50$ per year online
no internet browser
fading exclusive library
(lost current gen exclusives, mass effect, lost planet, eternal sonata, ninja gaiden 2, tales of abyss,overlord, bioshock etc etc)

300$ ps3 slim
160 gig harddrive
10% failure rate
wifi built in
built in bluray
free online
internet browser
bigger exclusive library

sorry but ps3 slim now has way more than the 360, unless elite drops to 200 i think ms will be in slight trouble especially with its constant fail rate, people will probably cross over instead of buying another soon to be broken xbox

[Golfcoachh]

But I love how everyone has bought into game informer 52% failure rate and 10% for the ps3. There were no credible facts behind that article, they surveyed 5000 readers. Come on. Its not like a 10% failure rate is aceptable either, so please don't spout this like it is fact. So far I have had 1 360 die and 1 wii die, so I gues my failure rate is 50% with both. Now on to the important stuff, Microsoft is going to be in trouble if they don't come up with something. The ps3 is not only the best value by a ton, but it has an incredible line up coming up. I don't think the fact that the new system is slim has anything to do with it. Its not like I was on the fence and then it was slim so I was like, wow i gotta have it now. I think 299 fat or slim will have the same effect.

[danthaman15]

You totally aren't a delusional fanboy at all.

[Fadetoblack69]

Like we didn't see this coming... The difference is Sony does a price drop because they CAN, M$ does a price drop because they HAVE to.

But hey, I guess I can understand that....after all, when your console has a failure rate of over 50% you have to do whatever you can to keep trying to sell them.

50% people! I'd love to be able to not get fired if I failed at my job 50% of the time! When a product fails THAT much there should be lawsuits flying...., not a blind fanbase rushing to defend their purchase with the well-known battle-cry of "Well I just have to wrap my gaming system in a towel!".

What the?!?! Is that going to become the common practice now? Are they going to start shipping units with Towels bearing the M$ logo??? and the tagline "Don't forget to bring a towel!"

[Gamer_Politics]

naahh sony had no choice but to drop that price they were forced too or just sit back and collect terrible sales behind everyone else....thas the real story wake up out of that little dream of yours

[jeseth]

Because when you have a feature packed PS3 slim next to the 360 Elite, it makes the 360 now look like a ripoff in comparison.

The PS3 at the same price point as the Elite has Blu Ray, WiFi, Free Online, Internet, 120gb HDD (Same as Elite), where as the Elite does not have these features.

Microsoft would really up the ante by making Live free. Otherwise the 360 is in for a rough end to this console generation. Worldwide PS3 will start selling like mad with the 299 price point.

Now if they drop GT5 before the end of the year . .. yikes.

[Horny]

I think MS should make Live cheaper, I doubt they can afford to make it free. Have a year option for 29.99$ and 6 months for 17.99$, 9.99$ FOR 3 months, keep it all under 30 basically.

Btw why do you guys keep talking about a X Box slim, thats Sonys thing, no other system comes with a hardware revision 3-4 yrs into its life cycle.
The only other system I can think of is the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive 2.
Other than that its only something Sony does with all their systems.

[Fadetoblack69]

No, the first thing they should do, (aside from stabilize their hardware of course), is not charge gamers to play non-mmo games online. I mean, is it really just me that thinks this??

To me, I see this as the equivalent of stopping by the local arcade at the mall to play some games and being told I can't unless I become a member!

Arcade Owner: "Sorry sir, you cant play games here without a membership."

Me: "Wtf? This is an arcade isn't it??"

Arcade Owner: "Yes this is an arcade but we don't let people play the games unless they become a member."

Me: "Ok, how do I become a member?"

Arcade Owner: "Pay us $50 a year."

Me: "$50?? So what do I get by becoming a member?"

Arcade Owner: "You get to play our games."

Me: "Are the games free if I become a member?"

Arcade Owner: "No sir, you still have to put quarters in the machines to play."

Me: "Wth! Why would I pay you to play your games when I can go to the arcade across the street and just play their games without membership fees??"

Arcade Owner: "Sir I'm going to have to ask you to leave....."

Make about as much sense doesn't it??

[FF7numbaone]

question is does the elite break like the other ones?....

[Double Toasted]

for MS to drop the price of their console. They should drop the price of the hard drives and get more games out.

[The_Zeitgeist]

What an Epic Fail of a price drop. This is hilarious. Even at 299 the PS3 is still a better value than the 299 Elite. Hmmm Blu-Ray sounds nice now doesn't it?

[djfullshred]

all in all these two competing devices are now close to each other in price, even with a 50 dollar drop on the 360. They will still be comparitive models for new consumers trying to make a decision. the smart consumers will look at what is included with each at the price, and one would think that the PS3 at 299 would not seem more expensive when you know it includes the wifi interface, blu ray drive, swapable hardrive, & free PSN.

The gamers already involved in the scene are going to stick with what they already have, and I think all their arguments are kind of irrelevent. It is the new console buyers opinions that will matter on sales growth.

[Thoreau]

they give me these things..

quality games
accessible online play
reliability

i want the 360 to perform well so they can push their competitors, but making me pay for online play(at bare minimum) and my system dying on me at the height of fallout 3 play does not satisfy me. i would never give my 360 up even though i am slanted towards the ps3, but a price drop is not what micro needs to do. they need to fix the RROD problem and give me at least free online play. if you payed 40 dollars a year for dedicated servers, then i would gladly pay 40 bucks a year, but the servers are not dedicated. where does my money go? the RROD has only happened once to me so it has not been severe, but there is a flaw in the design of the console. is micro going to fix this for me?????

[Thoreau]

don't be surprised if sony does catch up in total sales. the world is quite large....

[scoobydoo]

How many price cuts are MS gonna keep rolling out untill there giving the 360 away,this is all being bank rolled by the windows cash cow division since MS is still losing money on each console sold.a safe investment would be a ps3 slim right now.

[Ldubbz]

With all the high-fiveing and backslapping going on over what was a very expected move by Sony, I dont follow why people think this is some sort of death blow for Sony.

Obviously, the PS3 will sell more, especially right after the Slim is available, but why that somehow equals a major drop in 360 or Wii sales is beyond me. The other console makers will respond in kind. It seems for many very easy to forget that the Wii and 360 are already profitable at the current price points, which means there is room for a drop. While Sony had to have shaved costs somehow for this new system, I highly doubt the Slim is profitable for them at this point.

Also, many on here have been screaming to the mountains how the Ps3 was the best system for the price anyhow, so does this mean now that you all never really believed that? If price was the sole factor in why the PS3 is behind, then was it actually NOT a good value before? You cant believe both things at once.

I for one think its about time Sony dropped to at least $299. Im sure the Slim will do especially well in Japan, as I have stated before. Will be interesting to see what happens down the road, but I dont expect things to change as drastically as some here hope. I also expect a good number of sales to come from people who want a BR player first, and maybe a game console second. But regardless, hats off to Sony for at least getting to $299...which almost seems silly after both the Wii and 360 have had that price point or less since launch.

[Scary69]

A price drop big whoop. Post some news when it's actually GOOD news.

[rubixCubos]

Ha ha that is laughable.

Surely this is too bad to be true, right?

Sorry but 2009 belongs to Sony anyway

[Mexico619]

y r they taking out the pro if they really are? i would make the elite for at least $299 and take out the acarde and make the pro $199 or the elite for $250 and the pro for $150

[-Mezzo-]

I do not think 360 price cut will be a Pinch in Sony's ass anymore because there is no one waiting for a 360 price cut anymore why because there is already a cheap version available at the market.

The people who were to buy a 360 had already bought it,

[-Mezzo-]

A price cut will always be welcomed buy consumers.

[showtimefolks]

since day one MS had to compete with sony not so much aas nintendo wii sucks and that's all i need to say hardcore gaming is done on 3 things

ps3,,xbox360,,pc
----------------------------- ------------------------------- ----------
xbox360 with 120gb 299

so what ps3 is 299 so here is what MS can do

xboxlive can't be free so get that out of the way,,

give the wireless card for free that's $100 bucks,,since its not inside of xbox360,,,,

and for god sake fix RROD,,,,

Ms shot themself when they didn't put in hd-dvd in their system by doing that atleast they could have given more disk space to game companies,,,,

this could be very serious for both nintendo and MS

now the real gaming king is here and i am not trying to be a fanboy but everyone i know who didn't have a ps3 they about to get it

MS please give us a xbox360 ultimate bundle

xbox360gb,,wifi,hd-dvd,gears, crackdown,fable 2

now i am asking for too much but that could be great